Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Local farmer wins legal challenge on Carlisle airport expansion and freight distribution
Local farmer, Gordon Brown, who farms at Irthington close to Carlisle airport, has won another round in the long battle against the expansion of Carlisle Airport and its cargo distribution centre. The High Court judge, Mr Justice Collins, ruled that planners had failed to properly consider the viability of the plans. He allowed the challenge by Thomas Brown, and quashed the latest planning permission for a new freight storage and distribution facility at the airport. The judge said that Brown’s claim succeeded, though only on one ground, put forward by him - which was the failure by the council planners to consider the viability of the expansion plans properly. The decision was said to be borderline, and "by no means straight forward," had taken years, and generated an "excessive" amount of paperwork. The latest round of the legal battle comes more than 3 years after Brown won a ruling from London's Court of Appeal quashing the council's previous grant of planning permission. Whether there will be an appeal against today’s ruling is not yet known.
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John Stewart blog: “Doing nothing about noise at Heathrow is not an option”
In a blog for HACAN, John Stewart considers the aircraft noise problem for people living at Brockley, in south east London, some 20 miles away from Heathrow. They suffer from planes over head every 2 minutes for much of each day, at around 4,500 feet. But they are not considered conventionally to have an aircraft noise problem. After speaking at a meeting in Brockley about the noise, and then visiting the headquarters of NATS to see their air traffic control systems, John was struck by the lights on the screens illustrating just how many planes affect people far from Heathrow. More than one million people live within 20 miles of Heathrow, along those approach paths. Around a third of those – the people living closer to Heathrow – get a half day’s break when the planes change runways at 3pm. The rest, like Brockley, get no such relief.. John says his visit to NATS "showed me that doing something is difficult" .... "doing nothing about noise at Heathrow is not an option".... perhaps a solution would be "for planes to join the approach path much closer to Heathrow." ..."I didn’t ask NATS about the impact of a third runway at Heathrow. I didn’t really need to. If 480,000 flights a year severely restrict NATS' room for manoeuvre, 740,000 would light up the air traffic controller’s screen with a brightness yet unseen."
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Zac Goldsmith and HACAN launch short film contest over Heathrow 3rd runway plan
Tory MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, and environmental campaigner, Zac Goldsmith has launched a film competition (with HACAN) to highlight opposition to a 3rd Heathrow runway - with £10,000 as the first prize. In an escalation of the anti-expansion campaign at Heathrow, Zac Goldsmith has also recruited celebrities to the cause with actor Hugh Grant and former Tory MP Giles Brandreth among the competition judges. Entrants to the competition will need to submit a short film (under 2 minutes) to highlight opposition to the runway. Shortlisted entries will be judged by the panel at a gala evening of 800 guests at the Richmond Theatre on 18th June with the prize money provided by Zac. The competition is called “No Ifs, No Buts”, recalling David Cameron’s infamous pre-election pledge made in 2009 to an audience in Richmond not to allow a 3rd runway to be built at Heathrow. The competition is looking for powerful messages that will be taken up on social and conventional media, and ram home the message that Heathrow expansion is not only the wrong solution for our economy, it is politically undeliverable. The closing date for video entries is 1st June.
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Gatwick argues against need for a hub airport – just more point-to-point flights
Gatwick is arguing that aviation is evolving to make hub airports obsolete - as the future is in more point to point flights. This is in Gatwick's self interest, in its fight against Heathrow, to be chosen as the potential site for a new runway. Gatwick says Britain will have less need for a big hub airport like Heathrow because of the way the aviation industry is evolving, and because the rise of low-cost airlines means Britain will have ever more short-haul flights, which are mostly into Europe. Gatwick has commissioned research to back up its case, which it will present with the architect Sir Terry Farrell on 25th March. Sir Howard Davies has repeatedly made the point that the distinction is between hub and spoke, or point to point aviation models for the future - the industry is highly internally divided on this. Gatwick says a 2nd Gatwick runway would allow 10 million more passengers to fly per year by 2050 - most to Europe or near destinations - than if Heathrow were to add a 3rd runway, with its focus on lower demand, longer haul destinations. For the UK as a whole, about 70% of air passengers were on short haul trips in 2013.
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SSE asks Michael O’Leary what exactly he means by a “new” route….
Stop Stansted Expansion are asking Michael O'Leary some questions about the dubious publicity that Ryanair puts out, repeatedly, about its new flights and destinations - for destinations to which it already flies. Ryanair routinely publicises "new" routes time after time. The "new" routes to Bordeaux and Rabat have been announced three times so far - in Ryanair press releases in September 2013, February 2014 and March 2014. SSE asks Mr O'Leary “What exactly do you mean by new?” In conjunction with the claims of new routes, Ryanair puts out statements about how many jobs it is creating. It claims its ‘new’ routes will generate an extra 2 million passengers and create an extra 2,000 jobs at Stansted. That would mean 1,000 jobs created for every million Ryanair passengers. According to Ryanair’s latest annual report the airline employed 114 staff for every million passengers carried. That would mean 228 jobs for an extra 2 million passengers. So SSE’s question to Mr O’Leary is “Where do the other 1,772 Stansted jobs come from?” Baggage handlers?
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16 jets running out of fuel, and 34 with engine problems landed at Heathrow 2009 – 2013
The Standard reports that more than 260 planes landed at Heathrow with low fuel, engine problems or other technical faults in the last 5 years. The numbers are from official figures. There were 16 aircraft with low fuel, 34 with engine problems, and 216 with other difficulties that landed at Heathrow between 2009 and 2013. Many of the pilots would have demanded priority to land given their situation. There were 51 such incidents in 2013, 40 in 2012 and 66 in 2010. Zac Goldsmith said: “Anyone will be shocked to see these figures. It’s yet another reason why we should not be massively increasing, possibly doubling, air traffic over Heathrow.” Two reported near-misses involving planes using Heathrow are also being investigated. The most recent was between a Boeing 747 and a private jet in November 2013, and a regional jet and a paraglider two months earlier. Overseas Aid Secretary Justine Greening, MP for Putney and an- opponent of Heathrow expansion, has warned about the risks of a plane crashing on London, possibly due to a terror attack. In 2012 the Telegraph reported that there were 28 low fuel incidents at British airports between 2010 and 2012. They said that in 2013 there were over 224 low fuel emergency landings in 4 years (2009 - 2012) but these figures included incidents involving British-registered aircraft at overseas airports.
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Welsh Economy Minister says Cardiff Airport likely to return to profit only in ‘long-term’
The Welsh Economy Minister, Edwina Hart, has said that Cardiff Airport - now in public ownership - is likely to return to profit eventually, but not in the short term. She said its downward spiral is no longer continuing. The airport finally becoming profitable is a “long-term” strategy. She was giving evidence to the National Assembly's Enterprise and Business Committee on the airport, which was bought by the Welsh Government for £52m at the end of 2012. Ms Hart suggested there wouldn’t be a quick sale of the airport back into the private sector, which the Scottish Government is seeking for the newly-nationalised Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire. Pressed by the Plaid Cymru economy spokesman on when the government expected the taxpayer to recoup its investment. She said the Budget announcement for support for regional airports to set up new routes would apply to Wales and that they would “wait for the detail of it”, but confirmed the Welsh Government is likely to bid in for funding. Chancellor George Osborne announced a £20m annual fund will be used to encourage new routes from regional hubs like Cardiff.
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Manston airport losing £10,000 per day – starts 45 day consultation with staff about closure
Up to 150 jobs - mainly part time - have been placed under threat following the announcement that Manston airport could close. Staff have been told there will be a 45 day consultation over the "possible orderly closure of the airport" , and that the airport will close in 45 days. Manston has made losses for years, and is now losing about £10,000 a day under its new owner. It was bought by Ann Gloag for £1 in 2013. Manston says "No further comment will be made until the consultation period with staff has been concluded." KLM now has two flights per day from Manston, and will comment formally after the consultation period. Manston had been in discussions with Ryanair, to get in flights, but these did not work out when Ryanair issued its 2nd profits warning in as many months. Manston has also failed to attract more cargo flights. The airport will continue to run as normal during the consultation period. The land might be used for housing. In response to questions on this, the airport said it noted that Thanet is developing its Local Plan (for where development – industrial, commercial and residential - can take place across the district) and the airport has engaged with Thanet District Council in this process.
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Heathrow Terminal 2 to be powered by woodchip biomass – with dubious and extravagant “green” claims
Heathrow airport, and the planes that fly to and from it, is one of the highest emitters of carbon in the country. Its emissions are larger than several smaller countries. Yet the airport is now trying to be "green" by doing various things to reduce the emissions in the airport itself. The latest is having a biomass boiler for its Terminal 2 which is part of a green-washing campaign, with the airport trying to overcome its negative environmental impacts. Heathrow claim this will be the "UK’s biggest biomass boiler, and that it will cut the airport's CO2 emissions by 34% against 1990 levels (the Terminal was not built then ...). The boiler is meant to provide 2MW of electricity, hot water and cooling for data centres, and save up to "13,000 tonnes of CO2" per year. Heathrow says Woodchip supplier LG Energy won the 15-year contract with Heathrow on the condition that it would provide all of the biomass from a 100-mile radius around the airport. Some 75% of it will come from just 50 miles away, including from London’s Wetlands Centre in Barnes, as well as Richmond Park. LG Energy claims the sale of the timber is enabling more conservation work to be done, so benefiting more habitat and more biodiversity. Biomass, on a large scale, not carefully, locally sourced is likely to be very far from sustainable.
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Manston airport now consulting on its draft Noise Action Plan
Airports are required to draw up Noise Action Plans: "It is a DEFRA requirement that all UK airports prepare a Noise Action Plan (NAP) based on 2011 noise maps. These regulations are a result of the European Directive commonly known as the Environmental Noise Directive (END)." Bickerdike Allen Partners have been retained by Manston Airport to prepare a NAP, and this will require consultation with the Airport's Consultative Committee and the wider public. The consultation lasts 6 weeks between 14th March and 4th July 2014. Following consultation the plan will be finalised and submitted to the Government. Unfortunately Bickerdike Allen Partners produced a noise report for Manston in 2012, which was found to have seriously under-stated the noise nuisance from Manston. The current report also contains inaccuracies and omissions. The community group, No NIght Flights at Manston, urge residents to take part in the consultation and warn: "If you live under or near the flight path, please remember that these people do not have your best interests at heart." Those troubled by aircraft noise have found airport Noise Action Plans to be high on words, and worthy statements of good intent, but low on any real actions or targets to genuinely reduce aircraft noise