New long-distance Dreamliner 787 and A350 nullify need for larger Heathrow hub, says Zac Goldsmith

Conservative MP for Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith, has said a massive increase in smaller, more fuel efficient planes during the next decade blows apart Heathrow’s argument for the need for a single hub airport. The 9-fold increase in the new generation of planes – the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350, which can fly non-stop from London to the northern edge of Australia [eg. Darwin – but not as far as the main cities in southern Australia] will have a massive impact on the way airports are run. The new planes, nicknamed “hub busters”, can fly more than 1,000 miles further non-stop than older planes, and will reduce the scale of passenger demand needed to make long-haul routes viable as they are smaller and need fewer passengers to transfer in from other planes, to fill them up. This will encourage airlines to bypass hub airports to serve direct connections – and is an important factor for the Airports Commission to consider. It means better use could be made of existing airports for point to point direct flights. “This ….moves us away from the traditional hub and spoke transfer model, and towards a model where air travel, even over very long distances, is primarily non-stop.”

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Innovations and technology nullifies Heathrow need, says Richmond MP Zac Goldsmith

16th September 2013

By Amy Dyduch (Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Opposition: Mr Goldsmith is against Heathrow expansion
Opposition: Mr Goldsmith is against Heathrow expansion

A massive increase in smaller, more fuel efficient planes during the next decade blows apart Heathrow’s argument for the need for a single hub airport, Zac Goldsmith has said.

The nine-fold increase in the new generation of planes – the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350, which can fly non-stop from London to the northern edge of Australia – will have a massive impact on the way airports are run.

The planes, nicknamed hub busters, will reduce the scale of passenger demand needed to make long-haul routes viable and encourage airlines to bypass hub airports to serve direct connections.  Conservative MP Mr Goldsmith said the development was an important factor for the Davies Commission to consider and suggested better use could be made of smaller airports.

The MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston said: “This signals a dramatic technological shift that moves us away from the traditional hub and spoke transfer model, and towards a model where air travel, even over very long distances, is primarily non-stop.

“It absolutely blows apart the case for a mega hub, and strengthens the case for a constellation of competing airports each with improved transport links connecting them to central London.”

Heathrow has long argued the need for a single hub airport – a claim supported by Boris Johnson, although he does not want to see a third runway built.

A Heathrow spokesman said: “It’s not true that new planes will remove the need for a successful hub airport and airlines are not about to change their fundamental business models.

“90% of 787 orders are from network airlines operating a hub model and the first 787 at Gatwick will be flying to leisure destinations because that is the market served by point to point airports like Gatwick.

[A Heathrow spokesman said] “The 787s at Heathrow will use transfer passengers to support routes to long haul business destinations such as Guangzhou, New Delhi and Austin.

“A successful and expanded hub airport is the only way for the UK to connect to emerging economies around the world and benefit from the trade, jobs and economic growth those routes bring.”

 

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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner

is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Its variants seat 210 to 330 passengers. Boeing states that it is the company’s most fuel-efficient airliner and the world’s first major airliner to use composite materials as the primary material in the construction of its airframe. The 787 has been designed to be 20% more fuel efficient than the 767 it is to replace.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner
So far there have been 83 deliveries, and in total (for the 3 models of the 787) there are some 936 orders. (498 or the orders are for 787-8s and 388 for 787-9s)
The 3 models are the Dreamliner 787-8, the 787-9, and the 787-10. So far all the Dreamliners sold are the 787-8 model.
The 787-8 with 3 classes of passenger can take 242 passengers. (The 787-9 can take 280).
The range of the 787-8 is around 9,440 miles and the range for the 787-9 is around 9,700.
Data taken from Wikipedia page:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner
dreamliner pax and range
The distance from London to Singapore is around 6,750 miles.
The distance from London to Darwin, N Australia is around 8,620 miles.
The distance from London to Tokyo is some 5,950 miles
The distance from London to Shanghai is about 5,720 miles
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 by comparison

The Boeing 747 

Data taken from Wikipedia page.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747

747 pax and range
the 747 can carry some 366 passengers, in 3 classes in the 747-100B or 747-200B  and some 420 in 3 classes, in the 747-300 or 747-400.
Their ranges vary between 6,100 miles to 8,350 miles.
ie. the range of the 787 is around some 1,000 miles or even more, greater than that of the 747.
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 Details of the Airbus 350 are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A350_XWB
with the A350 having a range of some 8,840 miles to 11,000 miles.
and around 270 to 320 passengers, in 3 classes.
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