Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Gatwick distributes 400,000 flyers around west London warning of Heathrow noise (to get backing for Gatwick runway)
As Gatwick has difficulty getting much local support for its runway plans (almost all local councils and local MPs oppose it) this week the airport is distributing 400,000 flyers to homes across west London. Uxbridge and South Ruislip in particular are being targeted, (86,000 leaflets) warning about the increased noise there would be from a Heathrow 3rd runway. Gatwick has focused its attention on negative campaigning about Heathrow, though Heathrow has not - publicly - being doing the equivalent on Gatwick. Gatwick is not revealing the cost of their 400,000 leaflet effort. As the local residents do not have the ability to choose whether a runway is built, the aim is to influence local politicians. Gatwick claims that 683,000 people and 362 schools would be impacted by noise if a 3rd Heathrow runway was built, while only 36,000 people and 15 schools by a Gatwick runway. In the 55 Lden contour. (Clever of them, as the flight paths are not yet know .... nobody knows the numbers). Heathrow and Gatwick are arguing over the figures. Gatwick appears to discount the impact of increased noise from its own planned runway. This has infuriated local residents in the Gatwick area. Gatwick's ploy of leafleting people near Heathrow, who are rightly frightened at the prospect of a 3rd runway - playing on their fears - has further increased local opposition.
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Heathrow’s own “Fly Quiet” league tables show more airlines failing airport’s noise targets
The local Heathrow Villages paper, Colnbrook Views, has looked in detail at the quarterly report Heathrow puts out, showing the number of its planes meet noise performance targets. The quarterly Heathrow "Fly Quiet" league table reports started in Q3 of 2013. They show the top 50 airlines (according to the number of Heathrow flights per year) across six different noise metrics. Where the table shows red dots, they have failed; amber dots, the airlines have met Heathrow’s minimum performance targets and green dots show they have exceeded them,. While Colin Matthews, in May 2013, said Heathrow would - and can - "grow quietly” before the Airport Commission’s recommendation this summer. However, the most recent data (Q4 2014) instead shows that there has been a decline in performance, with the majority of airlines failing on one or more of the criteria. Colnbrook Views found there were 10 red scores and 56 amber scores in Q2 2014. This had risen to 13 red scores and 65 amber scores by Q4 2014. Heathrow chooses in its publicity to focus on the airlines that have improved. Of the 50 largest airlines based at Heathrow, 35 failed to achieve Heathrow’s “minimum” performance levels in Q2 last year, increasing to 39 in Q3 and an embarrassing 41 by Q4.
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Heathrow to give free advertising space to North East companies for 6 weeks
The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is offering companies in the region the chance to be part of a 6-week advertising campaign at Heathrow Airport. The North East is the first of six British regions to be offered free advertising space worth £500,000 at Heathrow and businesses are being invited to submit images they believe best represent the region as the place to invest. Ten images will be shortlisted by the North East LEP for use in the campaign, which will also feature in a 10 second video that will be used on digital platforms at the airport. A final image will also be chosen to front the campaign and be used on two poster sites at Terminal Four and Five. Heathrow hopes this advertising will encourage investors in the regions to fly there, via Heathrow, and this will help rebalance the UK economy. In reality, the regions may be better served by direct links from their own airports, rather than hubbing via Heathrow. The advertising will be seen across Heathrow from 18 May. In late March Heathrow announced it would spend £10 million over three years, to help the development of 5 new domestic routes - hoping to deter development of direct flights from regional airports.
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DfT appoint bankers, Rothschild, to advise government on runway after Airports Commission reports
The DfT has appointed the bankers, Rothschild, to help evaluate Gatwick and Heathrow’s runway plans, after the publication of the Airports Commissions report that is due in June. That implies the Commission will not have ruled one or the other out. Either of the runway plans would rank among Britain’s biggest-ever, and most expensive, infrastructure projects. Rothschild would provide advice to ministers and officials, and DfT said: "Rothschild was appointed to provide financial advice to assist our understanding of the deliverability of any new runway capacity." Labour and the Conservatives have been urged by business lobbying groups to make a swift decision to approve a runway. The reality is that a huge number of issues have not been fully dealt with by the Commission, and a great deal of further work needs to be done, before a runway could properly be considered. The Airports Commission estimated the cost of Heathrow's NW runway at £18.6bn without factoring in public money for improved road and rail links; cost of Heathrow Hub’s Plan at £13.5bn; Gatwick’s plan at £9.3bn. The Commission estimated that HAH could have to raise additional equity of up to approximately £8.4bn and debt of up to roughly £29.9bn. "Raising this level of financing would be challenging." Hence the need for bankers to advise.
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A flavour of the anger and the determination of those suffering Gatwick concentrated arrival flight paths
There is a rising level of anger, upset, stress and despair among people living in areas far to the east of Gatwick airport, mainly under newly concentrated landing routes. Areas such as Hever, Penshurst, Chiddingstone and Penshurst are badly affected by plane noise, though they are miles from the airport. As the level of background noise in quiet rural villages is low, the impact of the aircraft noise is far worse than that perceived at equivalent distances from Heathrow, in densely urban areas. Gatwick airport no longer replies to those who complain about its planes, and prefers to focus its efforts on lobbying people around Heathrow. Its ubiquitous adverts rub salt in the wounds, for local people, by making out how few people would be affected by its runway. Politicians, councils, aviation industry take the level of noise that people suffer at Heathrow seriously. But the noise endured by those near Gatwick is not taken as seriously. Below are some of the comments by people who are suffering from the impacts of Gatwick, and getting no satisfaction or understanding from the airport. One comment: "It is not OK for my family to be woken up at 4:30am and it is not OK to be listening to that horrible whining and thundering din late into the night." And "What Gatwick and its planes are doing to people in our area is totally unacceptable ....We will fight this to any extreme."
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Liverpool airport says ‘we will talk to anyone’ as Gatwick announces £20 million fund and Heathrow announces £10 million…
Liverpool John Lennon Airport says it would be happy to speak to Gatwick Airport about regional routes, after Gatwick put out a press release to say (copying Heathrow's earlier offer) it would spend up to £20 million to help support regional air routes. Gatwick and Heathrow offers only apply if that airport got a new runway, not otherwise. Liverpool Airport has already been in talks with Heathrow about the possibility of getting a link there (if there is a new runway) - as Heathrow is keen not to lose connecting flights, if people in the regions prefer to fly via Schiphol. However, Gatwick’s offer would have far less appeal than Heathrow’s to Liverpool Airport because it does not offer a connection to a hub, for long haul flights. A spokesman for Liverpool airport said: “We are always open to suggestions for new routes and we are happy to speak to anyone." Heathrow says it is offering a £10 million fund to support regional routes, to five airports over 3 years. Those named are Liverpool, Newquay and Humberside. On 31st March Liverpool announced that Flybe would operate a service up to 3-times-a-day to Schiphol starting on September 7th. ie. They would not then need links to Gatwick or to Heathrow.
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Oil finds near Gatwick would only add to transport, housing and infrastructure problems for local residents
An announcement has recently been made by UK Oil and Gas Investments that is has located allegedly ‘world-class potential" oil resources 1 - 2 miles north of Gatwick Airport. GACC, the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, has written to the Airports Commission to point out that this oil at Gatwick is just one more reason to reject the 2nd runway plans. This oil, and nearby deposits across the Weald, would add substantially to the environmental problems caused if it was decided to build a 2nd runway. A 2nd runway when operating at full capacity would create around 60,000 new jobs, an extra 100,000 cars on the roads every day plus freight, an extra 90,000 rail passengers every day on the single railway line, and the need for around 40,000 new houses. Since there is comparatively low unemployment in the area, most of the people taking the new jobs would need to come from other parts of the UK or from the EU. GACC asks how many more houses would have to be built to accommodate the new oil workers and their families on top of the second runway and natural growth of the population of Surrey and Sussex? And how many extra vehicles would be added to the roads?
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Harmondsworth Open Day shows the extent of the threat of a Heathrow runway, and what it would destroy
On Sunday 12th April the village of Harmondsworth hosted an open day, to show off the village - and inform visitor about what plans for a Heathrow north-west runway would mean for the area. The Heathrow Villages are fighting for their survival. If Heathrow is allowed to build its north west runway, Harmondsworth will be destroyed. Much of it would be built over, with the airport's northern boundary slicing off around half of the village. Longford would disappear altogether. During the open day, held on the village green, there were tours of the magnificent early 15th Century Great Barn, and walking tours of the village and of Harmondsworth Moor. A huge canvas had been created, showing a plane and a wire boundary fence - which would be where the airport would come to within a few yards of the current village centre. Though the Great Barn and the Church of St Mary the Virgin would not be demolished, their proximity to the airport boundary would mean the level of noise and air pollution would be intolerable. In an effective short video, Neil Keveren explains how people in the area have been living through hell, unable to plan for their future - or even make decisions about whether to do improvement work on their homes - because of the Sword of Damocles threat hanging over them. And Christine Taylor shows on a map what would be destroyed.
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Gatwick rushes to offer money – if it gets a 2nd runway – to support and incentivise new domestic air services
After Heathrow got itself some good publicity in its runway campaign, by saying it would spend £10 million to set up some new regional routes, Gatwick has been panicked into doing the same. It appears to have had to rush out a paper, stating it will spend £20 million over 10 years to strengthen domestic air services. Only if it gets a second runway. The paper setting out its plan contains little text, and gives no references or sources for the figures it uses. Gatwick says it already serves 11 destinations within the UK compared with 7 at Heathrow. Gatwick says its plans for a 2nd runway will "encourage the growth of regional airports and the development of international services outside London and the South East" though it does not explain how. It probably means that if there are more long haul flights from an expanded Heathrow, there would be less market demand for these flights from regional airports, and they would thus suffer (which is true). Following what Heathrow has already offered, Gatwick says it will consult on reducing landing charges for regional flights. If Gatwick wasn't so busy lobbying around Heathrow, and with negative campaigning about Heathrow, it might have thought of some of these ideas for itself, rather than just being a pastiche of Heathrow.
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Forests and lakes destroyed to build Istanbul’s vast 3rd airport aerotropolis covering 76 square kilometers of land
Istanbul is building a third airport, north of the city close to the Terkos lake area. Istanbul already has Atatürk Airport on the European side and Sabiha Gökçen airport on the Asian side (these handle around 45 million and 15 million passengers respectively per year), but both claim to be struggling with increased demand - being well located as a hub between Europe, the Middle East and the East. Their national airline, Turkish Airlines, is growing fast. The site for the 3rd airport, which is to be an Aerotropolis, not merely an airport, is about 76 square kilometres. The third airport is linked with other forest destroying megaprojects – a third bridge over the Bosphorus, a motorway and a canal linking the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. All three are linked and feed into each other. The vast construction works destroy areas of forest, lakes and ponds - causing serious local concern about biodiversity loss, loss of natural habitat and possible future heat island and water supply problems. Turkey wants another vast airport, perhaps able to take up to 150 million passengers per year, partly to boost its chances of getting the Olympics in 2024. The busiest airport in the world now, Atlanta, handles about 95 million passengers per year. A short video shows the ongoing environmental destruction, during the building of the airport. https://vimeo.com/123657571