Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
LETTER in West Sussex Gazette: Politicians are not listening to voters on Gatwick 2nd runway threat
In July 2013, West Sussex County Council, in a rushed and questionably democratic vote, gave its support for a 2nd runway at Gatwick. This is despite having commissioned a study in 2013 that showed somewhere between 30,000 and 45,000 new houses would need to be built in the area, and other serious local problems. The Chair of CAGNE (Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions), writing in the local press, has emphasised how the opinions of the thousands who have been alerted to the new runway threat, need to be taken account of by local politicians and councillors. Horsham Council is Conservative controlled, with 7 Lib Dem councillors. However, the leader of the Horsham LibDems, Frances Haigh, has backed a 2nd Gatwick runway, even though that was voted against at the recent party conference. There are very real fears about implications of a 2nd runway, on housing, transport, pressure on all social services and infrastructure - and councillors would do well to take account of these views, with some district elections next year.
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MPs in areas affected by Gatwick say its expansion is a ‘disaster waiting to happen’
Crispin Blunt and other local MPs in the areas around Gatwick have written to Stewart Wingate to tell him that his runway proposals are a "pipe dream. " The MPs say Gatwick's runway application is “a developmental disaster waiting to happen”, and local communities are not large enough to support the planned expansion. They warn that planned upgrades to transport links, to deal with the current crowding, will not be sufficient for a possible trebling of current passenger numbers. Adding a runway will result in gridlocked traffic on the M23 and train problems, as more air passengers want to travel with large luggage items. Gatwick claims it can meet local air quality targets, which Heathrow cannot, but if Gatwick grows to approach the size Heathrow is now, it will have the same air quality problems. The MPs say: “The sooner this damaging pipe dream is abandoned, the better for its neighbours." Also that there is very low local unemployment, and already a “desperate” shortage of housing. "Gatwick’s blithe assumption that the additional housing need would be met by local authorities’ existing development plans is wholly incredible”.
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Stansted airport claim “66% cut in net carbon footprint” this year – they are buying biomass-generated electricity from Drax
Stansted airport has produced its "Sustainability Report" for 2013. It announces the remarkable claim that: "Our net carbon footprint for 2013/14 was 9,940 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions – a reduction of 66% compared to 2012/13." It does not specify what a "net" carbon footprint is though. Unfortunately the format of the 2013 Sustainability Report and the format of earlier years makes comparison impossible. However, the claim of a 66% cut - written to imply a cut in the carbon footprint of the whole airport - is only referring to its use of electricity. The press release says: "... 66% reduction in the carbon footprint achieved by moving the airport onto MAG’s group contract for purchasing low carbon electricity, which is generated using only biomass such as wood and straw rather than coal." It turns out that MAG has a contract with Haven Energy, that is part of Drax, which is turning its generators from burning coal to burning biomass, in the form of wood pellets from forest in the southern USA, doing considerable environmental harm. While Drax claims its biomass electricity has 80% less CO2 than coal, some consider it to produce more, not less. That 66% claim is highly dubious ...
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Classic council nimbyism: Wandsworth Council backs Gatwick expansion – anything to avoid more Heathrow noise misery
Wandsworth Council has been a vociferous opponent of expansion at Heathrow, because its residents are badly affected by Heathrow aircraft noise. But now a motion has been voted on - unanimously - by the full Wandsworth Council, backing a new runway at Gatwick. This is a stunning example of Council nimbyism, and irresponsible self interest. Gatwick has spent a lot of money in lobbying west London councils, and this has paid off in Wandsworth. The Council rightly praises itself on its battle against Heathrow, expansion which "would deliver a devastating blow to hundreds of thousands of Londoners whose lives would be blighted by noise and pollution." They appear not to appreciate that they are advocating inflicting the same misery on other people, in Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Wandsworth even hopes Gatwick expansion will benefit them financially. Their view is based on the opinions of their unfortunate residents, who suffer significantly from Heathrow, but Wandsworth also unquestioningly backs the myth of airport expansion in the south east being "badly needed." You can email them your views: aviation@wandsworth.gov.uk
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Cardiff Airport drop in passenger numbers prompts Tories’ private ownership call
The Welsh Conservatives have called for Cardiff Airport to be returned to private ownership after September saw a year-on-year drop in passenger numbers of 7%. The fall was described as “expected” by the Welsh Government. An air industry insider said: “This is more bad news for Cardiff Airport - and the figures don’t include the imminent closure of the CityJet route to Glasgow. The downward trend is noticeable – in August the passenger numbers were down 8.2% at 135,900." Shadow Transport Minister Byron Davies said: “These reports of a near double digit decline in passenger numbers at Cardiff Airport in the past two months compared to 2013 are deeply concerning. Welsh Conservatives disagreed with Labour’s decision to spend £52m buying Cardiff Airport, but now it is state-owned, Labour ministers must work hard to help it achieve its potential." There will soon be one Ryanair flight per week from Cardiff to Tenerife. All just holiday traffic. Bucket 'n spade.
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Road and rail chaos, with congestion and over-crowding, predicted if new Gatwick runway built
A new research paper prepared by author and environmental expert Jeremy Early, on Surface access to Gatwick Airport predicts that a new runway at Gatwick would bring road and rail chaos. He points out that the existing road structure is nearly full, with serious delays occurring on many routes, especially on the M23 and A23 into London. Planned improvements will only be sufficient to deal with the forecast growth in traffic – without a new runway. A new runway, operating at full capacity of 95 million passengers a year, would mean an a massive increase in road traffic movements each day. It would probably reduce the M25 and M23 to a standstill - all day not just occasionally. On rail, the report shows that already between 2010 and 2014 rail journeys in the South-East increased more than 20%. The extra trains that Gatwick airport boasts of are in reality already just to cope with the expected increase in demand – with no new runway. With a new runway Gatwick predict a three-fold increase in the number of air passengers using Gatwick station. It could be standing room only, with no spare capacity on parts of the network.
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Failed Blackpool airport, now shut, owes some £21 million, of which £2 million to unsecured creditors
Blackpool airport has been closed down, but it has now emerged that Blackpool Airport Ltd (the operator), which is part of its owner, Balfour Beatty, owed divisions of its parent company Balfour Beatty £19.2m. It also owes unsecured creditors, firms and individuals supplying goods and services to the airport, £2m. Now the assets and equipment on the airport’s site will have to be sold off to the highest bidder to pay off creditors. Liquidators have visited the airport to price up anything which can be auctioned off to raise money. The airport had been losing around £1.5m a year and had been put up for sale in September. A Blackpool councillor commented: “Clearly the management of the airport was not working and has not been for a long time. The debt seems an awful lot and it seems to be much more than the losses they had been reported as making over recent years. It’s clear ... Balfour Beatty was out of its depth when it comes to running an airport. I think it has a lot of explaining to do."
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Thousands fear compulsory purchase of their land, and eviction, for massive Taiwan aerotropolis + 3rd runway
A huge airport city, or Aerotropolis, is planned around Taiwan Taoyan airport. However, its construction needs a great deal of land (about 3,000 hectares), and that many thousands of people (about 12,000 households) are moved. Residents who may face forced eviction, for inadequate compensation, have been battling against the threat since last year. Some of the land is earmarked for a new runway – the airport already has two runways, and only about 30 million passengers per year. One person, in tears, facing expropriation said: “My family has been on the plot of land on which our two-story house now stands since my great-grandparents’ time. We got married in this house, we raised our children in this house ….We want to grow old in the house, and we want our children to get married and have their children in the house, too.” People question why good quality farmland would be destroyed, and whether corruption in high places has been a reason for the airport plans.
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Biggin Hill and Oxford airports sue RAF Northolt over its expansion into commercial private jet flights
Two small UK airports that depend on business jets, Oxford and Biggin Hill, are suing the military airport, RAF Northolt because it has expanded into civilian flights. It has done this to make money for the MoD, after their budget cuts. They claim that, because Northolt is operated by the MoD and therefore taxpayer funded, it has an unfair competition advantage. The expansion at Northolt also affects the number of business jet flights that Luton and Farnborough can get, and their flight numbers have fallen in recent years. In May 2013 Northolt said it would begin to more than double the number of civilian flights from a self-imposed cap of 7,000 to 17,500 by 2016. Of that total, military movements will remain at about 5,500 a year. Northolt is the closest private jet airport to central London. The MD of Biggin Hill said: “We, like Oxford, like Farnborough, have all been through a very tough time and they’ve pulled the rug from underneath us. It’s not a level playing field.” They claim Northolt has about 15% of the London market, and are cheaper as they don't have to meet the same safety standards as commercial airports.
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Aéroport de Notre-Dame-des-Landes: building permit suspended temporarily awaiting environmental appeals
At Nantes, a new airport to replace the existing one, is planned at Notre Dame des Landes. It has now been announced by the Prefecture Loire-Atlantique that the building permits filed in April 2013 have now been suspended pending appeals on environmental decrees. Two appeals were filed against the project by environmental groups and community opposing the project: one against the prefectural decree regarding the directive on water; the other against the decree on the transfer of protected species. The instruction "will resume on the basis of a record that will reflect the changing conditions of implementation of the project (date of commissioning, development of traffic)." It was recently revealed by Canard Enchaîné, the weekly satirical French newspaper, that the new airport buildings and facilities will actually be considerably smaller than those of the current airport. They might even be below the necessary standards, and the distance passengers would need to walk would be longer. The authorities admit it will be "more compact" but say it is scalable from 4 million passengers per year up to even 9 million eventually.