Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Advertising Standards Agency confirms that Heathrow and Gatwick aren’t actually in London
A complaint was made (it is not clear by whom) against an advert by London City Airport in June 2016. The advert stated that "Business or pleasure, time is on your side when you fly from London City Airport ... Fly with British Airways or Flybe from Edinburgh, or from Glasgow with British Airways, to the only airport actually located in the city of London...." etc. The complaint was its claim that London City is the only airport in the city of London. It is, of course, not in the square mile of the City of London. The ASA accepted that “the city of London” was intended to refer to inner London, as opposed to the “square mile” City of London. City airport has an E16 postcode, which Heathrow has a TW6 postcode. The ASA said the primary message of the ad was the time that could be saved by flying from or to London City Airport, which they accepted. They therefore said the ad would not mislead, dismissed the complaint, and it was not in breach of advertising codes. Many airports call themselves "London" airports, regardless of the length of journey to get to them from central London.
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Government spent ‘eye-watering’ £10k a day (£3.8m so far…) on legal etc consultants over 3rd runway
The Government has been criticised for the DfT spending an average of £10,000 per day on consultants and law firms to decide if a 3rd runway should be built at Heathrow. The DfT is reported to have spent more than £3.8million on external firms since the Airport Commission published a report in July 2015, saying Heathrow was the best location for a new runway. A FoI request by the Press Association showed that the lion's share of the money has gone to financial advisers N M Rothschild & Sons, who filed 4 invoices totalling £1.46 million, which were paid between July last year and October 2016. Law firm DLA Piper UK was also paid £1.09 million between August 2015 and October 2016, while Allen & Overy received £152,955.60 between January and September this year. Professional services firm Ernst & Young filed 2 invoices worth £138,765 for consultancy work, paid between March and August 2016. New MP for Richmond Park, Sarah Olney, said: "These are eye-watering sums, over £10,000 a day, to pay consultants for an airport people don't want." For this runway "the people lose out and the only gainers are highly paid consultants." Taxpayers' money has been wasted by the DfT despite deciding "long before it was going to be Heathrow whatever the evidence". Far, far more public money will also be spent, if the runway went ahead.
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Heathrow air cargo includes “80 million animals per year” – and largest import is fresh beans
In a long and breathlessly excited and impressed account, a writer for the Daily Mail records his trip to Heathrow cargo warehouses. There are some interesting insights. He says Heathrow handles 80 million animals per year, including "280,000 reptiles, 28 million fish, 16,000 cats and dogs, 2,000 birds and 200 horses every year." ... and "including bears, lions, penguins, elephants and tigers." (There may be good reasons to question the environmental sustainability or morality of shipping non-domestic animals in this manner ...) Some of the animals in the Animal Health Centre in Feltham have been seized from smugglers, such as number of African pygmy hedgehogs. Apart from the animals there are vast amounts of flowers and perishable goods. Huge amounts of bell peppers, cucumbers and salmon are shipped to the Far East and the US every day. Some 100 tonnes of salmon, "from countries such as Scotland and Norway" are flown overseas each day. Luxury cars are shipped by air, and ship parts. Drugs are sent when needed urgently. One of the most daft shipments was "ice cubes sent from London for a swanky cocktail party in Korea" ... "The biggest import into the UK are fresh beans, but also berries, asparagus and exotic fruits."
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Gatwick Obviously NOT has decided its JR against the CAA has more than done its job, and have ceased the process
In March 2015, the local group "Gatwick Obviously NOT" and Martin Baraud served a Judicial Review on the CAA, with Gatwick and the Secretary of State for Transport listed under the CAA as an ‘Interested Party'. This was because of changes to flight paths to the east of Gatwick during and since summer 2014. The JR was allowed in January 2016, and large sums of money were raised from local people, who were now being badly affected - for the first time - by plane noise. The JR concerned an alleged failure by the CAA to ensure appropriate consultation was carried out in relation to changes in air traffic control procedures for aircraft arriving at Gatwick Airport from the east. GON now say they will cease the process, which has been on hold for the past year, as it has done its job. Their QC, John Steel, said to Martin Baraud: "You have won in all but law…This is therefore both a factual and practical result which has been achieved by the JR and subsequent negotiations, which would never otherwise have been obtained had the JR not been pursued. You have achieved all that you set out to achieve and more, in effect." The CAA and the DfT have agreed to make some changes to the way flight path changes are introduced, as a result of this JR - though a lot remains to be done.
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Heathrow anti-runway activists who briefly blocked roads on 19th November get conditional discharges
Twelve campaigners will face no penalty, and were given conditional discharges, after staging a protest near Heathrow against airport expansion. A small group of people ran on to the M4 and A4 roads and lay down in front of oncoming traffic, causing a temporary disruption - under half an hour - on 19th November. Fifteen of them, aged between 21 and 67, were charged with wilful obstruction of the highway. At a hearing at Ealing magistrates court 12 of them pleaded guilty and were given a conditional discharge. They were told they would each have to pay a victim surcharge and prosecution costs of £105. The court heard their motivations were fears about air pollution potentially caused by a third runway at Heathrow, the urgency of climate change and social inequality. The district judge Stephen Day pointed out they were all of good character and had no previous convictions. He said "...I have read your references which talk about you in glowing terms" The court heard that police knew a protest had been organised. One of the activists said: “This is not the end. We will continue to fight until the government takes meaningful action to tackle climate change, and that includes not building a third runway.” Two protesters pleaded not guilty, and will be tried on 6th and 7th February.
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Belfast City Airport sold by EISER Finance Ltd to 3i Investments plc along with other assets
George Best Belfast City Airport has been sold as part of a package of UK and European assets. The owners are EISER Finance Ltd, which took control of ABN AMRO Global Infrastructure Fund. They paid £132.5 million for the airport in 2008 from former Spanish owners Ferrovial Group. Ferrovial had paid £35m for the airport in 2003. EISER is selling the assets to 3i funds, managed by 3i Investments plc. It's understood the sale will have no impact on the day-to-day running of the airport. EISER has spent around £20m on improvements to the airport over the last eight years. As well as George Best Belfast City Airport, the deal also includes gas transporter and electricity network East Surrey Pipelines. EISER Global Infrastructure Fund (EGIF) is also selling assets in Italy and Spain to 3i as part of the deal, which is worth hundreds millions of pounds. Reports earlier this year suggested that 3i could pay as much as €600m (£509.5m) for the package. The proposed sale was first revealed in the Belfast Telegraph in April but has only now been finalised. The number of departure seats which the airport can sell in a year is currently capped at two million. In its accounts for 2015, the airport reported operating profits, before exceptional items, of £3.3m, up from £2.4m.
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BA flight from Gibraltar to Heathrow carried merely 3 passengers (could have carried 150)
The Metro reports on a British Airways flight, in mid December, from Gibraltar to Heathrow (two and a half hour flight) - with just 3 passengers. The plane could have carried about 150 passengers. Due to some sort of mix up with the 3 passengers being told the plane was late, another plane had taken off earlier and that was - presumably - fairly full The 3 passengers had only paid £80 for a return ticket, for a 3 day trip to Gibraltar. (This is the sort of flight that is taking up a slot at Heathrow, just for the lowest cost, off-chance leisure travel). The 3 throughly enjoyed themselves etc and were given the perks of being bumped up to business class. But this plane flew with almost no passengers, still emitting almost as much as it would have done with a full load. There are many anecdotal reports of planes flying to and from Heathrow with a huge number of empty seats. Had these three girls not been so keen to advertise the fun they had had, and their selfies of their trip, it might not have come to public attention. Presumably the flight took place, to position the plane for the next day's trips. It is nevertheless a glaring example of a Heathrow slot not being used in the way (low emissions, boosting UK economic growth etc....) Heathrow would like the government etc to believe.
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Heathrow hopes to pay homeowners to get access to their properties, in order to do required surveys, to speed runway
Bloomberg reports that Heathrow is offering homeowners cash to take part in a nature study. This is to get studies on local biodiversity done fast, so Heathrow can get its dreamed of 3rd runway through quickly. Heathrow is apparently offering hundreds of homeowners a £1,000 reward if they take part in environmental studies, needed for its runway planning. The letter from Nigel Milton says "This may require a visit from our team..." The legal position is that Heathrow has no right of entry on to anyone's property without their consent. Local campaign SHE is concerned some householders may feel pressured into giving Heathrow access. The owners of houses and farmland where the 3rd runway would be built will apparently qualify for the payment in return for agreeing to several visits over about two years, to assess biodiversity. Heathrow will soon be knocking on doors, hoping people will agree to the "free" cash. [Getting this access from people overcomes the problems of getting onto private land - which otherwise could take time, and hold back the runway plans]. Heathrow have to get enough owners to sign up, to get enough information on bats, newts etc. Agricultural land and rivers must also be surveyed. Normally some fairly inadequate mitigation measure is put in place, if wildlife habitat is destroyed. Heathrow will be hoping no wildlife or other biodiversity issue causes them any delays.
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Sir David Higgins to take on role of Gatwick Chairman, with Sir Roy McNulty staying as deputy chairman
Sir David Higgins, who is currently the chairman of High Speed 2 (HS2), has been appointed chairman of Gatwick airport. He takes up his post on January 1st. He replaces Sir Roy McNulty who will remain on the board at Gatwick as deputy chairman. Sir David Higgins has said the case for Gatwick to get a 2nd runway "remains strong" though "the challenge for Gatwick now is to continue to invest so it can maximise the use of its existing facilities and so can do even more for Britain in the coming years." He has been chairman of the HS2 high speed rail project since March 2014. He is paid £240,000 for three days a week at HS2 and is understood to be remaining in post as chair for up to a year, until a replacement is found and as the search for a new chief executive continues.
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Flybe starts flights from Edinburgh and Aberdeen to Heathrow from March 2017
New regular flights from Aberdeen and Edinburgh to Heathrow, starting on 26th March 2017, have been announced by Flybe. These will be Flybe's first flights to Heathrow. There will be 4 flights from Edinburgh on weekdays, and 3 from Aberdeen, making a total of 40 weekly flights per week. They will be using slots made available to Flybe at the insistence of the European Commission, after the takeover of BMI. Airlines hope to get Scottish passengers to link into long haul flights from Heathrow, with all the usual claims about economic benefits etc. Simon Calder says Flybe will inherit the dormant Heathrow slots and will challenge British Airways on the Edinburgh and Aberdeen routes. The fares may fall due to the competition. But the BA flights will be faster. The air fares could be around £85 to £130 for a return ticket.