Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Restrictions on UK ‘night flights’ at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted extended until 2017
In the Government's response to the Airports Commission's December 2013 interim report, Patrick McLoughlin announced that plans to more than double the number of ‘night flights’ at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports have been postponed until 2017. Under proposals outlined in the Commission’s interim report the number of planes allowed to land at the airport before 6am each day would have increased from 16 to 35 from 2015. The government now says it wants to ensure “regulatory stability” at south east airports while the Commission makes its final recommendations on which airport should be recommended to be allowed to build a new runway. The government is also extending the ban on "rare movements made by older noisier types of aircraft.” McLoughlin said: “This decision will help give certainty around the night noise environment for those living near the airports, as well as ensuring operational capacity at these airports is not affected pending decisions on any new airport capacity in light of the commission’s final report.” The government has also postponed the Commission’s recommendation for an Independent Aviation Noise Authority.
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Residents in Chicago, fed up with O’Hare airport jet noise, take to the streets to fight it
O'Hare airport in Chicago has been upsetting residents to the northwest of the city, by changing flight paths, so some people are being over flown a great deal than before. This is the result of the O'Hare Modernization Project that took effect in October 2013. The changes mean that 85% of O'Hare arrivals and departures between 11 pm and 6am will fly over homes in certain suburbs. Those living under these flight paths face not only the noise, the annoyance, the potential impacts on their health and the loss of sleep, but also a decrease in their property prices. The local community campaign, FAiR (Fair Allocation in Runways) has been touring affected neighbourhoods giving out door hanger signs encouraging people to get active and fight the flight paths, or else "kiss your property values goodbye." They plan to hand out door hangers to 50,000 homes. They also have "yard signs" (placards to stick in the front garden) for the campaign, selling these to raise campaign funds. Just as in London and near other UK airports, people are devastated by the new noise pollution. One commented that even with noise insulation, it was impossible to avoid the noise in the neighbourhood, even by going shopping, going swimming, going to the park. It cannot be avoided.
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Gatwick admits to sacrificing the lives of those in countryside to satisfy its expansion plans
The Gatwick flight path trial, and other intensified flight paths associated with Gatwick, continue to cause not only annoyance but real distress to perhaps thousands in the area. In an article reported in part of the aviation media, some of the anger and frustration comes across, as well as the callous manner in which Gatwick airport appears to view people who live in the countryside, and whose quality of life has been attacked by plane noise. Stewart Wingate is reported as saying "Why would you choose to fly a quarter of a million more planes every year over one of the world's most densely populated cities (London) when instead you can fly them mostly over fields." His ignorant comment about the area over-flown by Gatwick planes as just fields has enraged people. The article says Mr Wingate "appears to suggest sacrificing the lifestyle, peace and quiet of those who have chosen to live outside cities for the profit of a few - the foreign owners of Gatwick Airport." The airport has already started the process of 'Air Grab' over a number of Sussex towns and villages. That is a frightening prospect when Mr Wingate has said his ambition is to make Gatwick larger than Heathrow is today.
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Newham Council warns London City Airport over night time disruption, for 3 years, for its building works
Campaigners against London City Airport expansion fear years of night time disruption if a planning application is approved. The group "Stop City Airport" say long-suffering residents in the area are already facing increased noise issues due to Crossrail works and from the proposed Chinese business park by ABP (Associated British Ports). Stop City Airport raised its latest concerns after a letter from Newham Council was made public, expressing fears over night-time construction work. Campaigner Alan Haughton said: "There will be no relief for residents. Aircraft noise all day long and as soon as that finishes, non-stop piling for three years at least." The council's senior development manager Chris Gascoigne said the airport was proposing a construction programme lasting up to 7 years, with 3 of those being 24 hours a day. He commented: "In our view the proposed night time construction noise impacts are not acceptable and represent a potential reason for refusal of planning permission." The airport has been asked if it can reduce operation hours, to do construction during the day, but council officers have yet to get a reply. The airport's plans include 7 new aircraft parking stands, a 3-storey passenger pier, noise barriers and a 260-bedroom hotel.
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Reports on Thames Estuary airport plan show it is costly, risky for the taxpayer and a potential failure
Serious doubt has been cast on the prospect of a Thames estuary airport plan going ahead. Four reports have been produced for the Airports Commission, to aid their consideration of whether an estuary airport should be one of the short listed options to be taken forward, in September. One of three reports prepared for the commission published on Friday has said of the estuary plan: "Overall, the challenges to transition are considerable and amount to a significant cost and risk to the taxpayer in terms of commercial negotiations, infrastructure development and potential failure." Another report says Heathrow would have to close if the estuary scheme went ahead and that Heathrow's owners would have to be paid compensation of between £13.5 billion and £21.5 billion. The third report cited possible transport improvement costs associated with the new airport of between £10.1bn and £17.2bn for road, and up to £27 billion for rail. The report on environmental impacts which estimated that moving affected wildlife away from the new airport could cost as much as £2bn could cost as much as £2bn.
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Four Inner Thames estuary airport studies for Airports Commission finally kill off “Boris Island”
The Airports Commission has now published all four of the studies it has commissioned on an Inner Thames Estuary (ITE) airport. These reports are on environmental impacts, operational feasibility and attitudes to moving to an estuary airport, socio-economic impacts, and surface access. The first report, on environmental impacts was utterly damning, confirming the massive extent of the harm done to highly conserved habitats and their wildlife, and the near impossibility of successfully moving the wildlife elsewhere. Now the report on the feasibility of moving the airport shows the problems of flood risk, fog, wind direction, bird strike, explosives on the SS Montgomery and the Isle of Grain gas terminal - with many practically insurmountable. The report on socio-economic impacts demonstrates that aeronautical charges would have to be very high to pay for the airport, and be too high to compete with Dubai etc. Heathrow would have to close, at immense cost. The surface access report shows the cost of even minimal rail services to get most passengers to the airport would be £10 billion and more like £27 billion for a good service. The cost of road improvements would be £10 to £17 billion. The reports' conclusions now make it nearly inconceivable that a Thames Estuary Airport will ever be constructed.
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MP for Arundel & South Downs, Nick Herbert, raises Gatwick flight path trial concerns
Arundel & South Downs MP Nick Herbert has raised concerns about aircraft noise over Downland villages resulting from the ADNID flight path trial from Gatwick. This is the one that flies over Warnham and nearby villages, and has caused uproar and extensive protest to the west and south west of Gatwick. Mr Herbert has receiving numerous complaints from constituents in Kirdford, Wisborough Green, Pulborough and West Grinstead, who are getting lower flying aircraft and noise over their villages. Mr Herbert has now written to Mr Wingate seeking clarification as to whether the trial route may be adopted in the future, reiterating that this would cause unacceptable disruption to the affected villages. People need reassurance that this flightpath will not become permanent. Mr Herbert said: "I think this foreshadows a longer-term concern, which is that further expansion at Gatwick could result in greater noise from flights over this part of West Sussex, as well as increasing development pressures on the County which are already a real problem." Earlier a group of 5 MPs (Crispin Blunt, Paul Beresford, Nicholas Soames, Sir John Stanley, and Charles Hendry) formed a group to represent the serious local concern at the plan for a 2nd runway.
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Report for Airports Commission on environmental impact sinks Boris’s estuary airport plans
Boris Johnson's dreams of a massive airport in the Thames Estuary have had a major setback, from the new report produced for the Airports Commission, looking at the environmental impacts. The study shows it would cause huge environmental, financial and safety risks and would cause "large scale direct habitat loss" to hundreds of thousands of migrating birds. The cost of creating replacement habitats could exceed £2 billion and may not even be possible. Even if replacement habitat could be found, planes using the airport would still be at a "high risk" of lethal bird strike. In order to counter this risk, even larger areas of habitat would need to be destroyed to secure the airport. The report also found huge regulatory hurdles to any potential estuary airport going ahead. Under environmental regulations,the airport's backers would have to prove there were "imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI)" for placing the airport in such an environmentally sensitive area. Even if that could be proven, they would also need to demonstrate that all of the habitat displaced by the airport could be placed elsewhere. The report found that while this was "technically possible," it was highly uncertain, as such a large scale displacement had never been attempted before.
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Battle of Balsall Common’ over plane noise, from Birmingham flight path trial, goes to Parliament
The Battle of Balsall Common – which has triggered waves of complaints of noise nuisance from planes taking off at Birmingham Airport – is to go to Parliament. Angry residents are raising a protest petition to be sent to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, to ask him to look at this trial, and call it in. People affected say their lives are being made a misery by trials launched in May in advance of new flight paths being made permanent. This has happened because of the runway extension. People are deeply angry and anxious, because these flight paths are away from the NPR routes (Noise Preferential Routes), which everyone has known about for years. People have checked, in the past, to ensure they have not chosen to live near an NPR. Now, areas which nobody could have guessed would be overflow have planes overhead every few minutes. Campaigners took to the streets of Balsall Common last weekend to get signatures, in a bid to force a Government rethink of the new flight path. David Ellis, of the Balsall Common Action Group, said: ““We are told they are over 3,000 feet but that is not the point – the noise is the problem." There will be a public meeting on July 16th on the problem.
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Up to 20,000 attended a damp but determined weekend at Notre Dame des Landes, against planned Nantes airport
Up to 20,000 or so people (estimates vary) gathered at Notre Dame des Landes over the weekend of 5th and 6th July, from across France, to support the campaign against the planned airport, and show their solidarity. Though dampened by almost continuous rain on the first day, spirits were not dimmed, and some 50 talks and debates went on - under canvas. There were also concerts by popular French singers, as well as stalls and activities for all ages. Some of those taking part in the weekend are opposing other Large Unnecessary Imposed Projects (Les Grands Projets Inutiles Imposés) across France, with a sincere desire to stop mega-projects that do great environmental harm, for dubious economic benefit. Work on the airport project has been frozen since 2012, largely due to legal obstructions. The last large protest by the Nantes opponents, organised by ACIPA, was on 22 February 2014, attended by between 20 000 and 50 000 people in streets of Nantes, which was severely policed, and from which there were injuries and some public damage.This weekend's event was peaceful, and once the sun came out, the sky was filled with protest kites.