Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Gatwick flight path changes revealed as 12 week airspace consultation launched
Gatwick airport has started another consultation on changes to its flight paths. This will last for 12 weeks and end on 15th August. The earlier "consultation" done by Gatwick, that ended on 15th May did not include any flight path details, which many who attended the exhibitions found frustrating. Gatwick's consultation is complex and not intended to be easy for a non-expert to understand. It is rich in acronyms and jargon, that is not properly explained. One could conjecture that making the consultation so hard to understand is deliberate. At its heart the consultation is about Gatwick managing to get more planes using its current flight paths, with changes to get planes taking off separating earlier, so more planes can use the runway with shorter intervals between them. There remains the issue of whether the noise should be concentrated down narrow routes, or dispersed in "swathes" of several kilometres. The Noise Preferential Routes, for planes below 3,000 feet or 4,000 feet, are meant to be routes where the least noise nuisance is caused. However, planes above 4,000 feet are still a real noise irritation. Gatwick's proposals for more planes on more routes will mean many more people being exposed to a lot more plane noise, either way.
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Boris claims there is a ‘political fix around Gatwick’ while he makes last pitch to Airports Commission for estuary airport
Boris has now submitted his dossier to the Airports Commission, in support of his plan for a massive hub airport in the Thames estuary. The Commission had given Boris extra time in which to address critical questions concerning his plans. Boris claimed that the government was edging towards giving Gatwick the go-ahead, saying there was "a political fix around Gatwick". He said, in all parties: "A lot of money is moving off Heathrow and on to Gatwick. Heathrow is closer to the answer but not deliverable. Gatwick is more deliverable but it is not the right answer." He said, expanding Gatwick was "a sham, a snare, a delusion". Boris hopes his estuary airport could be built for about £25 billion, with £25bn more for surrounding transport infrastructure, and £14 billion more to buy and close Heathrow, which would be redeveloped as a new suburb. Boris makes the usual claims about jobs and growth of the economy, and gives no thought at all to the fact that two new runways cannot be fitted within UK carbon targets. Boris's evidence from the CAA shows a 3rd Heathrow runway would bring the number of people exposed to severe aircraft noise to more than a million. Utterly unacceptable.
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Survey by Medway Council & Kent County Council shows 84% against Thames Estuary airport
Five out of six people would oppose building a new airport in the Thames Estuary if it meant closing Heathrow and other airports, a survey has found. An estuary airport on the Isle of Grain and the closure of Heathrow has been proposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson. The online survey of 2,000 adults from across the UK was commissioned by Medway Council and Kent County Council, which oppose a new Thames Estuary airport. They say that financially, geographically and environmentally the estuary airport project is wrong - and it would be a huge waste of public money. The survey found 38% of those asked supported an estuary airport. But when they were told Heathrow, City and Southend airports could close as a result, (which they would probably have to) the support dropped to 16%, or just over one in six. Boris is due to submit final plans for the estuary airport to the Airports Commission today. The cost of the airport has now risen to £148bn for the Isle of Grain option. Boris wants a city of 190,000 homes on the Heathrow site, if the airport shuts [which is utterly unlikely].
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More flights from Manchester to USA taking pressure off south east airports
Flights by American Airlines have started from Manchester to Charlotte in North Carolina, and will run every day until the end of September. Airport and airline bosses heralded the flight as a boost for both the airport and Manchester. The airline says “Manchester has been a hugely important city for American Airlines for many years and we are thrilled to add this flight to Charlotte.... It will bring in around 200 passengers every day.....Next year, we hope to run them for longer. In terms of American Airlines, we have a massive presence in the US and Charlotte is our second biggest hub. ....This is putting Manchester in line with our other destinations like Madrid and Rome.” American Airlines already flies from Manchester to Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. The airline CEO said most passengers are expected to originate from America - looking to fly into the north of England."The biggest growth in airlines is down to people visiting friends and family, and Manchester has a catchment area of 22m." More international flights from the regional airports mean less pressure to expand airports in the south east. Or to build a new south east runway. Manchester's 2nd runway is hardly used.
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Southend airport had many more passengers in 2013 than in 2012, but much less profit
Southend Airport's parent company Stobart Group has revealed earnings from its aviation division fell from £400,000 to £100,000 last year. Passenger numbers grew 38% to over one million and a newly completed terminal extension raised its capacity to 5 million. To stimulate further growth, the airport has entered into a new partnership with low-cost carrier Flybe to launch a new airline, Stobart Air, which will use two Flybe aircraft to launch 6 new routes to Europe (Antwerp, Caen, Groningen, Maastricht, Munster and Rennes). Stobart said "..there is still work to be done to improve profitability with renewed focus on revenue per passenger and controlling costs." The company said it was continuing to develop plans for Carlisle Lake District Airport, but these remain dogged by ongoing challenges around planning. Southend airport had 9,476 air transport movements in 2013, which was an increase of 30.4% on 2012, and it had 969,940 passengers, an increase of 57.2% over 2012. So 57% more passengers in 2013 but 75% fall in profit. Aviation is an odd industry.
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Thanet council asked by airport workers to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order for Manston Airport
Thanet council says it cannot yet say whether or not it would have the power to acquire Manston airport through a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). The supporters of Manston, and the employees who have lost their jobs, want the council to do so. They delivered a petition to Thanet council’s offices in Margate, urging the local authority to issue a CPO. The council has confirmed the deputy leader had requested an officer report to set out the council's options. The report will consider if a CPO would be a viable consideration, given the extensive costs and liabilities for the taxpayer that this would involve. Thanet council has said supports activity that retains the existing footprint of the airport as an airport. It has downplayed reports that the site was to be redeveloped for housing, though this is thought to be likely. The council leader will meet the airport's owner, Ann Gloag, in the coming weeks to discuss the airport's future.
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Heathrow chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd, hushes hubbub over 24/7 airport comment by Heathrow board member
A Heathrow Airport Board member, Akbar Al Baker, recently said Heathrow should have 24 hour flights, planes should be allowed to fly all night, and that Brits make an "excessive" fuss about aircraft noise. This has hugely embarrassed Heathrow, which has been trying hard to claim a 50% increase in flights will result in less noise ... square that one. Now, in response to the awkward and off-message remarks by Al Baker, Sir Nigel Rudd, chairman of Heathrow, said: “Mr Al-Baker’s views are his own and do not represent the views or policy of the Heathrow board or executive committee. We recognise that adding the flights Britain needs for growth must come hand in hand with reducing aircraft noise for residents. Round the clock flying from London is not an option. We take the concerns of local communities very seriously and have never argued for 24-hour flying.” Anti expansion campaigners were highly critical of the airport, and its need to urgently rush out reassuring comments due to the embarrassment caused by Mr Al-Baker putting his foot in it. Question is why Mr Al Baker was not aware that this, though revealing, was not a helpful or acceptable comment to make, from Heathrow's point of view.
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Heathrow Airport Board member, Akbar Al Baker, says Heathrow should have 24 hour flights
One of the Board members of Heathrow Airport is Akbar Al Baker, who is the CEO of Qatar Airways and led the development of the new Doha airport. He is on the Board because Qatar Holdings bought a 20% stake in Heathrow in 2012. He has caused a storm of protest after claiming, with stunning insensitivity and demonstating a woeful lack of understanding of British democracy, that Heathrow should have 24 hour flights - ignoring the well-being of those overflown. The benefit would be that his companies would be more profitable. Akbar Al Baker said Britons make an “excessive” fuss about noise levels from aircraft flying over their homes" and home owners living under flight paths “wouldn’t even hear the aircraft” after a while." He appears not to understand that in Europe, unpopular and damaging major developments cannot just be steamrollered through, as they perhaps can be in the Gulf States. Mr Al Baker thinks European airports should open 24 hours a day if they want to compete with the emerging Gulf hubs in Dubai and Doha. Though rapidly denied by Heathrow, which distanced itself from Mr Al Baker's comments, it is indicative of a way of thought which people may fear is prevalent on the Heathrow board.
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Over 4,000 take part in Frankfurt’s 100th protest evening – including supporters from Heathrow and Gatwick
The 4th runway at Frankfurt airport was opened in October 2011. The flightpaths for this runway overfly thousands of residents in the Frankfurt, many of whom had not previously been overflown. They suddenly found the noise of aircraft overhead every few minutes, relentlessly (day after day, week after week) for most of the day intolerable. Other areas were also affected by changes to flight paths. Ever since the opening, the people of Frankfurt have absolutely refused to accept this, and have campaigned continuously and relentlessly. They hold unique and remarkable protests, almost every Monday night, in the airport terminal. These are attended by well over 1,000 people, every time. On 19th May, the 100th airport terminal protest was held, with around 4,000 (maybe more) protesters. Some campaigners from the Heathrow and Gatwick campaigns went out (by train) to show solidarity and share this remarkable achievement with their German friends. John Stewart, Chair of HACAN and of AirportWatch, addressed the protest, saying they were making aviation history, and the tenacity, persistence and determination of the opposition to Frankfurt flights is increasingly a matter of concern to the aviation industry.
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“Gatwick Obviously” adverts on the tube not merely subvertised but now substituted
Gatwick airport has produced a huge number of adverts, on bill boards, on underground stations, and on underground trains. The campaign must have cost a vast amount of money. The theme of the adverts has been "Gatwick Obviously" in their attempt to influence first the thinking of the Airports Commission, and then also the next Government - which will have to decide what to do with the Commission's report after summer/autumn 2015. The Gatwick adverts have suffered from being subvertised, but on Monday 19th around 200 on the underground were replaced with substitutes - by Plane Stupid. The temptation must just have been too strong ....