Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign speaks up for the village of Warnham, suffering from an unannounced flight path trial
A new flight path has been introduced for aircraft taking off from Gatwick to the west, then turning left around Horsham. It passes directly over the village of Warnham and is apparently a trial designed in order to get more aircraft off the Gatwick runway. GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) considers it intolerable that new misery and a decline in house values should be caused just to create extra profit for the owners of Gatwick. Normally there are 3 take off routes to the west, which are contained within compulsory Noise Preferential Route (NPR) corridors. The new route route departs from the NPR, particularly over Warnham, where it has caused consternation. The trial is a technical one not intended to measure the social impact and they did not announce it in advance so as not to provoke complaints that might not have emerged otherwise. The airport says because it is a trial it was not necessary to consult, as would be a legal requirement if the new route were to be permanent. GACC say there is no national need for this route change - Stansted airport is operating at less than half its capacity. People fear that this new route is a small fore-taste of the widespread misery and protest that would be created across Surrey and Sussex by a new runway.
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Aviation Minister, Robert Goodwill, launches Newcastle Airport Business Park with hopes of large numbers of jobs
Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill MP has launched a new airport business park, in conjunction with the airport and Newcastle City Council. The business park was outlined in the airport’s 2013 master plan. There are suggestions that the business park could bring 7,000 jobs over 20 years (though usually many of these jobs are not additional, but move in from elsewhere). The first phase of the plans will establish 175,000 sq ft of office accommodation across six buildings, in close proximity to the airport and within walking distance of a Metro station. The hope is that it will attract new investors to the region and attract businesses in new international markets, such as digital and high-tech. The promoters hope the park will benefit from not only having air links but also good road and rail infrastructure nearby. The airport said other successful regional airports have been able to diversify their businesses, to not only depend on aviation. Mr Goodwill hoped Newcastle Airport succeeded in its goal to operate transatlantic flights to the US East Coast.
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“Gatwick Diamond” accuses local MPs of community ‘disservice’ after Redhill aerodrome appeal defeat
The two Conservative MPs who publicly opposed Redhill aerodrome's plans to build a hard runway have been accused of "doing their residents a disservice". Amidst the fallout of the Planning Inspectorate's decision on 18th February to dismiss Redhill Aerodrome's appeal for a hard runway, Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of (ardently pro-new-runways) business group Gatwick Diamond, said Crispin Blunt MP and Sam Gyimah MP had done a disservice to residents by opposing the plans. The Planning Inspector had rejected the airport's appeal against repeated refusals by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council and Tandridge District Council of plans for the 3 grass runways to be replaced by a 1,349m hard surface runway, along with approach lighting, drainage and habitat management. The Gatwick Diamond group say a hard runway would be good for business in the area, claim jobs would be created by it, and try to scare local people that their jobs will be at risk. Mr Blunt described the airport's business case as "disingenuous", and Mr Gyimah said it was the wrong development in the wrong place.
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£25,000 of Heathrow airport “Community Fund” – much of it from passengers’ spare change – for local flood victims
Heathrow airport has a "Community Fund" which makes donations to community projects local to the airport, in Ealing , Hillingdon , Hounslow , Richmond, Runnymede, South Bucks, Slough, Spelthorne, Windsor and Maidenhead. They say they focus on projects linked to education and youth development, the environment and employment/skills development. In 2014 around £500,000 will be available through 3 distinct grant programmes.They have now announced that they are donating £25,000 for flood-stricken community groups in surrounding boroughs of the airport, to help them recover from the damage caused by the storms and flooding. Some areas only 3 - 4 miles from Heathrow have been badly flooded to a depth of many feet. The Heathrow Community Fund donations will be made towards those with no help available from insurance or statutory funding. The funds come from 3 sources – fines imposed on aircraft that breach noise limits, an annual donation from Heathrow and spare change from airport passengers. The noise fines are only for departing, not arriving planes, and this source of funds is used only for the "Communities for Tomorrow" activities.
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5% fewer flights used Munich airport in 2013 than 2012 – but airport planning 3rd runway
In Munich, campaigners against the building of a 3rd runway remain defiant in spite of a court ruling that the building of a 3rd runway would be legal. There were extraordinary scenes in the court room when the judge gave his ruling. Campaigners, who had packed the building, all stood up and sang the Bavarian national anthem. The judge had to clear the court. The campaigners are confident that the 3rd runway may never be built because the number of aircraft using the existing runways at Munich is falling. The figures for 2013 show that though there were 0.8% more passengers using Munich airport in 2013 than in 2012, but that the number of air transport movements (flights) fell by 5%. That is a substantial reduction. The campaign against the new runway has repeatedly questioned the economic case for building a runway for which there is not sufficient demand. For all 3 airports in Bavaria (Munich, Nuremburg and Memmingen) the number of air passengers did not grow in 2013, and the number of flights fell by 5.2%. The volume of air freight and mail using Munich airport fell by 1% in 2013. So no growing demand there.
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MoD open to RAF Leuchars, near Dundee, becoming passenger airport while remaining a military base
RAF Leuchars is a military airport in eastern Scotland, some 4 km south east of Dundee airport and about 50 km north east of Edinburgh. The RAF are currently in the process of moving their two Typhoon squadrons from Leuchars in Fife to Lossiemouth in Moray as part of a defence review. The MoD is now considering use of the airport for some civliian flights in addition to its use as a military base, which will continue. Although the army will be moving to Leuchars in 2015, the base’s runway will still be in use occasionally and the control tower will have to be preserved. Nearby Dundee airport is struggling to maintain business, partly due to its short 1,400-metre runway, compared to Leuchars’ 2,585 metres, which could cater for much bigger aircraft. A MoD spokesman said: “The MoD is happy in principle to speak to any organisation that wishes to look into the possible use of Leuchars as a commercial airfield." Ryanair commented: “We are currently in discussion with over 100 airports, so competition for Ryanair growth is fierce.” Dundee's City Council leader opposed the idea as they are trying to get flights from Dundee to London to be successful. Edinburgh airport is unhappy about these Dundee flights getting public subsidy.
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New studies confirm Plymouth airport not viable for aviation use
Sutton Harbour Holdings, the leaseholder, closed Plymouth airport in December 2011 and has plans to build homes, shops and offices on the site. They say there is no chance of the airport ever being reopened. Now Sutton Harbour say two expert studies it had commissioned showed that a plan by campaign group Viable to re-open the airport was “totally unrealistic”. Viable’s plans to extend the runway and airport facilities for jets would cost at least £40million and require the demolition of homes and offices. The reports also said the proposed jet aircraft would expose 6,000 people in 2,400 homes to “annoying” noise. Oakwood Primary School and 450 homes would require noise insulation, and other homeowners would need to be offered relocation packages at the airport operator’s expense. According to the reports, the cost of even a modest commercial re-opening would run into millions of pounds and still make a loss.” Viable disagrees and says it will fight on.
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New Gatwick flightpath trials are ‘destroying’ village life at Warnham, West Sussex
Residents in Warnham, about 10 km south west of Gatwick, and complaining strenuously about low-flying aircraft going over their homes from 6am each day. They feel the character of their village, let alone its tranquillity, are being destroyed. This is part of a trial for a new new flightpath which started on February 17th and will continue for 6 months. The trial is being run by NATS in conjunction with Gatwick airport, but people in Warnham complain that they were not notified or consulted in advance of the trial. The planes pass over the village at approximately 2,000ft and villagers say they can be as frequent as every 5 minutes at some times of day. The noise is loud enough to have raised concerns about its impact on vulnerable residents, in particular the elderly and disabled. The Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) claims that rural residents suffer more from noise pollution than urban residents. The noise is more intrusive as there is little background noise. GACC is concerned that the trial of the new flightpath over Warnham is designed solely to get more aircraft off the Gatwick runway. “It is intolerable that new misery and decline in house values should be caused just to create extra profit.”
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Facebook campaign launched by local frequent flyer to ‘save’ Durham Tees Valley Airport
A frequent flyer who uses Durham Tees Valley airport has launched a Facebook campaign to ‘save’ the Airport. She is concerned about the airport's "master plan." This aims to secure the airport’s long term future by the development of 400 homes on land to the west and north of the terminal which officials say would generate millions of pounds of investment to put back into the airport. The frequent flyer says she gets "so frustrated that we cannot use Teesside Airport." The Facebook page has over 2,000 "likes" with many people irritated by the behaviour of t he owners, Peel Holdings. One typical post says: "COME ON people of the North East.....we have a mountain to climb ......we MUST get our message across to politicians and councils (supposedly who have our interests at heart) that we are not prepared to sit back and watch this "BEAST" of a company take our airport away !!!" The airport had 159,300 passengers in 2013 compared with over 900,000 in 2005 and 2006.
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London MPs and Councils challenge Airports Commission on aircraft noise with updated “ANASE” report
In 2005 the ANASE (Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England) report into what level of sound caused community annoyance was undertaken, and it indicated that the 57 decibel contour - the measure the UK authorities still use - did not satisfactorily measure aircraft noise. In reality, significant annoyance was caused at much lower level of sound exposure. However, this finding was inconvenient and so the report was shelved by the government. The 57 dB contour is still being used, and is the measure being used by the Airports Commission. The ANASE report has now been revised and updated, and this new report has just been launched by Hillingdon Council on behalf of the all-party 2M Group of councils opposed to Heathrow expansion. It shows far more people are badly affected by aircraft noise than the 57 dB countour would suggest. The 2M group are asking that the Commission investigate a new, more rigorous noise metric with which to assess and compare the noise impacts and costs of all the airport proposals. They say the Commission's decision on a new runway cannot be based on seriously out of date evidence which bears no resemblance to real-life experience.