Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Stansted publishes consultation on draft plan for future development, staying a one runway airport
Stansted Airport has published its draft Sustainable Development Plan (SDP), for consultation until 7th November. The plan sets out the airport's ambition to grow (it is always thus in this industry - perpetual growth....) But at least the airport is not planning on a second runway. It anticipates getting up to 45 million passengers per year on one runway, while it had about 17.8 million passengers in 2013, and has planning permission for up to 35 million. The timing of the consultation is apt, being the same day as the Airports Commission rejected an estuary airport. Stansted says its "important role has already been recognised by the Airports Commission, and the plan will help inform its final recommendations to Government on the vital contribution that Stansted’s existing capacity will make to meeting demand over the next 10-15 years." Local group, SSE (Stop Stansted Expansion) commented on the SDP that they welcomed the plan being only for a single runway airport; they want a gradual phasing out of night flights; and they want the approximately 270 properties near the airport, bought by BAA, to be returned to private ownership.
Click here to view full story...
Open letter from a resident of Bidborough to Stewart Wingate, on the increased Gatwick noise nuisance
Below is a letter from a resident in Bidborough, which has recently experienced a much greater degree of aircraft noise - from Gatwick arrivals - than it has ever done in the past. Along with thousands of others in the areas of Tunbridge Wells, Bidborough, Hever, Penshurst, Chiddingstone and many others, the writer of the letter is justifiably angry and upset about what Gatwick and NATS have changed - and particularly at being fobbed off by responses from Gatwick which deny there has been any change. The residents very genuinely believe there have been changes, that flight paths are being concentrated, and many planes are lower. AirportWatch does not endorse the letter, nor can we confirm its factual accuracy. But it is copied here, to illustrate the extent - and the determination - of the new opposition that has recently sprung up in areas to the east of Gatwick.
Click here to view full story...
Airports Commission gives comprehensive & unambiguous decision not to short-list a Thames estuary airport
As widely leaked, the Airports Commission has decided against short listing an inner Thames estuary airport scheme, for further consideration. The Commission had intended not to short list the scheme back in December 2013, but were persuaded to give the concept further thought. The report's wording is unambiguous. They say, to take a few direct quotes: " we are not persuaded that a very large airport in the Thames Estuary is the right answer to London's and the UK's connectivity needs." "To roll the dice on a very risky project, where delays and overruns are highly likely, would be reckless." "...Commission has concluded that the proposal for a new ITE airport has substantial disadvantages that collectively outweigh its potential benefits. Cumulative obstacles to delivery, high costs and uncertainties in relation to its economic and strategic benefits contribute to an assessment that an ITE airport proposal does not represent a credible option for short-listing." And "...if UK carbon emissions are to be kept within the overall cap, concentrating a very high number of flights in one location could limit the scope for growth elsewhere and hence reduce the overall diversity of the UK airports system." So a very definite NO.
Click here to view full story...
Anger at Gatwick flight path changes causes blossoming of protest across the area
New flight paths introduced by Gatwick Airport Ltd (GAL) are causing a wave of protest across large parts of East and West Sussex, Kent and Surrey. MPs including Nick Herbert, Francis Maude, Paul Beresford, Crispin Blunt, John Stanley, Greg Clark, and Charles Hendry all report that they are overwhelmed with correspondence from upset constituents. New anti-noise groups, all welcomed and supported by GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign - the long established community group), have sprung up in Crowborough, Sevenoaks Weald, Tunbridge Wells, Penshurst, Chiddingstone, Beare Green, and Warnham. GAL called an emergency meeting of the airport noise committee (NATMAG) on 29th August to try to calm the situation – before it takes the shine off their extravaganza campaign for a 2nd runway. The public annoyance and anger have been caused not only by the ADNID flight path trial, but also new concentrated departure flight paths over Holmwood, Brockham and Reigate, and also over Penshurst and Tunbridge Wells. There have also been more, and lower, arrivals over parts of Kent and East Sussex - and fears there of a concentrated merge point in future.
Click here to view full story...
Boris Johnson: 3rd runway at Heathrow would be a ‘disaster’ – adamant on “need” for new estuary airport
Boris Johnson has rebuffed calls to back a 3rd runway at Heathrow, saying it would be a "disaster". He said Heathrow's plans were "desperately short-sighted" and "barbarically contemptuous of the rights of the population", whose health he said would be put at risk. The Airports Commission is expected to announce this week if it will drop plans for a massive airport in the Thames estuary. A few days earlier, Heathrow's new chief executive John Holland-Kaye wrote an open letter to Boris asking him to back a 3rd Heathrow runway, if the Commission rejected the estuary - quite an "ask" bearing in mind Boris' forceful opposition to it in the past. Writing today in the Daily Telegraph Boris said: "We need scale and ambition to compete, and Heathrow is no answer." He said a Heathrow 3rd runway would be "a disaster for hundreds of thousands of people living under new flight paths, who currently have no idea of the peril.....Heathrow is already by far the noisiest airport in Europe, about a hundred times worse than Paris. A 3rd runway will mean there are more than a million people in the city affected by noise pollution of more than 55db."
Click here to view full story...
Blackpool airport (losing about £1.5 million per year) put up for sale by Balfour Beatty
Blackpool Airport has been put up for sale by Balfour Beatty, which bought it in 2008. The airport is saying the sale will not affect flights, and it hopes to get new routes. Balfour Beatty paid £14m for the airport, and has now has decided to sell its operating interests in the site as part of a wider decision to sell all its interests in regional airports. But it will continue to own the land on which the terminal stands. Alan Cavill, assistant chief executive at Blackpool Council, which sold the airport in 2004 for £13 million, welcomed the news. A London-based restructuring specialist is handling handle the sale and inviting expressions of interest from would-be buyers before September 10th, but no price has been put on the airport. Balfour Beatty has invested almost £30m in the site since 2008. But passenger numbers have dropped over the years from a peak of around 500,000 in 2007. It gets passengers from the North West of England, Southern Scotland, Cumbria and Cheshire. The airport makes an annual loss of about £1.5m per year. Three airlines are based at Blackpool including Jet2 with 13 destinations.
Click here to view full story...
Feedback from Farnborough Airport consultation released – 98% said change unjustified
TAG Farnborough Airport has released a feedback report following its 3 month consultation (ended 12th May) on controversial plans to chance its airspace. Farnborough wants the changes to be approved by the CAA, so it can have a "more predictable flow of traffic around the airport" which it claims could mean fewer flights at low altitude and aircraft flying fewer miles. TAG has now published a feedback document on the responses. This shows there were 13,000 comments, including around 2,500 from stakeholders. They are overwhelmingly negative, with 99% of responses from general aviation negative; 98% of responses to the justification of the changes negative; and 99% negative on the alleged environmental benefits. There was a high level of concern about the proposals, and the results they would have on non-Farnborough air traffic, having to re-route. There were also concerns about the environmental impact and safety. Many also fear the plans will facilitate an increase in number of flights. A 2nd feedback report is due to be published in early 2015, before an application is submitted to the CAA, after TAG has considered whether the objections and suggested alternatives can be incorporated into a refined airspace design.
Click here to view full story...
Holland-Kaye open letter to Boris asking him to back Heathrow runway if estuary plan rejected by Airports Commission
Heathrow's chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, has appealed to the London mayor, Boris Johnson, to back its campaign for a 3rd runway, ahead of the possible dismissal of his own Thames estuary scheme from consideration by the Airports Commission. In an open letter to Boris, Holland-Kaye says he and Boris share the same belief that only a large, hub airport can (allegedly) provide the scale and range of global flights that - they claim - the economy needs. Neither of them believe a new runway at Gatwick would give what they claim the UK "needs." Holland-Kaye's letter says: "We have nothing against Gatwick but you have rightly identified that its claim that it can deliver the same benefits as a hub airport is 'a sham, a snare and a delusion'." Boris said, of Heathrow's 3rd runway plans, last year: "Anyone who believes there would be the space to do that at Heathrow, which already blights the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners, is quite simply crackers." The situation has been complicated by Boris' decision to apply to become MP for Uxbridge. He said in May: “I will respect the findings of the Davies Commission but I will not abide by them.”
Click here to view full story...
New grouping called “Gatwick Obviously NOT” pulling together 12 local groups in Kent and West Sussex against Gatwick plans
On 27th August, under the auspices of Gatwickobviouslynot.org, twelve groups from all over Kent and Sussex got together in Penshurst to discuss the next steps in dealing with problems relating to Gatwick. Main concerns were the recent Gatwick airspace consultation, that has been dubbed "not fit for purpose " by Greg Clark MP, the situation with new and altered flight paths, and the threat of aircraft noise becoming substantially worse if Gatwick was able to build a second runway. The meeting noted that the CEO of Gatwick, Stewart Wingate, had that same day said 'Expansion at Gatwick is the obvious choice" and can be delivered to our country "at an environmental cost it can afford" - a statement which those attending the meeting found most perplexing and very disturbing. The meeting demonstrated very clearly the determination of people in previously quiet areas of Kent and Sussex not to allow Gatwick to destroy their peace, and their quality of life. The new groups are articulate, determined and organised - and by working together, and with the older established campaign, they are a force to be reckoned with.
Click here to view full story...
Nick Herbert, MP for Arundel & South Downs, joins others in speaking out against noise nuisance from ADNID trial
Nick Herber, the MP for Arundel and South Downs, has received numerous complaints from constituents in Kirdford, Wisborough Green, West Grinstead and other villages about noise from low flying aircraft from Gatwick. This has been due to the ADNID flight path trial, that lasted 6 months and ended on 8th August. He did not get aircraft noise complaints before ADNID. Though it has now ended, Mr Herbert says some constituents say the aircraft noise still continues. He has taken up the issue with Stewart Wingate, and has also been working with Francis Maude, the MP for Horsham, whose constituents are also affected. They have raised the matter with the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin. The MPs are challenging the assertion that there needs to be any new Noise Preferential Route (NPR) in order for Gatwick to achieve a modest potential increase in hourly movements as a single runway airport. They have also complained about the consultation, which was badly done. Mr Herbert is aware of the extent of local concern not only about the new flight paths becoming permanent, but the even worse prospect of the increased traffic from a 2nd runway.