BAA invented ‘green’ jumbo to help win Heathrow case
Date added: 20 July, 2008
20.7.2008 (Sunday Times)
Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Marie Woolf
green jumbo to help clinch the environmental case for a third runway.
required in the government consultation after BAA realised it would otherwise
exceed the limit for noise and pollution.
of Heathrow by 2030 than four-engined giants such as the double-decker A380, or
the new generation of Boeing 747s. It promises to be the world’s quietest and
cleanest jumbo.
have no intention of building it.
"I don’t think it’s feasible because the size of engines that would be required
for this plane to safely take off don’t exist and aren’t under development."
will increase pressure on the government to review its plans for Heathrow’s expansion.
Ministers have already delayed the decision after a backlash against proposals
to permit an extra 220,000 flights a year.
plans for Heathrow. John Hutton, the business secretary, signalled last week that
Heathrow growth was likely to be approved when he pledged the government was ready
to take "difficult decisions on airport expansion".
Transport (DfT) on the official consultation and repeatedly altered the data to
get the required result. It has now emerged that one of the big concerns was
that four-engine jets would cause a disproportionate amount of noise and pollution
if a third runway was built.
be four-engine jets. It subsequently cut that to 11% and then to 6%.
of long-haul four-engine aircraft. The research was used by Ruth Kelly, the transport
secretary, to demonstrate how Heathrow could be expanded without causing more
noise or pollution.
DfT officials were sceptical. Last September, days before the results were to
be signed off by ministers, e-mails show officials were alarmed that BAA’s predictions
for a cleaner, quieter fleet might be too optimistic and would be challenged.
but there was not enough time to produce robust research for publication.
data and the green superjumbo.
plane was not built the number of flights using Heathrow could be reduced to ensure
environmental limits were not breached.
fixed. "This is an invented plane that experts say won’t be built," said Justine
Greening, the Conservative MP who has campaigned against the airport’s expansion.
"There is a point at which a biased process became a bogus process."
at 8.30pm]
see also
Posted: Sunday, July 20th, 2008. Filed in News about Airports.