Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Analysis by NATS for Airports Commission shows a 4th Heathrow runway would cut flight path capacity elsewhere
An article in the Times says a submission by NATS, the air traffic control service to the Airports Commission warns of the problems that would be caused if a 4th (not only a 3rd) runway was built. The Airports Commission said in its interim report, that it considers another new runway might be "needed" by 2050, if the first new runway capacity has been filled by then. Even one new runway is marginal, at best, for carbon emissions. [A 2nd new runway cannot be built and used, keeping within UK carbon targets]. There are fears that if Heathrow was allowed a 3rd runway, it would effectively become a Trojan Horse for a 4th runway - Heathrow airport has said that from 2030 a decision would have to be taken on a 4th. The effect on flight paths would mean fewer planes could use the other London airports. The Times says a 4th runway at Heathrow would reduce the combined capacity of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Birmingham, City and Southend airports by 9%. It would cut capacity relative to a 3-runway Heathrow by 18% due to the disruption to flight paths to the other main airports.
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A new runway at Heathrow or Gatwick would mean big increases in passenger fees – New report
The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) has submitted a new report to the Airports Commission which casts doubt on the feasibility of building a new runway at either Gatwick or Heathrow. So far there has been little realistic discussion about who will actually pay for the proposed runways. The new study, “Who Would Pay for a New Runway” by Brendon Sewill, shows that a new runway at Heathrow would be likely to mean an increase in landing fees and other airport charges from £19 per passenger now, up to £31. At Gatwick there would be a larger increase, up from £8 now to £33.60. The study points out that with all the London airports separately owned, unlike in the days of BAA, the cost will have to fall only on the passengers using that airport. If an expensive runway (and terminal) is built, the options are either that the passengers pay for it - or that it has to have public subsidy. A report for the Airports Commission, by KPMG, concluded that a new Heathrow runway would need a subsidy of around £11 billion, and a new Gatwick runway a subsidy of nearly £18 billion. However, the Government is reluctant to commit public funds, and new EU guidelines ruling out subsidies to major airports. That leaves landing charges - will passengers put up with that, or vote with their feet by using cheaper airports?
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Villages up in arms as new Gatwick “ADNID” flight path shatters their peace and quiet
The Sunday Times has featured the story of the misery and upset being caused over villages in Sussex by a new trial flight path from Gatwick. The village of Warnham is particularly affected. It is a quiet village, but now has planes taking off from Gatwick thundering overhead. Some of the affected residents are the mother-in-law of Boris Johnson, who said who say the noise is so loud that it sets off baby monitors and drowns out the sound of local church bells. Also Caroline Lucas, whose family owns the 215-acre Warnham Park, with a large herd of red deer, said: “How long will future generations stay here? That’s the question you have to ask.” The 6 month trial, of which there was no notice given to local residents, is of a new departure route for planes mainly bound for southern Europe, which are now turning south earlier than they normally do. The airport says the trial is to find out if a new aircraft navigation system will allow air traffic controllers to reduce the interval between flights taking off from two minutes to one, potentially allowing more flights to take off at peak times. ie. make Gatwick even busier than now.
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Francis Maude: Noise misery foreshadows Gatwick second runway
Francis Maude, MP for Horsham, has received a great number of letters and emails from distressed residents in Warnham and Rusper, in recent weeks, about the new flight path trial over them. They are saying they are being plagued by a constant stream of noisy aircraft taking off from Gatwick towards the west starting at 6am. Many people have complained directly to Gatwick Airport, the CAA and NATS - but have yet to be satisfied on a number of points. Most residents were not aware of any minimal consultation about the changes before they started. Francis Maude is asking for much more detail about the trials. These include on what criteria will the trial be assessed? Why does it need to continue for six months? and How is it being monitored? He says the misery currently being experienced by local residents foreshadows what would be a permanent feature of life in the area if a 2nd Gatwick runway were to be built. The amount of opposition to this trial suggests it is not being successful. Francis Maude says: "I have made my opposition to a second Gatwick runway many times in public and private, and am happy to reiterate this now."
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Stobart Group sells stake in its truck brand to focus on biomass energy and Southend Airport
Stobart Group is to sell a controlling interest in its trucking business to the Isle of Man investment firm DBAY in a £280million deal. Stobart Group will sell a majority stake in Eddie Stobart Logistics to focus on biomass energy and expanding Southend Airport. Stobart will get £195.6million in cash from DBAY, as well as a 49% stake in the new company. William Stobart will head the new business and will own 6% of it. Markets gave the deal the thumbs down, sending shares down 7.75p to 141.75p. The sale includes a complex arrangement under which DBAY can use the Eddie Stobart brand for 4 years without paying. Then it can either buy the brand for use only in transport and logistics for £15million, pay £50million to use the brand however it wishes, or can pay £3million a year to license it. Stobart believes the trucking business has little room for growth and is selling it to focus on fast-growing Southend Airport and get into biomass generation. It believes the airport can increase passengers from 1 million a year to 5 million without much more investment.
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British Airways Heathrow flight suffered ‘engine surge’ on take-off so returned for emergency landing
A British Airways plane was forced to turn back shortly after taking off at Heathrow Airport after an "engine surge" in the air. A witness said flames were "spitting out of the engine" as the aircraft took off at 20.54 GMT on Thursday 6th March. British Airways said flight BA0364 to Lyon, France, touched down safely, and the aircraft would be "thoroughly checked over by engineers". The southern runway was closed for about 16 minutes. A local resident who saw it said: "I was in the petrol station opposite the airport, which is when I heard the bang, so I turned around and the plane had flames spitting out of the engine with a spluttering noise as it was still taking off. I then watched it continue to climb and the engine was still emitting flames intermittently." BA said "A flight experienced what's known as an 'engine surge' as it took off from Heathrow" So the plane limped back into Heathrow. Webtrak shows it circling over Cobham etc for some 25 minutes before joining the northern runway approach path at around Brixton and landing at about 21.37 - so it flew for miles over densely populated areas of London. The last incident of a plane having to make an emergency landing, and flying across London with a burning engine, was in May 2013, when the engine cowls had not been closed properly.
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Prestwick Airport reveals spiralling losses – almost £10 million in 2013
The full scale of Prestwick Airport's financial problems are revealed in the latest accounts, which show a pre-tax loss of almost £10 million in its final full year of private ownership. Its financial problems have escalated with a pre-tax loss of £9.77m in the 12 months to March 31, 2013. The airport made a £2.3m pre-tax loss in the year to March 2012. Last March its owners, Infratil, put the airport up for sale, but as no buyer could be found, the Scottish Government stepped in and bought Prestwick for a £1 on November 22 2013. Prestwick had a 20% fall in the number of passengers in July 2012 compared to the same month in 2011 - the busiest time of the year with the school holidays. The airport's accounts state that Prestwick is only a going concern if its owner is willing to continue funding deficits. Such an undertaking has been made by Transport Scotland on behalf of Scottish ministers ie. public subsidy. Only Ryanair is operating scheduled flights, and a significant percentage of the airport's aviation revenue is derived from freight and other aircraft activity.
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Allegedly “full” Heathrow now promotes BA weekend day trips to European cities
Heathrow Airport makes much of the fact that it is "full" and there is no space for any other new routes, to all those destinations in emerging economies, to which, according to Heathrow, new air links are absolutely vital. But as Heathrow is so full, (so the theory goes) these links cannot be set up, and so UK plc will languish .... without direct routes to a range of second or third tier cities. So it is something of a surprise to find that BA now has space among its Heathrow slots for some new low-cost day return fares to European cities, for day trips at weekends. BA is offering what it claims to be “affordable day trip” tickets for anyone wanting to fly to popular city break destinations (Rome, Dublin, Geneva, Vienna, Munich) and back on the same day. BA said it could not reveal how many day trip tickets were set aside for each destination, due to commercially sensitivity. The Telegraph says:"Encouraging travellers to fly twice in a day might anger environmentalists. When asked to comment on the effect of such short trips, a spokesman said: “It’s the customer’s choice and they can offset their carbon emissions on the BA website if they wish to.” " What can one say? One comment below the article mentions the "mindless hedonist" ......
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GACC calls for flight path trial to stop due to anger and outrage in the village of Warnham
A new flight path for take-offs from Gatwick airport has caused outrage in the parish of Warnham, near Horsham. Designed as a 6-month trial to enable more aircraft to take-off from the Gatwick runway it has already caused a wave of protest. A member of the GACC (Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign), Sally Pavey, who lives in Warnham, says: ‘The tranquillity of our 14th century, conservation village has been lost and we seem powerless to do anything about it. Everyone is up in arms as we are woken at 6.00 am with an aircraft overhead every few minutes. Living in Warnham has turned into a nightmare!’ GACC has called for the trial to be stopped. The new route is causing an unacceptable degree of upset and maximum anger. It is just a small foretaste of what is to come if a new runway were to be built. "With a new runway the new flight paths would bring anger and misery to perhaps 30 or more towns and villages. And that would be permanent, not just for 6 months. Warnham is a wake-up call for why we should all oppose a new runway.’
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Brussels flight link returns to Newcastle Airport – with 11 BMI flights per week
The North East once again has a direct link to Brussels with the launch of new flights by BMI from Newcastle to Brussels. In February 2013 Brussels Airlines stopped the flights, as it was not profitable enough. There had been 3 flight per day, 6 days per week. Now BMI Regional has stepped in, offering 11 flights a week (twice a day Monday to Friday and once on Sunday) to and from Belgium. An airport spokesman said “The route is one that we lost earlier in the economic downturn, but we were determined to get it back. ..... Connectivity is very important, and not just to business – Newcastle University finds EU funding key so we hope this route will also let them grow.” MEP Martin Callanan hopes the route will aid local business. “We’ll start with 11 flights a week and then, if the demand is there, look at the possibility of a third daily flight.”