Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Luton Airport flight path changes “unfair to Hertfordshire residents”
Luton Airport's change in flight paths are affecting residents throughout Herts, including those living in Stevenage, Harpenden, Welwyn Garden City and St Albans - but avoids Luton itself. Complaints about plane noise from Luton Airport have leapt by 78%, with residents saying their lives have been “devastated” by detrimental flight path changes. The latest edition of the airport’s quarterly monitoring report has also revealed a 60% rise in the number of complainants. Flight movement maps in the report, recording westerly and easterly movements over a 24 hour period in March, show a concentration of planes flying over many urban areas in Herts, including St Albans district, Stevenage, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City. Yet, the skies above Luton, and the immediate area around the town - apart from the airport’s location in the south - appear to be mostly devoid of aircraft by comparison. Between January and March this year, there were 191 noise complaints, compared to 107 in the first quarter in 2015. The airport has been expanding rapidly since its owner, and prime beneficiary, Luton borough council, controversially approved its bid to near double passenger throughput to 18 million a year in December 2013.
Click here to view full story...
Determined opposition to 3rd runway from Ascot area residents badly affected by Heathrow noise
People in Ascot and surrounding areas are bitterly opposed to further expansion of Heathrow, and formed a local group Residents Against Aircraft Noise (RAAN). The area is around 15 miles from Heathrow, and residents are upset and annoyed about the new level of plane noise they are having to endure. Before early 2014 there were virtually no flights to or from Heathrow over the area. Then in August 2014, Heathrow started 'trials' without informing anyone and since then the area has been subjected to an enormous amount of noise pollution. People say they have not been able to get proper uninterrupted night's sleep for almost two years, for most of the time, due to plane noise which only stops for a few hours each night - not enough to get 7 hours sleep, let alone 8 hours of peace. People feel they can no longer enjoy their gardens in summer any more, with planes thundering overhead as often as every 3 minutes. In hot weather, people have to choose between being hot with fresh air, and less plane noise - or being cooler with the windows open, but being woken up. There is anger, in Ascot as in so many areas, that Heathrow is able to "ride roughshod over our peace, homes, business, environment.” The prospect of another runway, making the noise situation even worse, is almost unimaginable. Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), wrote to David Cameron regarding the issues about noise and air pollution at Heathrow.
Click here to view full story...
“Save us from a 3rd Heathrow runway” banner outside Theresa May’s 1st PMQs
When new Prime Minister Theresa May left Downing Street for her first Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 20 July, she couldn’t miss the gathering of campaigners protesting against a 3rd Heathrow runway. This was just a reminder to the Maidenhead MP that residents currently living under the threat of a bigger Heathrow, want an announcement that a 3rd runway will never be built. A banner urged Theresa May to “Save us from a third runway." People living in the villages of Harmondsworth and Sipson also want Theresa May to appreciate that they have spent decades under threat. Each new plan for expansion at Heathrow puts homes at real risk of demolition. The last proposal (2002-2010) would have flattened Sipson and part of Harmondsworth. This time round almost all of Harmondsworth would be under concrete with Sipson initially on the boundary but quickly engulfed by airport development. People in the Heathrow villages say though politicians decry the lack of human rights in other countries, they ignore the fact that the British government has repeatedly ill-treated people living near Heathrow. Robert Barnstone, Campaign Co-ordinator for Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: “We are sending Theresa May a reminder that she should not change her views on a third runway at Heathrow." Residents around Heathrow want the threat of the 3rd runway ended for good.
Click here to view full story...
Chris Grayling says runway decision announcement “within weeks” – so maybe early September?
A decision on a new runway in the southeast could be made "within weeks" after the new transport secretary, Chris Grayling, who replaces Patrick McLoughlin, said the government had to “move rapidly” on the issue. Given the strength of feeling on the issue, it is unlikely that a decision will be taken during the parliamentary summer recess. MPs start their summer break on Thursday and return on September 5th. So a decision could be made between 5th and 15th September. Mr Grayling, interviewed yesterday on BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend, said: “I am very clear that I want to move rapidly with a decision on what happens on airport capacity. It is a decision that will be taken collectively by the government. “We have a quasi-judicial role so I’m not going to say today whether I prefer Gatwick or Heathrow … I’m going to look at this very carefully in the coming weeks.” He added: “What I’ll be saying to the business community today is I think we need to take a rapid decision to provide certainty on what’s going to happen and that will be my objective.” Patrick McLoughlin had said last month that a final decision was unlikely to be taken before October, but that was in the expectation of there being no new Prime Minister until September. Logically, it would take the new Transport Secretary many weeks to fully understand the brief, and the highlycomplex issues involved.
Click here to view full story...
Hoping to scare post-Brexit Britain into building its 3rd runway, Heathrow lists Gatwick’s long-haul failures
With the arrival of Theresa May as the new Prime Minister, a new Cabinet, and a new Transport Secretary (Chris Grayling replacing Patrick McLoughlin) the battle of Heathrow and Gatwick is hotting up. Even further than before. There is a new flurry of announcements, and spurious polls, and surveys of various sorts - as well as just plain spin. Both airports are attempting to capitalise on uncertainty about Brexit and its (as yet unknown) consequences, and rather than suggest a sensible delay to consider how Brexit pans out, are trying to make out that their runway will be even more vital in a post-Brexit Britain. Especially threatened by Theresa May's record of statements against a 3rd runway, Heathrow is pulling out all the stops. It has produced research proving how inferior Gatwick would be in terms of "connecting the UK to the world" and global growth and emerging markets etc etc. Heathrow says, as is quite true and well known, that Gatwick has few long-haul flights, those it has are largely for leisure purposes, and many of its long-haul flights are not frequent. Many airlines start long-haul routes at Gatwick, and transfer to Heathrow as soon as the chance arises. Heathrow says in the last 6 years, Gatwick lost 7 long haul routes to emerging markets, and gained 2, but in that time Heathrow lost 3 and gained 9 routes to emerging markets.
Click here to view full story...
Archive material reveals the extent of new Prime Minister’s opposition to a 3rd runway at Heathrow over many years
Campaign group HACAN has unearthed archive material, from Theresa May's website, which reveals that the new Prime Minister has been a fierce opponent of a third runway at Heathrow, for many years. Her comments on Heathrow since 2008 are copied here. For example, in January 2009 in response to the decision by the Labour Government to give the go-ahead to a 3rd runway, she said: “I know from all the letters and emails I get that many local people will be devastated by the Government’s decision. A third runway will result in thousands of additional flights, increased noise and more pollution for thousands of people. The Government’s promises on the environmental impact of this are not worth the paper they are written on – there are no planes currently on the market that would allow them to meet their noise and carbon dioxide targets. .... We need a better Heathrow, not a bigger Heathrow.” And "my constituents face the prospect of a reduction in their quality of life with more planes flying overhead, restriction in driving their cars locally and a far worse train service in Crossrail. I hope that the Secretary of State recognises that as a result of today’s announcement, nobody will take this Government seriously on the environment again." In March 2008 she said: "The Government needs to show that expansion is consistent with national targets for tackling climate change and cutting CO2 emissions," She has also consistently expressed concern about night flights.
Click here to view full story...
NIMBY Sadiq Khan and his mate Stewart Wingate tell Theresa May to get on and back Gatwick
Sadiq Khan, as well as being Labour Mayor of London, is the MP for Tooting. He has backed a new runway at Gatwick since June 2015. Before that he backed Heathrow, but realised the negative impacts of it would be too great (and his support of it would make him unelectable). He now says Theresa May should allow Gatwick a runway, as soon as possible. In November 2015, Sadiq announced that a second runway at Gatwick would create 20,000 extra jobs in Croydon and the surrounding area, (Tooting is next door to Croydon). So that would all be very convenient, to get some local popularity. That would be especially as nobody in London would be in any way inconvenienced (or have their quality of life reduced) by the 200,000 or more annual flights overhead per year - and the increased local air pollution. Other south London boroughs have been enthusiastic, in a frighteningly NIMBY manner, about a Gatwick runway, for the prospects of jobs, and avoiding any more noise from Heathrow flights. Sadiq appears not to appreciate that Gatwick does not help show the "UK is open for business"; it is primarily a leisure airport. It is in entirely the wrong place to help the whole of the UK, and its expansion will merely serve to facilitate the tourism deficit, as Londoners and those in the south east spend more abroad.
Click here to view full story...
Stansted plans to start discussions with government in a couple of years about a 2nd runway
Not to be outdone by the hopes of Heathrow and Gatwick to get another runway, Stansted is getting in on the act, and saying they will be wanting a runway in due course too. Stansted was not assessed by the Airports Commission, as Stansted had no need of a new runway, being far below capacity. The Airports Commission partly understood that, to even try to keep within the carbon cap for aviation of 37.5MtCO2 by 2050, the addition of one runway would be difficult [it risks UK carbon targets] but it still suggested that by 2040, even if building a runway by 2030, another would be "needed." Stansted has said in the past that it would like a 2nd runway some time after 2035. Its owners, MAG, are now saying that it will "need" another runway earlier than that. Though they appreciate that there is likely to be a dip in demand for air travel for several years, due to Brexit, they are still keen on adding a runway. MAG's CEO Charlie Cornish has told the Times: “We will be at capacity some time between 2025 and 2030, so in the next two to three years we will need to start having the appropriate dialogue with the government over the need for a second runway [at Stansted].” MAG repeatedly says the existing runway capacity at Stansted must be fully utilised, including improving its rail links.
Click here to view full story...
Heathrow Airport expansion in doubt after Theresa May promotes critics to top cabinet posts
A 3rd Heathrow runway appears increasingly unlikely after Theresa May appointed to her Cabinet a series of opponents to it. Justine Greening, the new Education Secretary, has said building another runway at Heathrow is not a “smart decision” while Philip Hammond and Boris Johnson have also been opposed. Chris Grayling, who is now the Transport Secretary, replacing Patrick McLoughlin,has voiced few public opinions on airport expansion in recent years – though probably privately backed Heathrow in 2009. He will now help oversee the decision on whether Heathrow or Gatwick is chosen for expansion. Whether the option of not choosing either, which would be the sensible decision, is also being reconsidered is not known. Both David Cameron and George Osborne were keen on a Heathrow runway - indeed it was likely that a decision to approve it would have been taken days after a "Remain" vote in the EU Referendum - are now both just backbenchers. Boris Johnson, who has said he would "lie down in front of the bulldozers" if Heathrow built a runway, would face calls to resign if he remained in a Cabinet that backed the project. Philip Hammond, the new Chancellor, said last year: “London's role as an international air transport hub can be maintained without additional runways at Heathrow. A second runway at Gatwick, plus enhanced transport links between the airports and better transport links to London will create a ‘virtual’ hub airport, maintaining Heathrow's role in the local economy without expanding it.”
Click here to view full story...
Theresa May urged to ‘quickly rule out’ Heathrow expansion by Hounslow Conservatives
Theresa May has been urged to quickly rule out a third runway at Heathrow by the leader of Hounslow Council 's Conservative opposition group. She has already made radical changes to her Cabinet, and had demands to show her hand over airport expansion. Councillor Peter Thompson, leader of Hounslow Conservative Group, said: "I hope that the new PM will quickly rule out a third Heathrow runway. As a local MP she knows only too well that Heathrow expansion would be noisy, polluting and damaging to local communities." Ms May's Maidenhead constituency is close to Heathrow and she has previously raised concerns about noise, night flights and pollution. But she recently told the Evening Standard she would not declare her preference ahead of a formal Cabinet decision on the matter. Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin [replaced on 14th July by Chris Grayling] said following the EU referendum that a decision on airport expansion would now have to wait until October. Mr Thompson said: "Theresa May started her political life as a local councillor, serving on the London Borough of Merton for eight years – so she knows the vital role that councillors play in building a better Britain. The arrival in the Cabinet of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, as well as the movement of Philip Hammond to Chancellor, and Justine Greening to Education, may make approval of a Heathrow runway more difficult.