Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
In Toronto uncertainty continues over a possible new Pickering airport, with citizen opposition
There has been a long fight against the building of a new Pickering airport for Toronto. In their 40-plus years of struggle against a development - in a growing suburb to the east of the city - many citizens feel priority is given to business interests over prime agricultural farmland. Until a firm and unequivocal commitment is made by Ottawa to abandon the project completely the citizen activists central to the struggle to halt the development can never be sure the project won’t find new life, at some distant moment, under yet another government. Most frustrating for those who oppose the project is that in their view there has never been an adequate explanation for why Pickering needs its own Mirabel, a Greater Toronto Hamilton Area equivalent of Montreal's white elephant airport that has become synonymous with poor air transport planning in Canada. "Land Over Landings" is the community group that leads opposition to the airport plan. It is continuing the public engagement their predecessors began in 1972.They say that clean water and local food will always be more vital than easy access to yet another area airport.
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Business lobby group, “London First” calling for airport action – including better rail/road links to Gatwick and Stansted
Chief executives of 25 of London’s leading businesses will tomorrow confront Sir Howard Davies to demand immediate action to fix Britain’s (alleged) "airports capacity crisis." Members of lobby group London First say that British business will fall behind without three fixes for its airports: an immediate rise in the number of flights operating at Heathrow, an independent “noise regulator” to protect residents, and investment to improve road and rail links to Stansted and Gatwick. Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, said: “Debating the pros and cons of new airports and runways is all very well. But the more pressing concern is what we are going to do right now to increase our connectivity with emerging markets and grow our economy.” Among those attending the meeting will be bosses of CitiGroup, CLS Group, Nomura, Linklaters, Ernst & Young and 3i Group. “London First” is an aggressively pro-growth lobby organisation, whose stated mission is to “make London the best city in the world in which to do business.” It has consistently pushed for Heathrow growth, with more aircraft noise for London residents, over recent years.
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Heathrow ranked 3rd busiest airport worldwide by passenger numbers – still largest for international passengers
Figures for air transport movements and numbers of air passengers at airports worldwide, from ACI (Airports Council International) show that by number of passengers, Heathrow was the 3rd largest airport in 2012. The busiest was Atlanta, with Beijing second. However, both Atlanta and Beijing have a large proportion of domestic passengers. Heathrow remains the world's largest airport for international passengers, with Dubai in second place. In 2012, airports in Europe had 1.7% more passengers than in 2011, while there were 4% more air passengers, worldwide. However, ACI figures show there was a fall of 0.2% in the number of aircraft movements worldwide, indicating use of larger planes and higher load factors, due to financial pressures. In terms of the number of aircraft movements, in 2012 Paris and Frankfurt had slightly more than Heathrow (ranked 10th, 11th and 12th worldwide). In terms of number of passengers, Heathrow was 3rd, Paris 7th, Frankfurt 11th and Amsterdam 15th.
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Study finds a 2nd Gatwick runway could require 40,000 new houses – a town the size of Crawley
A study by independent consultants jointly commissioned by the West Sussex County Council and the Gatwick Diamond business association has found that the total number of houses in Crawley at present is around 40,000, and some 30,000 - 45,000 new houses would be needed if a new runway is built at Gatwick. The study predicts that the number of jobs created by a new runway plus the number of jobs created in firms attracted to the area by doubling the size of Gatwick would be far in excess of any available labour. That would require a substantial influx of workers from other parts of the UK or from the EU. Local councils, which are already struggling to find sites for the current demand for housing - without Gatwick expansion. Councils would need to decide whether to build a whole new town or whether to add hundreds of new houses to every town and village - perhaps a thousand houses added to forty villages! A new runway would lead to widespread urbanisation of parts of rural Sussex and Surrey, and the "dream" could turn into a nightmare.
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Birmingham Airport ‘ignored’ views of residents, say campaigners
Birmingham Airport has been accused of ‘totally ignoring’ the views of local residents over proposed flightpath changes to pave the way for the £65 million runway extension. The long-running Battle of Balsall Common looks set for further skirmishes, There is a Balsall Common Airport Action Group, and their campaigners have voiced their dismay at the airport’s preferred option for aircraft taking off to the south. The airport says this route avoids the most populated areas, Barston, Hampton-in-Arden and Balsall Common and is positioned further away from Catherine-de-Barnes and Knowle. The Action Group say the airport has ignored their comments in the consultation, and that the new flightpaths will see planes flying over their area at between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, increasing noise nuisance and pollution. The airport's public affairs director said “We believe the best option has been put forward that impacts the fewest number of people in areas closest to the airport.”
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SSE has served formal notice on the Secretary of State for Transport requiring the removal of Geoff Muirhead from Airports Commission
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has served formal notice on the Secretary of State for Transport requiring the removal of Mr Geoff Muirhead from the Airports Commission on the grounds of apparent bias. This is the first formal legal step towards judicial review proceedings which will commence with an application to the High Court in early September if Mr Muirhead continues to serve on the Commission. Mr Muirhead is the former Chief Executive of the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) the company which now owns Stansted Airport, from which he retired in October 2010, after 22 years with the Group. After retiring, and even when he had been appointed to the Airports Commission, Mr Muirhead continued to work for MAG in a highly paid role until January 2013. He was paid £82,000 by MAG during the six months from October 2010 to March 2011 inclusive for acting as an 'ambassador' to the Group. As he has not voluntarily stood down, SSE is now seeking legal redress. SSE believes there is far too much at stake to allow Mr Muirhead's role as a Commissioner to go unchallenged.
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Berlin Brandenburg airport may be able to open for 10 flights per day by April 2014
A board overseeing the completion of Berlin’s new Brandenburg airport - subject to a string of delays - has backed a plan for its opening early next year. However, initial operations would be limited to just 10 flights, and some 1,500 passengers, per day. Airlines Air Germania and Condor set to be the first to operate there, and even that needs work on the northern wing of the airport to be completed. This might happen by March or April 2014. An exact timetable would need to be confirmed in the next few months.The new airport has been a costly embarrassment, subject to a series of cost overruns and delays to its opening, chiefly because of a faulty fire safety system. It was originally due to open October 2011. That date was changed to June 2012, and subsequently to March 2013 and later to October 2013. It was planned to replace Berlin's 3 smaller airports, Tegel, Schönfeld and the already-closed Tempelhof. The airport's cost has risen from €2.4 billion to €4.3 billion. In July there was further controversy as flight paths were found not to have been checked for their environmental impact, and will endanger wildlife and even Berlin's water supply
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Low flying Boeing 737 taking off full of fuel for Jeddah terrifies household in Southend
A family near Southend airport were left terrified after a plane loaded with enough aviation fuel to fly to the Middle East took off from the airport and narrowly missed roof tops. The white Boeing 737 jet took off for Jeddah at 3.20pm on Thursday 8th, and passed very close to two homes in Prince Avenue, Westcliff. Rresidents were very alarmed, and one reported that the plane appeared to be at an altitude of only some 250 feet, rather than the usual 450 feet. The plane had been at the airport for maintenance and was not carrying passengers. An elderly lady with heart problems was left very scared and alarmed, and continues to be anxious whenever planes come overhead (which easyJet planes do many times every day now). The airport said: “There were no safety concerns raised by air traffic regarding this flight and its routing complied with the airport's noise requirements."
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Full list of airport schemes to increase airport capacity, including some weird & wonderful – eg. 7 runways at Heathrow
The full list of airport proposals for consideration by the Airports Commission, to solve the alleged shortage of airport capacity, has been published. As well as those for the expected airports, (Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, the Thames Estuary, Birmingham etc) there are some weird and wonderful suggestions. Some are for sites such as rural Oxfordshire, or for RAF bases; there are plans for Fairoaks airport, Manston airport, Cardiff airport, Luton airport, the Severn estuary and the Goodwin sands. There are also proposals for surface transport improvements, and several from enthusiastic private individuals. One of the more bizarre is for no less than 7 runways at Heathrow. Anyone wishing to make specific comments on the detail contained within any of the proposals published is welcome to do so, to the Commission, before 27th September 2013 at the latest to airport.proposals@airports.gsi.gov.uk.
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Plan for huge airport in the Severn Estuary, “Severnside Airport”, submitted to Airports Commission
Plans for a new £5 billion Severnside airport which would serve 40 million passengers every year have been put submitted to the Airports Commission. The plan by MSP Solutions, is for a new airport constructed on a reclaimed island in the Severn Estuary, between Chepstow and Newport in South Wales, which would replace Bristol and Cardiff airports (which would have to close), and would be the biggest regional airport in the country – (in the perhaps unlikely event it is ever built). The aim is to build the new airport alongside the M4 and the First Great Western rail link to London. Not surprisingly Bristol Airport believes that efforts at dealing with expected growth in air travel should be concentrated on the existing airports. The CEO of Bristol airport says “The idea of a new Severnside Airport was dismissed by the Aviation White Paper in 2003 on the basis that it would ‘struggle to attract sufficient traffic to be financially viable and would not generate sufficient economic or regeneration benefits to merit support’. The Commission will continue to consider the submissions received and decide in December which merit further detailed study, for final decision after the summer 2015 election.