Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
“Pas Question!” [“No Way!”] group in Brussels fights the hated Wathelet Plan flight path changes
On 6th February this year, Melchior Wathelet (Belgium's secretary of state in charge of Environment, Energy and Mobility) introduced a plan that reorganizes the departure routes from Brussels airport in Zaventem. As a result of this "Wathelet Plan", the majority of departing aircraft are routed over densely populated areas of central and southern Brussels. The changes are deeply controversial and deeply unpopular among the Brussels residents, who have not been intensively over-flown before. There is huge anger about the changes, and that the numbers over-flown are now far higher than before. On the plus side, some areas that were previously over-flown now have fewer flights. Now almost 18,000 residents have signed a petition to suspend the Wathelet Plan. Its opponents say it was introduced without any prior consultation with local residents, and that in other EU countries, such a consultation process is a regulatory requirement before any change to aircraft flight paths is made. An active group called "Pas Question!" - which means "No Way!" has formed, and they regard the new flight paths as nonsensical. They want the plan cancelled, and are convinced that an alternative policy is possible.
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EasyJet CEO still has no details of the practical economics of a Heathrow or Gatwick runway
In an interview, by Buying Business Travel, with Caroline McCall, the CEO of EasyJet she said Heathrow is an expensive airport, which is why they do not fly from there. On Gatwick’s and Heathrow’s bids for runway expansion she says: “We’ve seen none of the economics behind either of those visions. Inevitably it will be the airlines and therefore the passengers, that will fund this. Therefore, it’s a very, very big decision for Easyjet – because any increase in passenger fares is something that affects our low-fare proposition"...."We make £7 profit per seat – that’s it. We’ve raised that from £4.50 over the last four years. I think Heathrow are talking around £15 billion, Gatwick are talking around £7-8 billion. If you think about the price per passenger for that, you can see we have to be really, really careful about any capacity going into either airport, and before we take a view on it, we have to understand the economics.” And they want to focus on more business travellers: "because we know we get higher yields.”
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Standard reports that “Lib-Dems ready to drop Gatwick runway ban from election plans”
The Evening Standard reports that the LibDems are set to use their election manifesto to open the door to a 2nd runway at Gatwick while still opposing a 3rd runway at Heathrow. The Standard says the party is moving towards scrapping its blanket ban on airport expansion in the South-East. "It could be replaced with a series of tests on climate change and local pollution, as well as on levels of noise suffered by communities around airports." (Whatever that is meant to mean). The process of writing their election manifesto is being overseen by MP David Laws. It is still at the committee stage of drawing up key policies to be put to members for approval at the LibDem conference in the autumn. A "senior LibDem" is quoted as saying: “We will not endorse an expansion in airport capacity which would increase current noise pollution for the hundreds of thousands of residents living beneath the flight path, or which would break the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendations on aviation, which are needed to meet our carbon reduction targets.” (The CCC targets are rather weak and permit a new runway, with various provisos).
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Scottish government outlines nearly £10m of public funding for failing Prestwick airport
The Scottish government bought Prestwick from Infratil for £1 in November 2013. Now Prestwick is to receive nearly £10 million of investment from the Scottish government. It will go towards operating costs, a repairs and maintenance backlog and to make improvements to the terminal building. The airport has lost nearly £10 million in 2013. It was announced towards the end of May that a taxpayer-funded report on the future viability of Prestwick would not be published, to protect commercially confidential information. This has led to accusations that ministers are expecting “blind faith” from the public and "keeping taxpayers in the dark" on spending public money. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said £5.5m had been provided already since acquisition and the Scottish government would be required "to provide a further £3m in operating support". There will be nearly £7m in capital investment - £4.5m for repairs and £2.4m to make improvements to the terminal building.. Future revenue could come from freight and retail development. Future revenue may come from freight and retail development
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Heathrow film competition presents 15 impressive anti-3rd-runway campaigning films
At a packed event held in Richmond Theatre, organised by MP Zac Goldsmith, with some 800 people present (free seats), Hugh Grant, Holly Willoughby and Rachel Johnson were the celebrities judging the competition for short films, of 2 minutes or less, opposing a 3rd Heathrow runway. The evening was ably and entertainingly compered by Giles Brandreth. The first prize was £10,000, the second prize £3,000 and the 3rd prize £2,000. Some 50 short films were entered into the competition. The 15 considered the best were shown at the gala event, for the judges to select the top three. The audience then voted on these three. All the 15 films shown were of a very high quality; any one of the 15 films could have been the winner. They all showed a high level of film expertise; there was a wide range of styles and approaches; all showed great originality and creativity, and put the message across powerfully. Anyone present at the gala event would be left in no doubt about just how determinedly people in the areas badly affected by Heathrow will do whatever it takes to ensure no new Heathrow runway gets built.
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Plane noise from Heathrow drowns out Hounslow school, as Sir Howard makes a visit
In a 2 minute video clip by the BBC, the head teacher, Dee Scott, of the Beavers Primary School in Hounslow, shows Sir Howard Davies - head of the Airports Commission, round the school. She explains to him and members of the Commission the impact another runway could have and the problems of trying to teach against the noise. The area is subjected to a plane overhead about every 90 seconds or so (noise lasting perhaps 30 seconds of that) for at least half of each school day (with westerly operations). And the problem of having to be either cool enough - with the windows open - but with noise that makes the proper function of the school impossible. OR keep the windows closed, and reduce the noise while everyone inside is uncomfortably hot. Sir Howard's exact words in the film were that the Airports Commission has to "balance the economic interests of the many and the environmental and nuisance costs to the few". The "few" means about 725,000 people currently affected by Heathrow noise, within the 55 decibel Lden contour and about 245,000 in the 57 decibel LAeq contour.
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Surrey and Sussex MPs oppose Gatwick runway ‘disaster’
Five MPs have begun a campaign against the building of a 2nd Gatwick runway. The Conservative MPs, who represent Sussex, Surrey and Kent constituencies, said the scheme for the airport near Crawley would be "a disaster" for communities and the environment - and there was "serious local concern" at the plan. Reigate MP Crispin Blunt, one of the members of the newly-formed Gatwick Coordination Group, said: "If Gatwick expands in the way that's planned, it will need many tens of thousands of new people working there, and they are all going to need somewhere to live. The airport at the moment are providing a preposterous suggestion that these people are largely going to come from existing communities in Croydon and Brighton. Well I'm afraid that's just simply not the case." Mr Blunt also said no new railway line had been proposed and the London to Brighton commuter line was already "the busiest commuter line in the country" and at capacity. The other 4 MPs behind the campaign are Sir Paul Beresford, Sir Nicholas Soames, Sir John Stanley, and Charles Hendry, MP for Wealden. Crawley Conservative MP Henry Smith said he declined to endorse the press release.
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Plan to redirect Stansted Airport departures to reduce Heathrow congestion
Air traffic control service NATS proposes to redirect the majority of Stansted departures from an established southerly route, to an existing route to the east of the airport. “At the moment, departures from Stansted heading towards the South East are kept lower for longer when compared to the route heading east because of Heathrow arrivals." The changes would only affect daytime departures. This is to reduce congestion above Heathrow. Arrivals are not affected. NATS has started a 12-week consultation on the proposals. Martin Peachey, noise advisor for Stop Stansted Expansion campaign group said: “We basically support the proposal because NATS say it should reduce the amount of people flown in the day and reduce CO2 emissions. It would remove day time departures for a large area to the south but it would double the amount of flights to the east so that would need to be carefully studied. .... There will be winners and losers.” The changes are part of the NATS’ London Airspace Management Programme (LAMP).
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MPs initiate “Gatwick Coordination Group” – saying 2nd runway is not in the local or national interest
MPs Crispin Blunt, Sir Paul Beresford, Rt Hon Sir Nicholas Soames, Rt Hon Sir John Stanley, and Charles Hendry have formed the Gatwick Coordination Group. The Group is established to represent the serious local concern at the plan for a 2nd runway. The MPs' group released a statement saying they believe a 2nd Gatwick runway would be a disaster for the surrounding communities and environment. They say the level of development, associated with an airport serving nearly three times as many passengers as it does now, would devastate the local environment and leave the UK with its major airport in the wrong place. Also that there is no adequate plan yet presented to provide the necessary infrastructure, of all types, to support this development. "The size of the Gatwick site only lends itself to a single runway airport, serving as a sensible, competitive alternate to London's main hub airport. While they pursue that objective, Gatwick Airport Limited will have our support, but this proposal is not in the local interest, nor is it in the national interest, and this group will work to prove that case."
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Huge mobilisation planned at Notre Dame des Landes on 5/6 July with hope the airport project can be withdrawn
The campaign at Notre Dame des Landes, against the planned new Nantes airport, continues. On the weekend of 5th and 6th July, a huge mobilisation is planned, with people coming from areas across France to show their opposition and resistance to the plans. The campaign is adamant they want nothing less than the abandonment of the airport plan. The project is held up still, because of legal appeals and EU Directives on water and threatened species, but it has not yet been cancelled. More people are now living on the ZAD, and more of it is now being cultivated, with a farm saved. Some delay is due to an environmental assessment being needed on the whole project, rather than separate bits of it. The Socialist and Green Parties, and the new Minister for Environment, Ségolène Royal, agreed after the recent election that no work can start till all the legal processes are completed. Local campaigners want farmers and residents to be able to plan their futures, free of the airport threat. They hope this project, and other "Grands projets inutiles et imposés" that are land-hungry, biodiversity destructive, guzzling aquatic and fossil fuel resources as well as public subsidies, can be stopped.