Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Defra condemned by Clean Air in London for proposals scrapping local air pollution monitoring
Air pollution is a key problem for Heathrow, making the addition of a 3rd runway very hard to justify - or to fit within legal air quality limits. The main pollutant with which Heathrow has problems is NOX - nitrogen oxides, the majority of which comes from road traffic. The actual proportion from aircraft, airport vehicles and other road vehicles is very difficult to establish. The other key air pollutants are PM10 and PM2.5 - tiny particles which lodge in the lungs and can cause long term health problems. DEFRA has responsibility for air quality monitoring. It put out a consultation on streamlining some air pollution monitoring, on 19th December (finishes 30th January). The aim is to no longer require local authorities to monitor 4 pollutants, and to combine monitoring of PM10s with PM2.5s. The group, Clean in London says "DEFRA’s plans would result inevitably in the scrapping of thousands of local monitoring sites that have taken a decade to put in place and probably all of them within a few months or years." Also that "Alarmingly, local authorities are being told to make use of Defra’s tiny national monitoring network (i.e. 137 monitors, few of which measure two or more of NO2, PM2.5 and PM10)."
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Cardiff Airport consultation on planned concentrated RNAV flight paths
Cardiff Airport is now holding a consultation for all those potentially affected by changes to its flight paths. As with all other airports and airspace across the UK, RNAV ( aRea NAVigation ) is to be introduced, so planes can fly more accurate tracks, resulting in more concentrated flight paths. The existing Cardiff routes used by aircraft (termed “conventional” routes) rely on 1950s technology of ground based radio beacons. Now RNAV uses a combination of satellite and ground-based navigation technology which enables pilots to fly pre-determined, predictable arrival profiles. Processes are underway at a European level to make modernisation of the route system a legal requirement for the UK and other European states by 2020. The CAA is planning to mandate that all operators will have to be RNAV 1 approved by November 2017, and then require RNAV routes to be introduced by winter 2019. The Cardiff consultation started on 15th December 2014 and ends on 20th March 2015 (another part of the document says 27th). Email responses should be sent to: consultation@cwl.aero
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Gatwick flight paths comment deadline to CAA by 5th Jan 2015 on PIR (Post Implementation Review)
Gatwick airport carried out a consultation on changes to its airspace at the end of 2013, finishing in January 2014. They then carried out another consultation in May 2014. Gatwick is required to allow time for people to comment and give their feedback on the impacts of proposed airspace changes. This is called a PIR (Post Implementation Review). The deadline is 5th January 2015. After that date, the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) will review the comments - and the degree to which changes to flight paths have affected the public being overflown. The airspace changes are due to PRNAV (precision navigation) and PBN (performance based navigation) - meaning aircraft fly much more accurate routes than was possible before, and routes are also concentrated to be more narrow than before. People who have been adversely affected by flight path changes from aircraft using Gatwick are recommended to send in their comments again. (The CAA has not confirmed that they would consider earlier emails or letters). There is no specific consultation document or form to fill in. The address to email is mark.swan.GatwickPIR@caa.co.uk People need to not only write to the CAA, but copy this to their MP and to the DfT.
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Residents from Plane Wrong submit a petition to the CAA, opposing Gatwick flight path changes
A petition signed by more than 2,000 Mole Valley residents has been delivered to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) by members of the PlaneWrong campaign group. The petition was presented on Monday 22nd December, along with a submission opposing the recent flight path changes implemented by Gatwick Airport last year, which campaigners claim was carried out without direct consultation with those affected by noise pollution. PlaneWrong was formed in September by a group of Mole Valley residents to campaign against the permanent flight path changes to the areas south and east of Dorking, which were previously unaffected by aircraft noise. A spokesman for the group said: “By organising public meetings, door-to-door leaflet distribution, a full social media campaign and engaging with local media, PlaneWrong has united communities, including villages from Coldharbour to South Nutfield, and the towns of Dorking, Reigate and Redhill. PlaneWrong presented its powerful 44-page submission for inclusion in the CAA’s Post Implementation Review (PIR) process. The objective of the PIR is to assess whether Gatwick implemented the change correctly.
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Briefing by AEF asks whether a new runway would breach legal limits for air quality
The AEF (Aviation Environment Federation) has published a short, easy to read, briefing on air pollution in relation to a new runway at Heathrow or Gatwick. It considers the importance of air pollution and how far the Airports Commission has gone to address the issue to date. The Commission says a full assessment and modelling of the local air quality impacts has yet to be undertaken. AEF says because air quality is a key issue for a new Heathrow runway, as the area already breaches legal air quality limits, the Commission should publish the modelling it will carry out of the local air quality impacts, including damage to human health. AEF says the future Government should assess the Commission's recommendations in terms of their impact on human health. They should assess the risks to air quality legal limits from runway plans, and only permit a runway if it can be shown that legal limits on pollutants can already be met consistently, and are falling. The Commission is aware that improvements in aircraft engine emissions may take a very long time to happen; that reducing the amount of air pollution from road transport around Heathrow may take a very long time; and EU air quality standards may be tightened.
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Letter: “Quality of life will be destroyed” if Gatwick is allowed to build a 2nd runway
A letter in the local West Sussex press, in the lady's own heart-felt words, expresses far better than any number of lengthy consultant reports, the impact of a 2nd Gatwick runway on people. She says: "We live in the village of Warnham and recently suffered the six month trial of the new proposed flight path - it was horrendous. It was unbearable being woken every morning before 6am with the continuous drones of these low flying aircraft. We did not move to a small village to be made to suffer this life changing nuisance. We have now received a letter from the CEO of Gatwick Airport which was a grovelling explanation of why Gatwick needs this extra runway and what advantages it will offer, also offering compensation in the way of money off council tax fees for the worst affected! How insulting is this! As if any amount of money could compensate for the misery caused by the noise of the aircraft. The impact on our health was huge, my husband was recovering from a double heart bypass and I have had several years of illness. What we need is for our lives to NOT be destroyed by this proposal, and make no mistake, it will destroy our quality of life and our mental health."
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Stewart Wingate and senior Gatwick staff refuse to appear before group of local area MPs in Parliament
Sir Paul Beresford, MP for Mole Valley, has complained that Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) has refused to appear publicly before MPs at the House of Commons to answer questions on their 2nd runway proposal. The Chairman of the "Gatwick Coordination Group", Crispin Blunt MP, invited Stewart Wingate, and Gatwick senior management to appear before the group in a Select Committee-style hearing in January 2015. But GAL has declined the invitation, saying GAL directors "do not think that a further public meeting is necessary". Commenting on GAL's decision, Sir Paul said "The MPs on the Gatwick Coordination Group collectively represent over half a million people whose lives stands to be affected by the airport's expansion. .... Gatwick have failed to answer key points on the resilience of their surface access plan. If a second runway was to be built at Gatwick access both to and from the airport would become extraordinarily difficult. .... Gatwick's refusal to participate in an extended public scrutiny ....is an abdication of their responsibility as a corporate citizen in both Surrey and Mole Valley. However, given GAL's inability to answer key questions on "show stopping" issues it is perhaps unsurprising they do not welcome further scrutiny."
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New Gatwick paper questioning extent of benefits to local businesses from 2nd runway
An important objective set out by the Airports Commission is: "To maximise economic benefits…..To promote employment and economic growth in the local area….To produce positive outcomes for local communities and the local economy". A new paper by GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) challenges the assertion by Gatwick Airport Ltd (GAL) that a 2nd runway would be supportive of this objective. By engaging with opinion from local business communities, and taking a less selective view of the evidence, GACC concludes that the proposal would be detrimental for local businesses, the local economy and the community as a whole. The GACC paper (6 pages, easy to read) deals with a range of topics (shortage of labour, higher costs, inward migration, need for more houses, road and rail congestion and worse local environment ) and includes comments from local businesses. Two examples are the problems of wages rising due to fierce competition for labour locally, where there is very low current unemployment. Also the cost to local businesses of road and rail congestion, wasting time - as well as losses to rural businesses from a deterioration in the local environment.
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Speech by Major Richard Streatfeild at the Airports Commission day on Gatwick
Major Richard Streatfeild spoke very effectively at the Airports Commission evidence session on Gatwick. He represents some 18,000 people who live in 11 parish councils on the High Weald, and the High Weald Parish Councils Aviation Action Group. Concern was first alerted earlier this year, when Gatwick changed some flight paths and started to concentrate others, causing much more aircraft noise nuisance than there had been previously. Thousands of people who had not been much over-flown in the past woke up to the new noise nuisance, and in particular, the threat of the situation deteriorating dramatically if Gatwick was allowed another runway. Richard spoke of the loss of trust and confidence in the airport, after repeatedly being told half truths, or lies. He also spoke of the torture, akin to sleep deprivation, of night flights - and gave both Sir Howard and Stewart a present of an alarm clock, set to go off once an hour - to try out for two nights .... to experience a taste of sleep deprivation. He said if Gatwick is selected, people know they will be "in a fight for our lives" and the extent of the battle will be unprecedented, through every means available. He ended by saying: "The solution is simple: Disperse the aircraft and make them fly as high as is safe, stop the night flights and do not build an additional runway."
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Speech by Sally Pavey at the Airports Commission evidence day on Gatwick
Sally Pavey set up a local group - CAGNE - in March 2014, to oppose the "ADNID" flight path trial that Gatwick airport had instigated. The new route for the ADNID flight path was concentrated, with some areas - which had never before suffered over flight by planes from Gatwick - getting some of the worst of it. CAGNE stands for Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions, and it has blossomed over the past months, as more and more people objected to being guineapigs, without warning or consultation from Gatwick - to a level of noise that made life hell for thousands. Sally spoke passionately, and effectively and among the many points she raised is the lack of trust by local communities in the airport, from repeated instances of being given wrong or partial information, or being ignored. For many, trust in the airport will never be regained. Gatwick submitted their runway plans to the Commission without even waiting for the end of its consultation with the public. Sally: "We will stand in the way of this off shore owned company. We will show them they have made a bad investment in Gatwick. We will use with every means at our disposal to stop a 2nd runway ... we will not stop opposing a 2nd runway at Gatwick Airport."