Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Government to make no significant change to night flights regime at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted until Airports Commission report
In January 2013 the DfT put out the first part of its consultation on the night flight regime at the UK's 3 designated airports,Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. The DfT said then that the 2nd consultation would be publishes later this year, to include specific proposals for the new regime, such as the number of permitted night flights - informed by the evidence from the first consultation. The DfT has now published this 2nd stage, but instead of any specific measures, it proposes no significant change to the night flight regime at Heathrow until 2017. It says it does not want to pre-empt the findings of the Airports Commission which is due to publish its final report in summer 2015. The current night flight regime for the 3 airports ends in October 2014. Normally a new regime is put in place to cover the next 5 - 6 years. This time the Government has decided in effect to roll-over the existing regime until 2017. The only change for Heathrow is a proposal “to extend the operational ban on the noisiest types of aircraft to include an extra half hour, the 23.00-23.30 period.
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Evidence on how the 57 Leq noise contours for Heathrow fail to fully reflect aircraft noise impacts
In a blog on the anomalies of how aircraft noise is currently measured, John Stewart writes of the odd situation where roads in London are regarded as quiet, ignoring the obvious impact of Heathrow flightpaths overhead. This arises in areas such as Clapham, which are well outside the 57 Leq contour, which it is wrongly alleged, is the limit at which aircraft noise is a problem, or annoys/upsets people. The number of complaints about aircraft noise that come from areas well beyond the 57 Leq contour are evidence that it is not a measure that reflects reality. A better system for measuring aircraft noise experienced is Lden (day, evening, night) with noise in evening and night given a higher weighting, to reflect the greater impact, and greater annoyance, it has on those overflown. The European Commission requires member states to use 55Lden when drawing up their noise maps. That is more realistic than 57 Leq. It is understood that Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of the Airports Commission, is looking seriously at a more realistic noise metric.
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Heathrow has highest weekly number of (noisy) 747 flights of any world airport
Figures from Anna aero, which celebrates routes, flights, links etc and associated airports, show that Heathrow continues to have by far the highest number of Boeing 747s of any other global airport. 747s are noisy planes, as well as being huge. They are likely to be as noisy as - or even noisier than - the A380. Some studies show the A380 being up to 5 decibels quieter at some measurement stations, though it depends on which engines the planes are using; the noise is both from engines and airframe. The 747 - 400 is ranked as Quote count 4 on departure and 2 on arrival. By comparison the A320 series is ranked at about 2 and 1 respectively. Anna aero shows Heathrow has 298 weekly departures of Boeing 747s, with the next highest airport Taipei with 174. Then third is Frankfurt, with 150. Now the A380 has taken over for new orders, there have been fewer and fewer new 747s being delivered, with just 20 ordered in the past 5 years and zero ordered in 2013.
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Heathrow pays £1.8m for noise-reducing adobe huts in playgrounds of 21 schools under its flightpaths
It was reported in April 2013 that four adobe domes had been put up in the grounds of Hounslow Primary school, which is under the southern runway at Heathrow, in order to enable the children to use the playground despite the plane noise. Now Heathrow says it will spend £1.8 million to extend the scheme to 21 schools that are badly affected by aircraft noise. Heathrow is desperate to try and persuade London residents that aircraft noise is being dealt with, and a 3rd runway will not cause intolerable noise to those overflown. The 21 schools, which have not been named, will each get around £85,000 for the building of these structures. The largest can hold 30 children, and the level of noise can be 17 decibels lower than outside. Children can hear the teachers inside the domes, so teaching does not have to stop for a considerable time every 90 seconds or so, when planes go over. Children can also hear each other, and so develop their language skills. However, the domes do not solve the problem of providing ventilation and soundproofing of classrooms.
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Sec of State for Wales says South Wales to Heathrow rail link would provide major economic boost
Secretary of State for Wales David Jones has said a £500m direct rail link between Heathrow and South Wales would be a major economic driver for the area. He said better infrastructure would play a crucial role in growth of the Welsh economy. Last year the UK Government outlined its commitment to the Western Rail Access scheme – a new rail link which will cut 30 minutes off the journey times from South Wales. Network Rail is currently looking at options for the proposed spur, including direct services from South Wales on the Great Western Main Line into Heathrow, or providing a separate shuttle service from Reading. And David Jones added the standard speil about “Fast and convenient links to our major airports are crucial as we look to compete in the global race." What race? Colin Matthews said 8.8% of the 1.3 million people in the UK working for foreign-owned firms that use Heathrow are from Wales.
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London First suggests an independent ombudsman is needed to deal with aircraft noise in London
London First is the business organisation that aims to "make London the best city in the world in which to do business" and which supports expanding London airport capacity, especially at Heathrow. It has produced a new short report called "More Flights, Less Noise" which recommends that, in order to get more flights over London, there should be a noise pollution tsar, to protect people living under flight paths. They say an independent noise ombudsman, with a range of powers including the ability to fine an airline that persistently broke noise pollution limits, would address a “basic lack of trust and transparency” between those pressing the economic case for airport expansion and local communities. London First say a similar scheme running in Paris since 2000 has been successful. Their hope of there being less noise stems from slight improvements by modern planes on aircraft noise. However, in reality the improvements are very small and these are more than outweighed if there are more flights. Communities being well informed about the noise is no substitute for reducing it.
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CAA air passenger survey 2012 confirms low % of passengers on business, and high % of AB and C1 flying
The CAA Air Passenger Survey for 2012 has been published. It covered Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Exeter, Gatwick, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manchester and Stansted Airports. (Each year it covers a slightly different selection). Over 210,000 departing passengers were questioned. Some of the interesting findings from the survey were: Heathrow had 37% connecting passengers; London City airport had the highest proportion on business, at 54% (down from 63% in 2010); Heathrow had 32.4% on business; Gatwick 17.5%; Manchester 23.9 %; Stansted 15%; Luton 16.1%; Birmingham 22.5%. The survey also looked at the socio-economic group of passengers. In the categories C2, D and E, Heathrow had 19.9%; London City airport 14.6%; Gatwick 26%; Stansted 29.3%; Manchester 43.4%; Luton 28.9%; Birmingham 33% and Bristol 35.3%. By contrast around 45% of the UK population are classed by polling organisations at C2,D+E. For the London airports, the AB group fly a disproportionate amount.
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Heathrow launches a “Fly Quiet” programme + quarterly “Fly Quiet” table – in a bid to reduce opposition on noise grounds
Heathrow airport has launched its ‘Fly Quiet programme’ which will produce a "Fly Quiet" table 4 times per year, ranking the 50 airlines that use the airport most on various noise measures. The airlines are listed according to six noise related criteria. These are given a red/amber/green rating for each criterion, as well as an overall score. The criteria are: Noise quota count/seat/movement, which adjusts noise according to seat capacity and movements per airline; the noise certification Chapter number; the number of Continuous Descent Approach violations; the number of track deviations on departure; the number of arrivals before their 4.30am slot, and those arriving before their 6am landing slot. Heathrow says it will work closely with airlines to improve their rating - it knows that noise will be the issue on which their bid for a new runway will fail, so are attempting to overcome opposition on noise grounds. The terminology of "quiet" planes, rather than "less noisy" planes is part of the PR spin. These planes are not "quiet" in any normal sense. Fractionally less noisy would be a better description.
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Scotsman speculates that Heathrow Holdings may sell Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airport to raise cash for Heathrow runway
The Scotsman speculates that Heathrow Holdings Ltd (aka BAA) is considering selling Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports, for a figure in the range of £1 billion, so it can focus more on Heathrow and getting a third runway. Some 80 - 90% of its business comes from Heathrow. The Scotsman says it has learnt that Heathrow Airport Holdings has held talks with advisers with a view to seeking buyers. Ferrovial, which has reduced its stake in Heathrow to 25% since buying BAA in 2006, is thought to be considering a deal to buy out the other shareholders in the 3 regional airports. Heathrow Airports declined to comment, but analysts believe a decision to sell makes sense, particularly if the airport was to secure approval for the extra runway. The sale would help Heathrow raise capital for a new runway. The potential prices will depend on passenger numbers. It is speculated that Glasgow might sell for £600 million, and Aberdeen + Southampton might go for £450 - 500 million for the two. They are all thought to be marketable.
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Justine Greening: Expand Heathrow and we risk a plane crash in London
Cabinet minister Justine Greening has warned that expanding Heathrow would increase the risk of a plane crashing on London, stressing that “we cannot beat the odds forever”. She said it would be more likely that a plane would crash into a highly populated area of west London — either due to human error or a terrorist attack — if there were more flights. If that happened, there could be a lot of deaths and injuries. She was giving evidence to the Airports Commission when she said that despite Heathrow’s good safety record, human error meant that the risk of a crash could never be reduced to zero. She added: “In addition to that, aviation clearly faces other risks, not least terrorism. ...The higher the absolute number of aircraft movements, the higher the danger that even an ‘extremely low probability’ event may occur." She warned that allowing expansion at Heathrow would be “one of the biggest planning and transport strategy mistakes of this century, irreversibly blighting Londoners’ quality of life”.