Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Heathrow’s compensation pledges may be too low to match its claims
The difference between Heathrow Airport’s pledges to residents and its commitment to funding those pledges could be hundreds of millions of £s. Campaign group Stop Heathrow Expansion has checked up on the figures and found a funding shortfall in the airport’s compensation proposals for local residents. With what little information Heathrow has provided, and using best estimates to fill in the blanks, it seems likely there would be a HUGE shortfall. Heathrow has said there would be "over 160,000" homes eligible. But the Airports Commission found that over 220,000 households could be in the Lden 55 db zone. Heathrow’s property compensation has already been criticised as inadequate, offering little potential for those displaced homeowners to find similar alternative accommodation further away from the airport where property prices have relentlessly increased. Heathrow's “Our Manifesto for Britain” dated 23.5.2016 has the figure of £1 billion, but that is - Heathrow has confirmed - to cover both property sales, as well as noise compensation. The £1 billion consists of the £700 million Heathrow has often said it will spend on noise insulation - and just £300 million for home loss compensation. And if (Heathrow's own figure) this was up to 3,750 homes, as well as the 780 being demolished, that does not work out as much for each. Heathrow presumes it will make a lot of money by re-selling the homes it buys up.
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Heathrow residents who fear losing their homes for 3rd runway take 1,000 petition cards to 10 Downing St
Residents who face losing their homes to make way for a 3rd runway at Heathrow delivered 1,000 Petition cards to 10 Downing Street. Harmondsworth residents and anti-3rd runway campaigners were joined by Labour MPs John McDonnell and Ruth Cadbury, as the final decision approaches on airport expansion in the south-east (probably in October, when Parliament resumes after the party conferences). The petition cards were signed over two days at two local events in west London recently and called on Prime Minister Theresa May, who represents nearby Maidenhead, to oppose the 3rd runway. The visit to Downing Street sends a strong reminder to the Prime Minister that residents around Heathrow are firmly opposed to its expansion – whether it is on the grounds of the destruction of thousands of homes, noise, air pollution, over-crowded road and rail transport, costs to the taxpayer for the infrastructure or climate change. People fear that compensation from Heathrow, if the villages were flattened, would not be enough and "how will money soothe those who stand to lose everything they hold dear?” The cards should be a reminder to Theresa May of the reality, in human terms, of the loss and dislocation people would suffer, due to the destruction caused to build a 3rd runway.
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Possible re-consideration of expanding Birmingham airport, to rebalance UK airport capacity
The FT reports that Theresa May is considering expansion of Birmingham after, after the city is linked to London by the high-speed HS2 rail line. Jim O’Neill, the Treasury minister, has encouraged Number 10 to look at the growth potential at Birmingham airport, which would be about 40 minutes away from London when HS2 reaches the Midlands in 2026. Lord O’Neill, whose brief covers infrastructure and regional development, believes Birmingham would also offer good inks to the Northern Powerhouse cities of Leeds and Manchester once the HS2 northern extension is completed, perhaps by 2033. He thinks it would send “a massive signal on rebalancing the British economy,” away from just the south east. The Airports Commission very quickly narrowed down the sites it was considering for a runway to just Heathrow and Gatwick. Many believe this was a serious error, and they did not consider all the options fully. Now it appears there may be a free vote on the runway issue, as it is so contentious and many Cabinet members are against a Heathrow runway. The FT considers that though Mrs May’s administration believes it is too late for a Birmingham to be considered at this stage (why not?) expansion at Birmingham airport could be part of a longer-term airports strategy, for yet more future UK air travel.
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GACC denounces the “obscene” bonus of up to £5 million for Wingate if he gets the 2nd runway
GACC is appalled to read the Sunday Times report that Gatwick boss, Stewart Wingate, is in line to receive a bonus of up to £5 million. Brendon Sewill chairman of GACC commented: "If Gatwick gets a new runway, he walks off with an obscene bonus while hundreds of thousands of people will suffer more noise; 50,000 will suffer worse pollution; thousands of motorists will be stuck in traffic jams; thousands of rail passengers will have to stand; Sussex countryside will be diminished by a new town the size of Crawley; 17 historic buildings will be demolished; and worse climate change damage will cause misery across the world." All that misery and Wingate swans off with his bonus - but with the curses of thousands ringing in his ears. GACC is also fascinated to learn that Gatwick has spent almost £40 million on its runway publicity campaign, on advertising, planning for the 2nd runway and undermining its rivals. Brendon Sewill says: "An American company has been using American style advertising and lobbying tactics But all the evidence is that British Cabinet Ministers, British MPs and British civil servants are not easily bought. We have a proud tradition that Government decisions need to be taken on a rational analysis of the evidence. So all those expensive lunches may actually prove counterproductive."
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Wingate again “prepared to give assurances” (ie. but not yet) on GIP not selling Gatwick soon
The Times - which actively supports a Gatwick runway - has a feature on Stewart Wingate. This repeats (uncritically) Gatwick's claim that it can build a 2nd runway without public subsidy. The reality is that at least £12 billion of public money would be needed to upgrade surface access, which struggles now, let along with 35 million more passengers. The Times repeats Wingate's claims (very dubious) that the runway can be added while capping airport charges. He blames “Treasury orthodoxy” by the Airports Commission, stemming from George Osborne, which favoured Heathrow “from the very beginning” for not backing Gatwick. Wingate admits he has spent almost £40 million on advertising, planning for the 2nd runway and trying to undermine Heathrow. If Gatwick got a 2nd runway, he would personally get up to £5 million for a sale of the airport (there would be a total of £10million for senior managers, and he gets half of that). Mind you, he has a "£475,000 salary plus up to 100% bonus." GIP only paid £1.5 million for Gatwick, but gave big dividends, of £48m in 2015 and £133m in 2014. Wingate says GIP is "prepared to give the government reassurances that it would not sell out immediately should it get the green light for a second runway." ie. no assurances yet. And “The shareholders are very much open to having a discussion on structures that satisfy the government.”
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Grant Shapps says allowing a free vote (un-whipped) on Heathrow would be ‘a fudge and dodge’
Channel 4 has obtained evidence from a document photographed on the London Underground, that the Cabinet may be considering a free vote on the runway issue. This was a printout of an email to Sue Gray, the director general of the Cabinet Office's propriety and ethics team. A free vote would enable Ministers to vote according to conscience, and speak out against a runway choice, rather than having to share collective Cabinet responsibility. Now Grant Shapps, who was for several years a minister but had to resign earlier (over the Tory bullying accusations) has said this would be "a fudge and a dodge". He now heads the British Infrastructure group (BIG) of cross party MPs, and wants a decision to expand UK airport capacity as fast as possible. The group put out a report, which has been strongly criticised on facts, in July to that effect. Mr Schapps says a free vote would be "entirely wrong because it would be leaving the future of our infrastructure pretty much to chance" if some Ministers did not back government policy. The decision could be open to criticism if the Cabinet and the Conservative government do not make a collective decision, and take on full responsibility. John McDonnell asked whether we would now have free votes on virtually every infrastructure issue.
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Times reports that Heathrow is hoping to get 50 more flights per day 2020 – 2024 before 3rd runway
Heathrow flights are capped at 480,000 flights per year - which was set as a condition of the Terminal 5 planning consent in 2001.Heathrow now wants to increase the number of flights by about 19,000, giving a total of about 499,000 per year - which means about an extra 50 planes per day, taking off or landing. This would happen relatively soon, and about 4 years before a 3rd runway was operational - during its construction stage. The cap of 480,000 can only be lifted if there is a planning application for a 3rd runway, and that could take several years to start - maybe not till 2020. Heathrow is attempting to gloss over the inevitably increased noise by its chairman Lord Deighton saying the increase "would be accompanied by sweeping mitigation measures outlined by the airport in May, including a ban on night flights." If that was true, it is likely to mean the loss of the half day of respite people east of the airport get, from runway alternation, when runways switch at 3pm each day. This is hugely valued by tens or hundreds of thousands of people. Its reduction or removal would be fiercely opposed. Heathrow is trying to persuade government etc that more flights is vital to "show that Britain was “open for business” after the Brexit vote. A card they repeatedly play nowadays.
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Times reports that Heathrow plans to offer to cut costs and build runway scheme faster
The Times reports that it has learned how Heathrow is planning to cut up to £3 billion (out of about £17.6 billion) from its plans for a 3rd runway, in order to persuade Theresa May and the Cabinet that the runway could be delivered - and delivered a year earlier. Revised plans include potentially scrapping plans to tunnel the M25 under the 3rd runway, not building a transit system to carry passengers around the airport (using buses instead) and smaller terminal buildings. The aim is not only to get the runway working by 2024 but also -with reduced costs - keeping charges for passengers a bit lower. The Airports Commission estimated the cost per passenger would need to rise from £20 now to £29. Airlines like British Airways are not prepared to pay such high costs, and especially not before the runway opens. BA's Willie Walsh has described Heathrow’s runway plans as “gold-plated”. The Times expects that Heathrow will announce its new "cheaper, faster" plans by the end of September. There is no mention of the "Heathrow Hub" option of extending the northern runway - a slightly cheaper scheme than the airport's preferred new north west runway. There is no clarity on quite what Heathrow plans for the M25, if they cannot afford to tunnel all 14 lanes (at least £ 5 billion). Lord Deighton said it might be "diverted" or have "some form of bridge."
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Document spotted on Tube shows Government considering a free vote on runway issue
Channel 4 News has reported that a Cabinet Office memo seen - and photographed - on the tube which reveals that the Government is considering a free vote in Parliament following an announcement on the runway decision. A tube passenger filmed a very senior Cabinet Office civil servant holding the paper that discussed "potential waiving of collective responsibility." The document was addressed to Cabinet Office official Sue Gray, from another official, Sharon Carter. It did not confirm if a free vote would be granted, but it focused more on how it might work as an option. It is certainly a possibility, especially if the decision is for Heathrow. A free vote would allow Cabinet ministers such as Boris Johnson and Justine Greening, who are deeply opposed to the 3rd runway, to vote against it without needing to act on collective responsibility where ministers are expected to publicly support government policy, even if they disagree with it in public. John Stewart, chair of HACAN, which gives a voice to residents under the Heathrow flight paths, said: “It is unprecedented for a free vote to be granted on anything other than a constitutional issue or a matter of conscience. The fact that the Government is considering one on a third runway reveals once again the strength of the opposition within the Cabinet.” It certainly shows the problems the government has with this "politically toxic and financially unviable” decision.
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Lively public meeting in Linlithgow on problems of Edinburgh Airport’s changed flight paths
There was an excellent turnout at a meeting in Linlithgow organised by Edinburgh Airport Watch, on the airport's consultation on changing fight paths. The large and lively audience travelled from across the region. The CEO of Edinburgh airport, Gordon Dewar, attended. Members of Edinburgh Airport Watch spoke up for residents who are suffering unwanted aircraft noise on a daily basis. The airport refused to concede it has made any changes to the airspace over the last year, despite a clear majority of the people present indicating that, while they had no problem with noise before the 2015 TUTUR trial started, they most certainly have a problem with new and unwanted aircraft noise now. People are adamant that a departure SID - standard instrument departure route - called DEAN CROSS has been renamed GOSAM and how has around 20 times as much traffic on it as before. People under it now get about 70 planes per day, between 6am and midnight, all week. Residents now have little trust in the airport, as it has not been straight with them on noise. Concerns were expressed that the current “Letsgofurther” consultation includes the failed TUTUR route, which brought misery to thousands last year. There are also serious concerns as it is not clear what criteria the airport will use to determine where the new flight paths will be.