Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
DfT says no stone should be left unturned in a bid to re-open Manston airport
The Department for Transport says no stone should be left unturned in attempts to secure a future for aviation at the Manston airport site. The DfT says it will “explore options to move forward” following a meeting chaired by Transport Minister John Hayes on 11th December. A DfT spokesperson said Mr Hayes agreed to coordinate work across all of Government to explore options to move forward.......wherever appropriate cooperation between Government and Thanet District Council could be achieved every effort should be made to keep it open as an airport. A week earlier Thanet District Council voted not to select American investment firm RiverOak as its indemnity partners for a potential compulsory purchase of the former airport site. The airport closed in May 2014, with the loss of 150 jobs. As the council voted against the compulsory purchase order on 11th December, the extraordinary meeting to debate the wider issues surrounding the Manston airport site took place on December 16th. Thanet council is not keen to spend a lot of taxpayers' money in an unsuccessful attempt to save the airport, even though several hundred people want this.
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Great speech by Crispin Blunt MP at the Airports Commission Gatwick evidence day
The Airports Commission held their second evidence day, this time on Gatwick (the Heathrow day was on 3rd December). The format of the day was to give Stewart Wingate time to set out his runway plans and promote them. There were then speeches by Henry Smith MP and Crisipin Blunt MP, as well as others from Brendon Sewill (GACC), Sally Pavey (CAGNE), and Major Richard Streatfeild (HWPCAAG) for community groups. A range of councillors then spoke, as well as three people from the business organisations. Crispin Blunt spoke very strongly against the runway proposals, and the text of his speech is copied below. Interestingly, to pick out just two comments, he said - on the financing of the project - the claimed need for commercial confidence is in error because redactions in Gatwick published documents on tax, financing, profit and loss, cash flow etc and the assumptions that underlie these figures are critical to enable MPs, the public etc to evaluate the airport's proposal. Also that Gatwick is served only by a single rail and motorway connection. The airport, its passengers and its airlines is already dangerously vulnerable to disruption. It's worth reading the speech.
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EU ruling on air pollution compliance is a ‘major blow’ for Heathrow Airport expansion plans
The levels of air pollution in the Heathrow area already routinely breach EU limits (the Air Quality Directive), for nitrogen dioxide, due to the concentration of road traffic in the area - in addition to the aircraft. The UK has tried to avoid a showdown with the EU by agreeing to reduce air pollution levels in line with the EU directive by 2025, but the date has since slipped to 'post 2030'. The European Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has now rejected this plan and UK ministers will have to prepare new measures for reducing illegal pollution levels 'as soon as possible'. The CJEU has given the UK Supreme Court responsibility for enforcing compliance with air quality law. Judges will examine the case next year. The cross-party 2M group of councils opposing a 3rd Heathrow runway say this is a 'major blow' for the plans. Heathrow hopes that improvement, over coming years, in road vehicle emissions will solve their problem, but this is outside their control. The 2M groups says the Supreme Court will have to be convinced about the unlikely scenario in which air pollution can be reduced -while Heathrow increases flights, road traffic and freight.”
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Complaint to Airports Commission that ££ multi-million Gatwick & Heathrow ads & PR blitz is ‘subverting democracy’
Campaigners against a new runway at Heathrow r Gatwick, have attacked the multi-million ££ advertising and PR campaigns being mounted by both airports for their expansion plans. They say this huge expenditure is “subverting democracy” and drowning out discussion of alternatives - and the basic question of whether a runway should be built at all. A coalition of environmentalists and senior MPs has written to Sir Howard Davies, the head of the Airports Commission, to say the two airports are exerting “unfair influence” because of their marketing power and huge budgets for advertising and PR. There has been a blitz of large adverts in the national press and billboards or posters in prominent places, including Westminster Tube station and also close to the offices of Airports Commission. Heathrow has placed billboards as far afield as Newcastle and Manchester. One media buying agency told The Independent that the cost of both campaigns was likely to have exceeded £7m. Heathrow has also funded an astroturfing campaign called "Back Heathrow", and repeatedly refused to say how much it has spent - and continues to spend - on this.
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Text of phone script of Heathrow commissioned Populus poll shows degree of bias
In July to September 2014 Heathrow commissioned yet another telephone poll by Populus, on attitudes to its 3rd runway plans. The poll showed 49% net in favour, 32% net opposed and 19% neither support nor oppose. The figures are broadly similar to polls in March 2014 (48% support, 34% against, 18% unsure), November 2013 or May 2013 and there was 50% support from a Populus poll in 2007. Though Populus publish details of the numbers, they do not publish the script used for the phone interview. An enterprising resident, irritated by the polls, noted the wording when telephoned - which indicates how much bias there is in the way the poll was conducted. There was no mention that the poll was paid for by Heathrow. The most dubious question is number 11 which asks: "Are you more or less inclined to support expansion of HRW (or maybe it was a 3rd runway?) knowing that it will mean: 11.1) An additional 41,000 jobs by 2030 (options more, less, or no difference); 11.2) Doubling youth training schemes from 5,000 to 10,000 places (options more, less, or no difference); 11.3) Reduction in number of people impacted by daytime aircraft noise (options more, less, or no difference); 11.4) Reduction in night time disturbance [not specific] (options more, less, or no difference). Unbiased?
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MAG CEO, Charlie Cornish, says Stansted might press for a 2nd runway by the mid-2020s
Stansted aims to submit plans for a new runway some time in the next decade, according to Charlie Cornish, the CEO of parent company Manchester Airports Group. He says the present expansion rates meant that Stansted would apply to the government for the repeal of existing local council limits and then lobby for a 2nd runway to satisfy demand. Stansted hope its projected rate of growth between now and the mid -2020s will see it pass through its local authority-capped capacity of 35 million passengers per year, and hit its physical capacity on one runway of 45 million by 2030. In October 2008, the Government gave approval for Stansted to increase its permitted passenger numbers from 25 to 35 million per year, and a rise in the permitted number of annual flights from 241,000 to 264,000. Mr Cornish wants better rail connections to London and to the other airports. Having fallen for years, ever since the peak at over 23.7 million in 2007, Stansted's number of passengers is still well down, at 17.8 million in 2013, though the number has risen significantly during 2014.
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Massive expansion of Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania, with Dutch funding – evicting up to 10,000 people
It was announced in 2012 that the Dutch government would provide some $36 million for expanding and upgrading Kilimanjaro airport, in Tanzania. There are many flower growers in the area, and the Netherlands imports flowers by air. The Dutch funding would pay for around 42% of the cost of the airport development, which includes refurbishment of all runways, and taxiways and airport facilities. But the land take would be around 23,000 acres of which about 9,000 are occupied. There are also plans to convert the 110 square kilometre area around the airport into a modern duty-free "shopping city" for tourists that would compete with Dubai. It would include shopping centres, tourist hotels, duty free shops, export processing zones, curio shops, golf courses and a large game ranch. The airport says they own the land and the people are illegal squatters, but the plans involve removing about 10,000 people. There have therefore been huge protests against this compulsory removal and disputes about land ownership. The amount of compensation for those removed was estimated in 2002 to be about $300,000 but the government now says that is too high.
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Heathrow faces “almighty battle” if expansion gets Government approval
At the Airports Commission evidence session on 3rd December, a line-up of MPs from affected areas spoke forcefully of their opposition to a 3rd Heathrow runway. Lord True, leader of Richmond Council, warned that if the Government granted Heathrow permission for a new runway, they would have “the most almighty battle on their hands” with thousands of people in the area. He said: “Both Heathrow proposals are unacceptable. Further expansion cannot and must not go ahead. I urge the Government to put Londoners first and not the interests of the overseas investors behind big Heathrow....The misleading claims from the Back Heathrow campaign are nonsense - it is absurd to say that if the airport doesn’t expand it will decline....More than 100,000 west London residents have already said no to an expanded Heathrow - these are real residents, real people, all impacted by the proposals.” Wandsworth Council leader Councillor Ravi Govindia pressed Heathrow on whether their new noise respite proposal was deliverable - and Heathrow could not give adequate assurances. Ravi said: “All of the Heathrow expansion plans include noise respite systems which are beyond the airport’s ability to control and deliver. That was absolutely clear from the hearing."
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New Moody’s report shows Gatwick vulnerable to either its own, or a Heathrow, runway
The credit ratings agency Moody's, have produced a new report entitled "New runway will have mixed credit implications for London's airports". This indicates that Gatwick would take the biggest hit if a new runway was built in London, while Heathrow stands to gain the most from a new runway. Moody’s has concluded that a new runway either at Gatwick or at Heathrow would be bad for Gatwick. With its own new runway, Gatwick would be forced to levy higher airport charges, in order to pay for it.. Adding a runway at Heathrow would also result in increasing competition for Gatwick, because it would be at risk of losing scheduled airline traffic to Heathrow, where carriers can typically earn more per passenger mile. The Moody's analyst commented: “A runway at Heathrow would allow the airport to benefit from growth in future traffic volumes, and a new runway at Gatwick would not take significant traffic from Heathrow." And they say Gatwick double aeronautical charges would put it at a huge competitive disadvantage to Stansted, which is its main competitor in the low-cost airlines segment.
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Half of Heathrow’s busiest airlines miss landing noise reduction targets
Heathrow's own figures show that 25 of the busiest 50 airlines at Heathrow are missing landing noise targets. John Holland-Kaye said he has written to the airlines, to warn them amid continued problems with noise. Landing noise test scores were revealed by Heathrow in a 'Fly Quiet' table after monitoring between July and September this year. Airlines receive a red, amber or green rating for six noise-related categories, with green indicating the quietest performance and red the noisiest. Among the categories measured is the continuous descent approach (CDA), by which planes maintain a steady angle of approach (3 degrees) when landing, rather than descending in stages. CDA cuts fuel use and reduces noise compared to long periods of level flight because it requires less engine thrust and can keep aircraft higher for longer. But half Heathrow's airlines missed out on green CDA scores between July and September which is 5 less than in the preceding 3 months. Heathrow is hoping to cut noise from approaches a bit, by summer 2015, to try to persuade people a 3rd runway would be tolerable. The report ranks airlines by their noise performance.