Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Packed first public meeting of new anti-Heathrow expansion group, BASHR3 in Hounslow
Nearly 200 residents packed out a church hall to attend the launch meeting of a new local anti-Heathrow expansion group - BASHR3. The first public meeting of Brentford and Hounslow Stop Heathrow Expansion (BASH Runway 3) meeting on March 21st was a lively event, with speeches from Ruth Cadbury (Brentford & Isleworth MP), John Stewart of HACAN, and Maggie Thorburn, from Friends of the Earth. Putting profits and pollution before people were high on the agenda and there were serious concerns that tens of thousands more people in Brentford , Isleworth, Osterley, Chiswick and Hounslow will be affected by a third runway. Ruth Cadbury was adamant that the threat of a third runway would be eradicated, and many claims made by Heathrow of how they would deal with problems such as noise, air pollution and carbon emissions were "laughable." ...Ruth believes that "Together, we'll see off the threat to our area for good." The 3rd runway means the massive intrusion of aircraft noise into the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, who not currently under a flight path. Being overflown for the first time would come as a deeply unpleasant shock for many, and the DfT has made no attempt to give out information about who would be affected. Air pollution will also become worse across the constituency as a result of the traffic generated by the extra cars and lorries on the local and motorway road network.
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UK-based airlines told to move headquarters to Europe after Brexit or lose intra-European routes
The EU has warned airlines including easyJet and Ryanair that they will need to relocate their headquarters or sell off shares to European nationals, if they want to continue flying routes within continental Europe after Brexit. Executives at major airlines have been reminded during recent private meetings with EU officials that to continue to operate on routes between European airports, they must have a significant base on EU territory and that a majority of their capital shares must be EU-owned. This will mean they will need to act to restructure, with economic consequences for the UK, including a likely loss of jobs. Theresa May is due to trigger Article 50 next week. If the EU takes a tough line, it may result in the UK reciprocating with its own rules, which would leave EU-owned airlines facing equivalent choices. Some might establish their own British subsidiaries, as the demand for air travel in the UK is high and there is money to be made. EasyJet flies many routes within Europe (not from UK) and that is part of its business model. Ryanair is based in Ireland, but has some UK shareholders it will have to replace with Europeans. BA does not fly intra- European flights, and IAG is based in Spain. IAG is likely to need to disinvest shareholders in order to be majority EU-owned, and allow its other EU-registered carriers to continue to operate across Europe. The overall impacts on the UK will not be known for some time.
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Boots to stop pocketing the VAT on items over £5 sold to passengers travelling outside the EU
Boots is finally giving customers VAT refunds at UK airport "airside" shops, following the lead of WHSmith, which began doing this in summer 2016. Airline passengers began realising in the summer of 2015 that retailers had been claiming millions of ££s in VAT refunds from those travelling outside the EU, who they identified by asking to see travellers' boarding passes. But instead of refunding the VAT to the customers, the stores pocketed it. This meant an increase in profit for the shops, and for the airports - and less for the Treasury. Boots has 29 branches at UK airports, and these shops don't have self service tills - so customers can deal with a sales assistant. VAT will only be refunded by Boots on items costing over £5, (ie. refund of £1) or £6 for WH Smiths. Presumably a lot of purchases are below £5, and so the shops will keep a lot of extra profit from these. People flying within the EU cannot get VAT removed. The shops have been demanding to see boarding cards, but only because this has enabled them to keep the 20% as profit - that has angered people.The airports charge retailers huge rent, to have the privilege of a store in the captive market of the airport departure lounge. Heathrow etc don't charge its stores a set flat rent – but rather a % of their net sales. This VAT change might slightly dent that figure.
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Major new coalition launched to fight Heathrow 3rd runway
A major new coalition has been launched to fight the proposed 3rd runway at Heathrow. The coalition is formally backed already by 18 local campaign groups, including to name a few, Stop Heathrow Expansion (SHE), HACAN, Teddington Action Group (TAG) and recently formed BASH Runway 3 (based in Brentford). More groups are expected to join in the coming weeks. The coalition also has the support of 5 local authorities as well as leading politicians from all main parties. The aim of the coalition is to put additional pressure on the Government to drop plans for the runway, building upon the work of existing opponents including campaign groups, local authorities and MPs. It will provide opponents of the runway a platform, allowing them to work effectively together - including support from MPs to the heroic local Councils challenging Heathrow in the courts. The coalition will work to highlight issues - including noise, air pollution and economics - with the DfT's current, deeply flawed, consultation on the Heathrow National Policy Statement (NPS). Though the DfT has held 20 consultation exhibition events across west London, Berkshire and Surrey, considerable numbers of residents were left disappointed that there was no information on locations of new flight paths, and that will not be presented until much later in the process.
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Heathrow 2.0: a ‘sustainable airport’ that pretends no one has to choose between planes and pollution
A thoughtful article, by two leading academics in public policy and ideology, casts huge doubts on the claims of Heathrow to have solutions to the increased environment problems of a 3rd runway. It is well worth reading it all. A few extracts: "Heathrow expansion has become an emblematic issue in the fight against climate change. ... An airport that exists above politics gives the illusion that no one has to choose between planes and pollution ... its “cake and eat it” narrative, in which we could fly more and still cope with rising CO2 ... the plans lack clarity and ambition. Strategic priorities like a 'noise envelope' ... are often stated, but not accompanied with clear targets ... As Heathrow itself accepts, the airport cannot deliver on most of the claims it makes ...The airport is simply trying to fill the void left by Theresa May and Chris Grayling, who have abandoned their responsibility to offer policy leadership ... this absence of leadership betrays the emergence of a new “post-sustainable” aviation, designed to accommodate the challenges of Brexit ... people are increasingly urged to believe that human progress and innovation are enough to meet environmental challenges. ... In this emerging discourse, the demands of economic growth trump those of the environment and social well-being."
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DfT report says widening the M25 on its south-west quadrant would not be the right solution
The M25 South West Quadrant Strategic Study (M25SWQ), has been published by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Highways England. It claims to "identify and appraise options for improving performance of the transport network across all modes in and around the M25 South West Quadrant". It has concluded that the M25 should not be widened (beyond what is already committed) in the SW quadrant, because that would have "significant (negative) effects on surrounding communities" and would not be effective in reducing congestion". The study was looking at the section of the M25 between, and including, junction 10 for the A3 at Wisley and junction 16 for the M40 in Buckinghamshire. This is the busiest section of the M25, close to Heathrow. The report says future work on the M25 should not focus on widening it, but reduce the pressures and recommends further work to "Explore options for new or enhanced highway capacity, separate but parallel to the M25." "This should work first to find alternatives to travel, or to move traffic to more sustainable modes. ... But the volume of travel means that road enhancements are also likely to be needed." There could be upgrades for existing roads, and options for roads to fill in the gaps.
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Evidence session on Heathrow impacts held by the GLA Environment Committee
The GLA Environment Committee held a meeting on 16th March, to which they invited both Heathrow staff (Matt Gorman, and Andrew Chen) and opponents (John Stewart, Jenny Bates and Simon Birkett) to reply to questions. The Committee has serious concerns about the environmental impacts of Heathrow, and they have not yet been persuaded by the bland assurances that Heathrow continues to give. The transcript of the session is not yet available, but it is all on Webcast. Important points were made, in response to Assembly Members' questions, on issues such as how much Heathrow would actually pay towards necessary surface access improvements; how long Heathrow will take to install noise the pledged £700 million (up to 20 years, Matt Gorman says); and how the ban on night flights should mean 8 hours without planes, not only the six and a half hours without scheduled flights, that Heathrow has grudgingly agreed to consider. The committee have experience of needing to mistrust bland assurances by Heathrow on how a 3rd runway could meet noise and air pollution challenges. They will be submitting their response to the DfT's consultation on the draft NPS.
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About 30 people at Notre-Dame-des-Landes demand their property back (taken 5 years ago to build a new airport)
At Notre-Dame-des-Landes, a new airport is planned to replace the existing Nantes airport. The battle has been going on for years. Now exactly five years after the French state expropriated a large area of land for the airport, there has been no start to the project - there is not even a start date in prospect. Therefore under the French system, as work has not begun, those who have lost ownership of their land (they may still live on it for the time being) can apply to get it back. Around 30 people affected are now submitting the necessary legal papers to get their land, farmland and buildings back, to the court in Saint-Nazaire. These people have not used the money, and they don't want it. They want ownership of their land and property back. The French system did not anticipate, in the law relating to expropriation, that any scheme would have delays for as long as five years.
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DfT invests a further £1.8 million of taxpayer money over 2 years in the Dundee-Stansted route
A new deal to secure the air link between Dundee City Airport and Stansted for another two years has been announced. The UK and Scottish governments and Dundee City Council have agreed a public service obligation (PSO) contract worth almost £3.7m. Loganair will continue to operate the route from 26 March. The service will see two return flights each weekday and one return flight on a Sunday. The UK Government will contribute 50% of the total funds, (ie.about £1,8 million over the two years) with the Scottish government putting in £1.4m and Dundee City Council providing £400,000 of funding. UK Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad announced it, with comments about the importance of connections between Scotland and England for trade and tourism - "helping business and leisure travellers alike". So much of this public money is to assist leisure travel. The UK government funding is through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund, which aims to maintain connectivity between London and smaller regional airports, where routes are at risk of being withdrawn.
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Launch of new group “Plane Justice” for those newly affected by Gatwick Route 4 since May 2016
Residents north of Gatwick, from Newdigate through to Salfords, have launched "Plane Justice", a collective of communities which seeks to support (whether through campaigning, communications, discussion, negotiation or legal process) those who are, or would be, newly affected by aircraft in airport ‘catchment areas’. Formed in response to changes made to Gatwick departure Route 4 in May 2016, the founders of Plane Justice have experienced on a personal level the stress, anxiety and sense of hopelessness and financial insecurity that changing flight paths causes to communities. The group describes the current iteration of Route 4 as the "Route to Misery", with a noisy turn and a more southern trajectory after the turn, which overflies more than 7,000 new residents. They want to bring an evidence-based and ethical dimension into decision making about the management of airspace, which in their experience to date of Gatwick and its associated aircraft noise, has been surprisingly lacking. Many people feel there has been a serious injustice in the way areas have been targeted by unacceptable levels of aircraft noise. Plane Justice wants Gatwick's hated "Route 4" to be returned to its pre-2013 “legacy” position, which was flown for decades with negligible complaints.