Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Rivals Frankfurt and Heathrow airports are both resistant to more controls on noise
Heathrow is reluctant to agree to a proper ban on night flights - what it has offered is only on SCHEDULED flights, rather than any flights. It fears its airlines would lose money, and that rivals do not have such a ban. But Frankfurt has had, since 2012, a ban of flights between 11pm and 5am (and restriction of only 133 flights between 10pm and 11pm, and 5am to 6am per day). Airlines using Frankfurt also do not like the night flight ban, and complain it damages the competitiveness of Frankfurt. The Hessian Ministry of Economy and Transport has presented plans for noise ceilings, including a limit on the number of takeoffs and landings if noise limits are not achieved for two years in a row. A spokesperson for BARIG (the airlines) described the proposals as incomprehensible. This all sounds so like Heathrow: “The plans regarding noise ceilings are jeopardising the role of Frankfurt and Germany as important aviation locations ... The consequence of further restrictions would be that airlines have to evaluate more critically than before whether Frankfurt remains to be part of their network in the future." And so on. So Heathrow and Frankfurt would be similar - but each is scared of the other airport doing better.
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Heathrow bullish about how fast it could get its runway Development Consent Order through
Colnbrook Views reports that Heathrow has begun geeing up airport workers in the past few weeks with internal messages that suggest it hopes it could get its Development Consent Order for a new runway approved as early as 2020. The announcement, to employees and contract workers, implies that the airport believes it could still see a new runway opening within 10 years - by 2027. Heathrow has started work on its development consent application and intends to make a submission in 2019. This has to come after the government gets approval for its National Policy Statement (NPS) - which will go for consultation very soon. The NPS process will take at least a year, depending on hold ups. Heathrow plans to do 2 public consultations, looking at the benefits and impacts of the runway project before submitting an application for DCO “sometime in 2019”. It anticipates a 6 month sprint through the DCO approval process, which will be carried out by the Planning Inspectorate, before a decision by the Secretary of State for Transport (currently Chris Grayling). Heathrow would like this before the 2020 General Election .... By contrast, the DCO for the M4 Smart Motorway took 18 months, March 2015 to final decision in September 2016.
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Heathrow intent on getting kids (+ parents) into the habit of multiple plane-dependent holidays per year
Heathrow has been working on its PR by giving figures on how much parents spend on air travel and holidays (some exotic) for their children. They hope to give the impression to parents that they need to provide these luxuries to their children, as part of being good parents .... more consumerist pressure .... Heathrow says in 2016 an unbelievable 19% of children (presumably in the UK, or those passing through Heathrow?) took at least 7 trips trips per year; 5% go on more than 10 trips per year, taking into account family holidays, school trips and holidays with friends. And the "dream destinations" (ie. long haul ones that make more profit for airlines and Heathrow) for under 16 year olds were "Australia, Hawaii, Everest and Thailand". (Really? Everest? Is this a joke?) Heathrow says the average cost per trip for a child (those under 16 pay no Air Passenger Duty) is about £616 - and on average parents will spend about £30,000 for the holidays of their children, up to the age of 16. Heathrow says "The current generation of kids are dreaming of Bondi Beach, kangaroos and the Outback, with nearly a quarter (23%) of children citing far-flung Australia as their dream destination for 2017." And on it goes .... Heathrow's future customers. "Get 'em young" ... So THAT's why we need another Heathrow runway, with all its public expense and negative impacts over vast areas within perhaps 20 miles of the airport.
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Belfast City residents welcome Minister’s action on City Airport inquiry’s noise recommendations
Residents affected by aircraft noise from George Best Belfast City Airport have welcomed confirmation by the Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, Chris Hazzard, that he has instructed officials to work towards full implementation of the recommendations of a crucial public inquiry report. The airport had been seeking significant changes to its planning agreement which would have greatly increased permissible noise levels, with a serious impact on up to 18,000 residents, while also removing an annual cap on the number of aircraft seats from the airport offered for sale. The report by the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) recommended that the so-called ‘seats for sale’ cap should be removed, but also recommended noise control measures which, if implemented, would mean permissible noise levels won’t be as high as they would have been under the airport’s proposal. Belfast City Airport Watch said they would have preferred no relaxation of noise controls but welcome the full implementation of the PAC’s recommendations. That means the 57dB noise contour would be reduced from 7.5 sq km to 5.2 sq km, but BACW argues for 4.2 sq km.
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The 200th Frankfurt airport Monday Demo (Montagsdemo) against the noise will be on 30th January
The 4th runway at Frankfurt was opened in October 2011. Due to re-alignment of flight paths, with thousands of people either newly overflown, or with more flights than before, there was uproar. The airport had not felt it necessary to warn people, or consult about the noise. Several thousand people started to congregate in the airport terminal every Monday evening, for a protest demo. (The airport buildings are public property, so the airport cannot prevent people gathering.). The 100th Monday demo was on 20th May 2014, when a group from the UK attended. Now the 200th Monday demo will take place on Monday 30th January, and a large crowd is expected. Politicians from the local area and from the region, as well as for Berlin, will be attending. The demands of the protesters are ultimately that the runway is closed down (though that is an ambitious, or unrealistic hope....) but they want no night flights from 10pm to 6am, no further airport expansion, and no 3rd terminal. Work to build the 3rd terminal started in October 2015, and the airport hopes it will open (first phase) in 2022. It is an astonishing achievement that Frankfurt residents have organised 200 Monday protests, all attended by many hundreds of people - sometimes several thousand. The demos are possible because people are so upset and angry about the noise burden that has been inflicted on them, reducing their quality of life.
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Comments by members of NCE expressing opposition to its pro-Heathrow runway line
The New Civil Engineer magazine is very much in favour of building infrastructure of all sorts (predictably) including a Heathrow runway. Some responses on the NCE website, from members, are interesting. These include: ...." the editor rightly says that the elephant in the room is climate change and that the £1bn annual cost of flooding is similar to the cost of not having another runway at Heathrow. However, the benefit of a 3rd runway is purely speculative, whereas the cost of flooding is almost bound to rise." ... "The editor is telling us 'we must support Heathrow' and those who do not believe in this third runway project are “cynics”. Well, my engineering background has taught me to question and be rational, considering all aspects of schemes including the environmental and human aspects." .... "[we are asked to] “come together to support a shared set of goals” and “get behind Armitt and support his work.”" The writer mentions Heathrow noise, air pollution and traffic problems, and says: "The scheme is being pushed by big business, but opposed by most of the locally elected democratic representatives. On a practical operating point, how can this world class airport operate with night flying restrictions, or will those be overturned too?" He is not renewing his NCE membership, due to its position on Heathrow, Hinckley and HS2.
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Research in Canada indicates higher risk of dementia for those living near major roads – air pollution?
A study done in Toronto, and published in the Lancet, has shown a slightly higher risk of dementia in people who live near major roads. This may be due to some effect of the traffic, but whether it is noise or air pollution is not clear. The study looked at 2 million people in Canada, over 11 years (2001 - 2012), and found those living within 50 metres of major roads were affected. Many questions remain unanswered, but UK dementia experts said though the findings needed probing, they were "plausible". The risk of getting dementia was 7% higher for those living within 50 metres of a road, compared to those living over 300 metres away - with the extra risk reducing with distance. The study adjusted for poverty, obesity, education levels and smoking so these are unlikely to explain the link. Air pollution is already acknowledged to increase the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases. It may also increase the risk of dementia. It is not known whether tiny particles in air pollution might be to blame. Research published in September 2016 found minute particles of magnetite in the brain. The risk of dementia is usually associated with genetics, age, poor diet, smoking, lack of activity etc. This research will cause yet more concern about the health impacts of raised air pollution associated with a Heathrow 3rd runway.
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Back Heathrow complains Hillingdon has to spend money fighting runway – refuses to say how much funding it gets from Heathrow
The "astroturf" group (not actually a real community group) Back Heathrow gets its funding from Heathrow. It refuses to say how much money it gets from the airport. John Holland-Kaye has in the past also refused to say how much it contributes. Back Heathrow is complaining that Hillingdon borough has spent a lot of money on its campaigns against the 3rd runway. This is money that the borough is being forced to spend, because of the activities of Heathrow, against which it has to defend its residents. The account for Back Heathrow show it has around £154,000 in the bank; it has assets of around £653,000; it gives its net worth as about £482,000; its current liabilities are shown as - £171,000; and it only has one employee, Rob Gray. No activity is reported, and no turnover is reported. Back in December 2014 the Sunday Times revealed that Back Heathrow had had at least £100,000 from the airport, but no details are ever given. Back Heathrow says, rather bizarrely, that 'It would not be fair to publish the amounts given'. Their next accounts will be published on 31st March 2017. Being private companies, the sums cannot be extracted through FoI. Hillingdon Council makes its figures public, and has defended its campaigning, saying it is representing the views of residents.
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China starts rail cargo link from Shanghai to London (Barking) – cheaper than air freight, faster than sea
China has launched its first freight train to London, travelling from Yiwu West Railway Station in Zhejiang Province, Eastern China (near Shanghai) to Barking. The trip will take around 18 days to travel over 7,400 miles (about 6,200 miles, as the crow flies). The route runs through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, on the way to London. The UK is the eighth country to be added to the China-Europe service, and London is the 15th city. There are hopes that it will strengthen China- UK ties. The railway is a major strategic development to assist Xi Jinping's multi-billion dollar 'One Belt, One Road' strategy. The plan is to create a trade network connecting Asia with Africa and Europe along old Silk Road trading routes. There are currently 39 routes linking 16 Chinese cities to 12 European cities. The train to London carried a cargo of clothes, bags and other household items. In October a train arrived in Hamburg from China after a 13 day trip. Its 45 containers carried consumer goods, furniture, clothes, lamps and electronics, which were then transported to various European cities. The trains returning to China have carried items such as German meat products, Russian woods and French wines. Transporting goods by rail is a much cheaper and lower carbon method than air freight via Heathrow, and faster than sea cargo.
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Hacan shows numbers of Heathrow flights over London boroughs – Hounslow & Richmond the worst
HACAN has produced a short paper looking at just how much the London boroughs, to the east of Heathrow, are affected by its noise. Using figures from Heathrow's own data, it can be worked out how many planes (take offs and landings) fly over each area in a year. The study did not look at areas west of Heathrow, like Windsor, which are also very badly affected - largely by take offs. The wind blows approximately 70% of the time from the west, so that is when Heathrow is on "westerly operations". HACAN's research shows - predictably - that Hounslow is the most overflown. It gets the noise from all arrivals from the east, on both runways. It also gets all departures towards the east. That is around 240,000 per year - ie. half of all flights using Heathrow. Richmond is close behind in second place, with nearly as many (slightly fewer take offs). The boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark are close behind. A map of the London boroughs shows why this is. Other boroughs in London get not only the noise of Heathrow arrivals, but planes using London City airport too. These boroughs - especially Waltham Forest, and Southwark - suffer from both, and are therefore high on the list of the areas suffering the most planes overhead per year.