Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Teddington Action Group (TAG) questions the necessity of low-flying heavy aircraft from Heathrow
Teddington Action Group has questioned the necessity of low-flying aircraft from Heathrow and state that they are flying lower compared to other airports causing more noise, more suffering and more CO2 emissions than at almost any other airport in the World. TAG wants the Heathrow Airport London (Noise Abatement Requirements) Notice 2010 to be amended and tightened so as to require planes to climb from Heathrow at a rate of up to three times that which exists at present. This will bring Heathrow into line with other major international airports. TAG is asking that: (1). All aircraft must attain at least 2,500 ft [up from 1,000 ft] by 6.5 kilometres from start of roll. And (2). Thereafter all aircraft must keep climbing at a rate of at least 12% [up from 4%] until 6,000 ft [up from 4,000 ft]. Currently planes using Heathrow have some of the lowest flying and lowest climbing rates of any airport in the world and as a result cause more noise pollution locally. For economic reasons, heavy long haul flights find it cheaper to burn more fuel on a slower initial climb, but save on engine maintenance. Lighter short haul planes may benefit from steeper initial take-offs. The current rates of climb, under the 2010 regulations, are so undemanding that even very ancient aircraft can attain them.
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Times speculation on runway decision, Cameron, referendum, Boris, legal challenges and reshuffles
The Times believes that Heathrow and Gatwick made their final submissions to the DfT last week, and government officials say they are ready for a Cabinet decision. The environmental problems at Heathrow have meant there are very real dangers of successful legal challenges, not least from local councils. Heathrow recently put forward some pledges of how it could meet its environmental challenges, but they were over-optimistic and do not bear careful scrutiny. The question is whether the government thinks it could get away with a decision that is neither considered to be a bad one, or one on which they could face legal embarrassment. The Times believes the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, has told David Cameron that he should not postpone the decision again. There is likely to be a window of opportunity for a runway decision, after an EU referendum Remain victory and before a “reconciliation reshuffle” probably in September, to reunite Conservatives. The Times believes if Boris is given a Cabinet post before a runway decision, he will make it difficult. So it would be easier to decide on a runway, before including Boris. However, there are a lot of other issues to be dealt with between 24th June and 21st July, including an anti-obesity strategy, policies to counter Islamist extremism and a vote on Trident.
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Gatwick provides more details of the setting up of the Noise Management Board, from the Arrivals Review
One of the recommendations of the Arrivals Review was that Gatwick should set up a Noise Management Board (NMB), on which community representatives could sit. Gatwick, in its Final Action Plan on the Arrivals Review, has now set out details of how the NMB will work. It will have no more than 14 members; 5 will be institutions; there will be 2 places for County Councils. There will be 4 places for District, Borough, Town and Parish Councils, and Community Noise Groups, with two from the east and two from the west of Gatwick. Gatwick says the NMB: "should be a body with real influence over operational stakeholders around the airport ...." Nothing says it will have any powers or any real influence. Gatwick says it will: "seek to positively influence the noise environment of stakeholders by assisting the development of consensus among the various organisations represented through its membership" [whatever that means in practice?]. The NMB will: "seek to facilitate better understanding by residents through more consistent communication and verifiable data." Nothing in the stated objectives says noise will reduce, or that the interests of communities will be given equal weight to those of airlines etc. If the NMB cannot reach consensus on a matter, it can be agreed by 75%. The community groups only make up 25% or less.
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Gatwick provides more details of the wider swathe of arrivals onto the ILS, from the Arrivals Review
The main reason why Gatwick had to set up the Independent Arrivals Review was the fury and anguish, largely from areas around 10 - 14 miles from the airport, due to changes in 2013 to the distance at which planes joined the ILS (the final straight line flight path onto the runway). NATS and Gatwick had decided, allegedly for safety but in practice to make maximum use of the runway at busy times, to get most planes to join the ILS at 10 nautical miles out, while before that, some joined as close as 7 nm. The concentrated noise over some areas, not previously over-flown, caused unprecedented opposition. The Arrivals Review recommended that the swathe, both east and west of Gatwick, be widened to 8 - 14 nm, and that there should be more fair and equitable distribution of the noise of planes joining the ILS. A large part of the "Final Action Plan" deals with this. It attempts to allay fears that, to save fuel, many planes will try to cut a corner, and concentrate around the 8nm area. It tries to allay fears that there will be concentrated parts of the routes, and that people living relatively near Gatwick - (around 7 - 9nm or so) will suffer unduly from noise of both arrivals and departures. However, Gatwick says it is "not possible to predict precisely the distribution of aircraft within the swathe" and this will be "carefully monitored and reported to the Noise Management Board" which in turn will publish its findings and any conclusions.
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Gatwick produces Final Action Plan to implement Independent Review of Arrivals recommendations
On 31st March Gatwick, made its initial response to the Arrivals Review, carried out by Bo Redeborn and Graham Lake. Gatwick then had to hold la 6 week consultation on the Proposed Action Plan, which ended on the 16th May. Gatwick has now produced its Final Action Plan. It confirms it has accepted all the Review's recommendations. As well as accelerating the retrofitting of Airbus A320 planes to remove the "whine", two issues in the Review that generated the most public input were widening the "swathe" for arriving planes as the join the ILS to 8 - 14 nautical miles, and the setting up of a Gatwick Noise Management Board (NMB), on which a few community representatives can sit. Gatwick says the NMB will "oversee joint strategies to deal with noise around the airport." It will be chaired by Bo Redeborn, and its first meeting will be on 21st June. In response to extensive feedback, community representation on the NMB has been increased from two representatives to four, and further analysis has been carried out to quantify more fully the impact of widening the arrivals swathe. There remain concerns by those living near the airport that some people will suffer from noise of both arrivals and departures, and Gatwick has produced maps to illustrate that it anticipates this will not be a problem for a large area.
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Tianjin Airlines to fly (£7 plus taxes ?) Gatwick to Tianjin from June, with Chongquin stop
Desperate to get some sort of link to China, to compete with Heathrow, a twice weekly flight by Tianjin Airlines between Gatwick and Tianjin, via Chongquin (in western China) ill start in late June. Tianjin Airlines are an internal Chinese airline, and they want to eventually get flights from Heathrow. They say no more routes from Gatwick are planned. They seem a little unsure of the level of demand (Tianjin is an industrial port, some 80 km south east of Beijing) as they plan to charge only £7 with taxes one way, and £9 with taxes on the return. If the service continues, they would aim to much cheaper than competitors. Gatwick has not done well with attracting or keeping long haul airlines. Airlines that axed routes from Gatwick in the two years 2011 to 2013 include Hong Kong Airlines, Air Asia X, Korean Air and US Airways. In 2015 Garuda and Vietnam Airlines also moved their flights from Gatwick to Heathrow. Gatwick lost 15 long-haul carriers between 2008, and 2013, including Air Nigeria. Air China pulled out of Gatwick in 2014 when they got slots at Heathrow from October, for a service to Beijing. On the Tianjing flights: "As soon as an LHR slot becomes available they’ll be off.”
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Heathrow Express has to cut off-peak fares, to try to smooth demand. Future threat from Crossrail?
Britain’s most expensive train journey per mile, the Heathrow Express from Paddington, is raising the fare on its peak time tickets - to cut congestion. The peak fare standard rate will rise from £22 to £24. But return fares on off-peak tickets will fall from £36 to £25. Heathrow Express hope this will smooth out the flow, even if Heathrow is keen on maximum numbers of passengers at rush hour peaks. One wonders how the trains could possibly cope with the passengers generated by a 3rd runway. The Heathrow Connect service, which also runs services from Paddington, offers single fares of £10.20, and the Underground fare for the same distance during peak times is £5.10. Some of the Heathrow Express trains had to be taken out of service, for months, recently due to cracks. This meant borrowing trains from Heathrow Connect. Last year, Heathrow Express was forced to drop its ‘every 15 minutes’ slogan when a customer rightly pointed out that the frequency falls to once every half hour later in the day. Christian Wolmar has pointed out that the Heathrow Express will face serious challenges once Crossrail starts operating from 2018: "Crossrail will have the fantastic advantage of bringing people from all over London direct to Heathrow in journey times only a bit longer than Heathrow Express and far cheaper."
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Local referendum on whether to move Nantes-Atlantique airport to Notre-Dame-des-Landes – 26th June
On 26th June there will be a consultation/referendum on the issue of whether the existing airport, Nantes-Atlantique, just south of Nantes should be moved to a site north of the town at Notre-Dame-des- Landes (NDDL). The government announced this referendum back in March.The question that will be asked is: "Do you support the proposed transfer of Nantes-Atlantique airport to the municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Landes?" The referendum is open to voters of the municipalities of Loire-Atlantique. Opponents are running an active campaign, to provide information to every potential voter and attending public meetings, with their spirit of quiet determination. Opponents, including local campaign ACIPA, say nobody asked for this referendum, and it does not in any way legitimize the airport project at NDDL, which they consider to be illegal, ruinous and destructive. They say the conditions for real democratic debate are not met; the area chosen for the referendum excludes some important local communities; the question is biased; and there is no guarantee of fair treatment of the opposition. They are not impressed that the Prime Minister has announced the start of work in the autumn, despite the referendum. They say the airport cannot proceed until various legal matters have been sorted out. There will be another huge anti-NDDL gathering on 9th and 10th July. "On a tous une bonne raison de voter NON." (We all have a reason to vote NO.)
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Anti-3rd runway campaigners hold their own alternative “celebration” of Heathrow’s 70th birthday
To "celebrate" Heathrow's 70th Birthday, on 31st May, anti-3rd runway campaigners and local village residents gathered in Harmondsworth - to express their opposition to the airport's plans for expansion. With festivities centred around the historic "Five Bells" pub, there were 70 "No 3rd Runway" balloons, tours of the historic buildings including the historic, Grade 1 listed, tithe barn, enthusiastic chants of "No ifs, no buts, no 3rd runway, and a walk of part of the course of the proposed runway. To represent each of the houses earmarked for demolition for the runway, 783 small black planes were planted on the green. The cake was cut by representatives of some of the protest groups, including Hacan, Stop Heathrow Expansion, CHATR, TAG, RAAN, and Grow Heathrow. People had thought up entertaining presents for Heathrow, including the cheque from ratepayers - a big fat zero for infrastructure, a Mr Noisy book, a toy demolition truck, a Thomas the Tank Engine, a D-lock, a Pinocchio, and an alarm clock with its hands stuck on 4.30am. The day was a fun event, with a very serious purpose. With 783 homes to be demolished for a runway, and many more made uninhabitable by the proximity to an expanded Heathrow, many hundreds face the total loss of their homes and their community.
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Gatwick Route 4 finally re-routed as local MP warns about noise misery dangers of a 2nd runway
On 26th May, the amended Gatwick departure flight path named "Route 4", taking off towards the west from Gatwick, went in to operation. This route turning north and then east - to fly towards the east. With the implementation of precision-area navigation (PR-NAV) at Gatwick in 2014, changes were made to Route 4 which made it more concentrated, and slightly to the north of the main NPR (Noise Preferential Route). This resulted in thousands of people suffering intense and frequent plane noise, for the first time. The local group, Plane Wrong, was formed to fight the changes. The PIR (Post Implementation Review) by the CAA in 2015 showed that the change to Route 4 was not "compliant" with regulations, and it should revert to how it was before early 2014. However, it has taken a long time for this reversion to actually happen. The route that has now started means the SID (Standard Instrument Departure) turning circle is a little tighter so planes avoid the densely populated urban areas of Reigate and Redhill. It is regrettable that it took so long for an unacceptable flight path, that could be introduced so quickly without warning, could take so long to reverse. Local MP Crispin Blunt warned that the noise situation with a 2nd Gatwick runway would be completely unacceptable, with no noise mitigation measures in prospect.