Airport News

Below are news items relating to specific airports

 

Gatwick expansion DCO inquiry begins – and will last for 6 months

The inquiry, by the Planning Inspectorate, into the DCO concerning Gatwick Airport's plan to use its emergency runway for routine flights started with an open session, and many people - both in favour of the plan, and against, allowed a brief time to speak.  All those in favour were businesses, or business groups - or people in some way linked to the airport, and hoping its expansion would be good for their business in the short to medium term, and perhaps provide more good jobs. Those against were local councils and local residents who - with passion - put forward the range of negative impacts that the expansion would bring.  Those would include the climate impacts of thousands more tonnes of CO2 per year; surface transport impacts; air pollution; noise pollution, especially at night; and social impacts of the pressure on local infrastructure, from many more workers at the airport, and many more air passengers. The inquiry is being held in Crawley, and is due to last six months.  The submissions gave the impression that the businesses only looked at possible economic benefits, giving no consideration to local residents, or the environment - in the short or long term.

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Heathrow new CEO likely to want expansion in numbers, but no new runway

Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow’s new chief executive, is understood to have begun disbanding the 3rd runway team, and the airport's runway plans have been shelved, as leaked details of the airport’s “better not bigger” strategy can be revealed.  Woldbye is instead understood to be exploring how to squeeze millions more passengers through the airport without expanding its footprint.  This comes with Heathrow’s Spanish owner Ferrovial facing a protracted process to sell its stake to a Saudi-backed consortium for £2.4 billion.  It is believed that a new Heathrow team is pulling together plans under the internal strapline of “better not bigger”, which was originally coined by anti-expansion campaigners. Leaked details of the plans reveal that annual passenger numbers could hit 96 million by 2036, up from the record 80.9 million in 2019, if all of its initiatives can be realised. A “core” case is understood to forecast a rise to 86 million passengers. One way to increase passenger numbers is to make more efficient use of the runway so that planes could take off and land closer together. They will also want to increase Heathrow’s annual flight cap from 480,000 to 505,000, though this would require government consent.

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Southampton Airport wants to cut down some trees, and cut the tops off others

Southampton Airport wants to cut off the tops of 25 trees in a 200-year-old woodland, Marlhill Copse, on grounds of aircraft safety.  But the bid is set to be thrown out by city development chiefs, as it will harm the conservation area.  However, a second application to remove 15 trees in the same woodland is recommended to approve the cutting down of 14 of them.  In October 2023, Southampton City Council received the planning application from the airport which outlined its plan to reduce the tops of 24 individual trees and one group of broadleaf trees within Marlhill Copse in Bitterne Park, on the southern side of the airport over the M27.  According to the report by officers recommending refusal, the reduction in height of the 25 trees included one oak by more than 13 metres, another by 12, metres and one Douglas Fir by more than 10 metres. The airport said the work related to the Civil Aviation Act, which gives the secretary of state powers to make direct orders restricting the height of trees; however, the order hasn’t been received, meaning the application had to proceed via the usual council’s planning process.  The council’s planning committee is set to decide both applications on February 20th. 

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Even with government money, Cardiff airport continues to make a loss

Cardiff Airport is continuing to make a loss as it struggles to attract passengers back to pre-pandemic levels.  It lost £4.5m in the year to March 2023 according to company accounts, after receiving a government grant of £5.3m. The company, which is owned by the Welsh government, is hoping to make more use of its land to raise money.Welsh government ministers are currently supporting the airport through a grant worth £42.6m over four years. Over the years it has received millions in government loans. In 2021 Labour ministers wrote off a £42.6m loan they had given the airport, leaving it to repay £26.3m by 2045. The number of  passengers using the airport in the year up to March 2023 was only 58% of the number using it before Covid. 

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Jenny Dawes granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the dismissal of her application for judicial review of the 2nd Manston Airport DCO.

On 7 February 2024, the Rt Hon Lord Justice Warby granted Jenny Dawes permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the dismissal of her judicial review application challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to make a development consent order (DCO) for the re-opening of Manston Airport.  In his Order, Lord Justice Warby reasoned that certain aspects of the High Court decision warranted appellate scrutiny and that the remaining arguments relating to "need' were properly arguable with a reasonable prospect of success.  Those pushing for the re-opening of the airport claim that something that could be seen as "critical infrastructure" should not be delayed by legal challenge. In fact, there are serious questions about the "need" for this airport. In 2019 the Examining Authority ultimately concluding that a DCO (Development Consent Order) should not be granted as there was no need for it, with other factors also weighed against the development, including climate change.  As well as the need argument, the impact on Manston of the potential growth of other London airports must be considered.

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How Carlyle’s bet on unsuccessful Southend airport did not work out

Southend airport, barely used now, is at the centre of an escalating dispute between one of the world’s largest private equity groups and an impoverished infrastructure company.  The $426bn investment firm Carlyle Group is demanding the early repayment of a £125mn loan made to the airport in 2021, when the aviation industry was reeling from international travel restrictions due to Covid.  Carlyle says it has made multiple attempts to resolve the conflict with Southend airport’s London-listed owner, Esken, and that the airport has breached the terms of the loan on multiple occasions. Known as Stobart Group until a rebranding in 2021, Esken emerged in 2007. Among its first deals was the bet on Southend Airport, which it bought in a 2008 agreement worth around £21mn. The airport was doing reasonably well until Covid, but then cash-strapped airlines consolidated around larger hubs, every airline left.  It cannot attract airlines. Nor can Esken's other airport, Carlisle. Esken wants to sell Southend and repay shareholders.  Southend was never likely to succeed in getting many passengers.

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Schiphol Airport’s new report demands a reduction of aviation demand, to cut CO2 emissions

On 24th Schiphol airport published new research, showing the need for a strong reduction of air traffic demand in order to halt climate heating. The airport proposes the ‘Polluter pays’ principle, with measures such as a worldwide kerosene tax and a tax for business class and private flights.  Schiphol’s research showed that at least a 30% CO2 reduction (when compared to 2019) is needed for Schiphol and European aviation to be on track in 2030. That’s more than the current Dutch goal of a 9% reduction. The research was commissioned by Schiphol to investigate what is needed in order to bring its CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, and it explains why “technological breakthroughs will come too late” and so-called “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” production has limits. It concludes that: “Demand management measures are necessary to align the aviation sector with the goals of the Paris Agreement.” One of the measures proposed is to convert the Dutch air passenger tax to a distance-based tax, and it should include long haul flights - which make up about 80% of emissions. Several other measures include expanding the European ETS to long haul flights.

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East Midlands Airport face criminal charges for River Trent pollution

Multiple criminal charges are being brought against East Midlands Airport Ltd by the Environment Agency for pollution entering the river system surrounding the airport. The prosecution follows a sustained campaign by the Derby Railway Angling Club, who have been working with Fish Legal to highlight chronic pollution of the Diseworth Brook and River Trent linked to discharges of de-icer used on aircraft and runways at the airport. East Midlands Airport Ltd is legally required to comply with an environmental permit issued by the Environment Agency for discharges of contaminated drainage water and provide data to the regulator to assess the impact of pollution coming from the airport on river water quality. The charges being brought relate to permit breaches and discharges of contaminated site drainage that took place in 2021 and 2022. The fishing organisations want revisions to the airport's permit to better control emissions of polluting de-icers into nearby rivers and for investment to raise standards of treatment of contaminated water from the site in line with other airports.

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Huge new airport planned near Warsaw, for up to 100 million annual passengers

Poland is planning a £7 billion new airport, about 25 miles west of Warsaw, that will be central and eastern Europe's biggest ever transport project.  Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) - which translates as 'central communication port' - has not yet had full construction permissions.  The first phase of building will be 2 runways and a terminal for up to 40 million passengers annually, due to be completed in 2028. They then want 2 more runways, to eventually handle 100 million passengers annually.  It aims to link air, rail and road transport and sprawl over ​​approximately 3,000 hectares.  Deputy minister Marcin Horala said: "It involves phasing the construction according to the current market needs."  Approvals have been granted in recent months by Polish ministers and the Civil Aviation Authority and the next stage is to be granted approval for a decision on location and a building permit. Various sites had been considered, 20 years ago. Now Wikipedia says "the land for the airport was first acquired under the Voluntary Acquisition Program. By the time the program ends (April 7, 2023), over 1,300 owners have registered with plots with a total area of ​​almost 3,550 ha, which is 80% of the area for the construction of the airport".

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Greta Thunberg joins protest against expansion of Farnborough airport, that is only for private jets

The climate activist Greta Thunberg marched alongside local residents and XR activists to protest against Farnborough airport’s expansion plans. The airport, that only has private jets, submitted a planning application to Rushmoor borough council in September 2023 to increase the number of flights from 50,000 to 70,000 a year.  The plan is also to increase weekend and bank holiday flights going from 8,900 to 18,000 per year, and for flights to be allowed an hour earlier and later at weekends, so changing from from 8am to 8pm currently, to 7am to 9pm. They also want to increase the weight of jets, so even bigger and heavier private jets can operate without restriction.  Private jets produce far, far more CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer even than business/first class in commercial planes. They are used not only by politicians and top business people, for work purposes, but increasingly just for holidays and leisure. The large protest at the airport called for a total ban on private jets. Greta Thunberg attended, and said:  “The fact that using private jets is both legally and socially allowed today in an escalating climate emergency is completely detached from reality.”

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