Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
CEO of Birmingham airport says airlines should be encouraged to use regional airports
Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport has urged the Government to get behind 'great airports for great cities'. Addressing a cross party reception of MPs, lords and business leaders in London following the Queen's Speech, he said more needed to be done to maximise the use of what capacity the country has now in its city regions. The south east has a disproportionate amount of UK airport capacity. Kehoe says Birmingham can now cater for long-haul flights to destinations such as China and the west coast of the US and will be even closer to the capital when,or if, HS2 opens. Next month, it will be the first airport outside of London to host a flight to and from China. He told MPs: "The West Midlands is the only region in the UK with a positive balance of trade with China, with our advanced manufacturing base leading the way. He wants to see government action to make better use of the airports and runways we have already. This means changes to tax rules to encourage airlines to use regional airports for long haul routes.
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Stars to judge £10,000 Heathrow anti-runway campaign film competition – entry deadline 7th June
Zac Goldsmith had unveiled his star cast to judge a £10,000 anti-Heathrow airport expansion film competition. Presenter Holly Willoughby and Bafta award-winning director Nick Broomfield will join actor Hugh Grant and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth on the panel of judges for the "No Ifs No Buts" competition set up by Zac (MP for Richmond) with anti-expansion group Hacan. The nationwide competition was launched 2 months ago to highlight opposition to the 3rd runway at Heathrow. Entrants have been asked to submit a 2-minute video saying why a 3rd runway should not be built. The short-listed entries will be judged by at a gala night in the Richmond Theatre in front of 800 guests on June 18, with a £10,000 prize. Zac said: “Heathrow expansion is not politically deliverable. The arguments against it are stacking up every week and the opposition is organised and growing ..... A green light for Heathrow expansion is effectively a green light for a vast, foreign-owned and taxpayer-subsidised monopoly on one edge of our great city. It is astonishing that the idea is even in consideration.”
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Thousands across France will converge on Nantes for 5/6th July – many marching with walking stick relay
Over the weekend of 5th and 6th July , there will be another massive mobilisation at Notre Dame des Landes, against the planned new airport - to replace the existing Nantes airport. Thousands will attend from across France. There are around 200 support committees across the country, working to oppose the airport. Now there will be "convergences" from across France, where people are already setting out to walk to the protest. Others will travel, by bike, and many also by vehicle - having attended protest rallies in the areas from where they start. The chosen symbol for these marches, or "caravans" will be their walking sticks. Remembering the civil protests in the 1970s against a military camp at Larzac, those walking will bring with them a walking stick (engraved with their name, and the region from which they come), and the rhythmic noise of these clacking on the tarmac will be, as with the Larzac march to Paris in 1978, the sound signature of this part of the protest. Those who cannot complete the whole march will pass on their walking sticks as a relay, so they arrive at Notre Dame des Landes.
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Gatwick claims that with better public transport it will be “road & rail ready” for 2nd runway by 2021
Gatwick has produced a glossy document setting out how it will have fantastic road and rail links in place by 2021, that there will be no road or rail congestion, and everyone will have smoother and easier journeys. And at no cost to anyone. There are some stunning omissions. Most things that are inconvenient are just left out. They say "Gatwick will increase the cost efficiency in the rail industry by filling off-peak trains as well as providing passengers for trains operating in the opposite direction to peak commuter services. While it is estimated that, on the busiest trains, only 5% of travellers will be air passengers, the overall benefit they will bring will be around £3 billion in additional fare income." Gatwick says: "Junction 9 of the M23 ... will need to be upgraded to cater for expansion. Gatwick has committed to funding a doubling of this motorway junction capacity." The only thing Gatwick has said it will pay for. Also: "we have re-designed the local road network to be no busier than it is today, even after a general increase in demand, which will lessen local noise and air quality effects of background traffic, benefit economic activity and the quality of life of those using and living along the affected roads." Really? Who writes this stuff?
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Heathrow and Gatwick set out their rival claims at RunwaysUK conference on airport surface access
The organisation, RunwaysUK, which describes itself as a neutral platform for debate on the rival runway schemes, held an interesting and productive half day conference on surface access to airports. There were accounts by Heathrow, Gatwick, Heathrow Hub and the Thames estuary scheme proposers of their plans for road and rail access, as well as contributions by TfL, Network Rail and others with an interest. It is recognised that adding a runway in the south east would come with immense transport strains on existing transport infrastructure. In order to meet requirements on the amount of passengers (and staff) using the airport to be by public transport, the airports know they cannot depend on road access alone. The pressure of extra passengers on networks that are already stretched, especially at peak times, is recognised - though Gatwick and Heathrow do their best to say their passengers will add little, and merely make rail services more profitable out of peak hours. Vexed issues remain of how much the taxpayer pays for transport services the airports benefit from, and what the cost of added congestion to road and rail services - from millions of extra air passengers being added - would cost the economy.
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New airport planned at Chinchero close to Machu Picchu to bring in ever more tourists
Machu Picchu is one of the world’s great spectacles, and the numbers of tourists visiting it has risen – 2.3 million in 2011. Now the existing airport of Cusco Velazco Astete is said to be filling up, so another larger airport is planned, at nearby Chinchero. The plan is for a 4,000 metre runway, able to […]
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Heathrow’s bid for a 3rd runway includes doubling air freight – with associated increase in lorries
In Heathrow's proposal for a 3rd runway, it plans to double its cargo capacity. It hopes this will help its bid, due to the financial value of air freight. In the past, some of the air freight industry have said Heathrow ignored their needs. Heathrow is now saying that its key logistics role as a single primary air freight hub for the UK is important for the economy, for export competitiveness, and essential for British importers and exporters to enable them to access key global markets. Some 65% of the UK’s £400bn air freight exports already travel via Heathrow, almost all as belly hold in passenger planes. The airport plans to have its freight area improved with a new cargo railhead, and better road links. Speaking at the Runways UK conference on 2nd June, Simon Earle said local residents consulted by Heathrow were unhappy about the number of HGV lorries. Air pollution is already often in breach of air quality levels. An article by T&E bemoans the resistance to changes and to cuts in polluting emissions by the lorry manufacturers. That does not bode well for Heathrow air quality, with much higher numbers of HGV movements in future.
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American FoI documents show USA is barring John Stewart from the country on allegations it admits are unfounded
On 29th September 2011 John Stewart set off for the USA for a speaking tour. He was arrested and taken off the plane by armed US police at New York JFK airport, under suspicion - in theory - of threatening Barak Obama. But he was held for lengthy questioning. He remains barred from entering the US. Now the Telegraph's David Millward reports that official US documents obtained by The Telegraph under American FoI legislation have raised fresh questions over John's treatment. John spearheaded the campaign to block a 3rd Heathrow runway in 2010, and continues to lead the anti-runway campaign. Documents now show that less than an hour before John’s Delta Airlines flight landed at JFK – it received reports that he had made a threat against the president. The source of this incorrect information remains unknown. It is now clear that the US authorities knew as early as 4.29pm that: “previous reports were unsubstantiated”. But the questioning by the American secret service and FBI continued until around 9.15pm. The authorities decided to deport John, with no reason given, and with no redress.
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GACC calls on all councils around Gatwick to hold public meetings on flight path plans
Gatwick airport is consulting on future changes to flight paths. The consultation is long, complicated and almost incomprehensible to the average lay person. It is very hard indeed for those to be over flown, with no experience of aircraft noise, to understand. The proposals could have a serious impact on many towns and villages around the airport, and potentially affect an area from Guildford to Tunbridge Wells and from Petworth to Sevenoaks. Now GACC has called on all parish councils and town councils around Gatwick airport to hold public meetings to enable residents to understand and discuss the new flight paths proposed by the airport. If the parish or town is not affected by the new flight paths, then GACC suggest that a meeting should be held to discuss the proposals for a new runway. John Byng, Vice chairman of GACC, said: ‘Many people are telling us that the flight path document is difficult to understand. The proposals affect each area differently, so we believe that local meetings are the best answer.’ GACC will be asking for a simpler version of the consultation to be sent to all those under the new flight path, and for maps showing the full length of the new flight paths, not merely below 4,000 feet.
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Mayor of London figures refute Heathrow claims of less aircraft noise with a 3rd runway
Figures published by the London Mayor “blow out of the water” Heathrow’s claim that overall noise levels would fall if a 3rd runway was built, Heathrow campaigners said. The figures, part of Boris Johnson’s report on the Estuary Airport submitted to the Airport’s Commission last week, showed Heathrow’s claims assumed the new runway would be operating at only one-third capacity. They also argued that Heathrow was too optimistic about the introduction of quieter aircraft. The Mayor’s figures, based on a study he commissioned from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), showed if a 3rd runway was built more than 1m people would be impacted by noise, up from 725,000 today. (55 Lden). While Heathrow is trying to claim 50% more planes will mean less noise, in reality the noise will rise. Heathrow still has not found a way to deal with the politically toxic problem of noise. A 3rd runway would mean people would be disturbed in new areas of London and the south-east. Areas from Kensington to Deptford would be within the noise contour.