Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Foster & Partners submit their Isle of Grain airport scheme and Boris courts Chinese and South Korean backers
Sky News says advisers to Boris have held initial talks with wealthy foreign institutions including China Investment Corporation (CIC) and officials in South Korea about the Isle of Grain, Thames Estuary hub airport project. Boris now prefers the Isle of Grain as the location site for an airport, rather than "Boris island". Other institutional investors including City-based pension funds and infrastructure firms are also understood to have told the Mayor's advisers that they would consider putting long-term capital into the Isle of Grain scheme, which has been called the Thames Hub Airport. Boris is understood to be determined to identify as much private sector funding as possible for a new airport, whereas his principal aviation adviser, Daniel Moylan, is said to be keener on the idea of government financing. On 19th Foster & Partners submitted the Isle of Grain airport scheme to the Airports Commission. Chinese backers are being courted for a number of new UK projects, including a new 'super-sewer' under London.
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Southend Airport boss, Alistair Welch, quits – reason not disclosed
In a surprise announcement, managing director Alastair Welch, who has led Southend airport since before the Stobart Group bought it for £21 million in 2008, said he would leave at the end of July. Paying tribute to Mr Welch Stobart Group boss, Andrew Tinkler, said a team had been put in place to ensure the smooth running of the airport and its continued success. Roger Clements, who has been working for Stobart Air for some time, will take over as managing director in August, with David Lister as airport operations director and Graham Moorhouse as chief financial officer. Andrew Tinkler said: “The transformation of the airport has been led by Alastair Welch, who has been supported by a dedicated, hard-working team. Alastair has decided that, with the redevelopment of the airport all-but complete, the time is now right for him to move on to new challenges." Mr Welch has overseen installation of a new control tower, railway station, runway extension and terminal, attracted EasyJet to use the airport, got a massive increase in passengers and flights, and the one millionth passenger. Mr Welch was "unavailable for comment." Reason for his leaving not publicised nor information on his next move.
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West Sussex County Council gives its backing to 2nd runway plan for Gatwick
The leader of of West Sussex County Council, Mrs Louise Goldman, has welcomed the principle of creating a 2nd Gatwick runway and full airport expansion. This is nearly 35 years after the local authority signed a legal agreement restricting the airport to one runway. She said the county could not be preserved in aspic; and if it was to continue to provide quality jobs for its young people as well as take seriously its responsibilities to an ageing population, it had to make economic growth a priority. Somehow she manages to square that with saying she does did not mean abandoning the environment. "Quite the reverse. I have always considered myself to be an environmentalist, and protecting everything that makes West Sussex a unique place of beauty in which to live, work, and visit, remains enormously important.” And she has the naive hope that "ensuring that we mitigate environmental concerns as much as we possibly can,” will get over environmental problems. Gatwick Airport will submit its planning proposals for expansion on 23rd July.
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“Here we go again” – SSE slams opportunistic, irresponsible and pointless expansion proposals for Stansted
Proposals from the Manchester Airport Group (MAG) to develop Stansted into a 2-runway, or even a 4-runway, airport have been described by Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) as "opportunistic, irresponsible and pointless". SSE Chairman Peter Sanders said: "It is of little consolation that MAG has framed its proposals in an unenthusiastic, half-hearted way which grudgingly admits that it would be 'willing' to add an extra runway or runways at Stansted, about 15 years from now, if that's what the Airports Commission and the Government decide is best. This will be seen by many as an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for any decision to expand the airport." The MAG proposals resurrect the expansion options for Stansted put forward by the Government in July 2002. These all came to nothing but it took an 8-year battle before BAA conceded defeat and withdrew its plans for a 2nd runway. Between 2002 to 2010 needless stress and anxiety was caused to those whose homes were threatened by the bulldozer and over a £1billion was wiped off local house prices - all for nothing. Now, just 3 years later, there is the prospect of another prolonged battle over the same issue.
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Owners of Stansted, MAG, submit their plans for a 2nd runway – or to become a 4-runway hub
MAG, the owner of Stansted, are submitting their proposals for a 2nd runway to the Airports Commission. They also believe it has the potential to become a UK future 4 runway hub airport. MAG argues that the airport offers the cheapest and least environmentally damaging location (quite how it could do that, on a countryside location is unclear) for a 4-runway airport and estimate that it would cost £10 billion, although no detailed plans have been drawn up. Local campaign group, Stop Stansted Expansion, said that the MAG proposals were reheating plans put forward back in 2002 that were withdrawn by BAA, the former owners, in 2010. SSE's chairman said: "We really shouldn't have to go through this whole argument again just three years after the last threat was lifted. We are profoundly disappointed that MAG has behaved in this opportunistic and irresponsible way. With the airport currently operating at only half its permitted capacity a 2nd runway – never mind a 4-runway hub double the size of Heathrow today – is completely unnecessary on business grounds and it would be completely unacceptable on environmental grounds." MAG has to admit that it could serve almost double the current number of passengers, without any more infrastructure for some years.
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“Heathrow may have shot itself in the foot” – Blog by John Stewart on airport’s runway plans
John Stewart has written a blog about the announcement by Heathrow yesterday on its new runway proposals. The perception is that huge expansion is on the cards; that Heathrow has become a city state on the edge of London which is threatening to blight large swathes of the capital and beyond. There is considerable scepticism about Heathrow’s claims that the overall noise climate could improve with a 3rd, and even a 4th runway, given that a 3rd runway would increase flight numbers by 250,000 a year, resulting in a total of 740,000 flights using Heathrow, rising to almost a million with a 4th. Communities finding themselves under a noisy flight path for the first time, in Ham or Tooting Bec, will not just accept this. The overall impression of the proposals is for concrete and destruction. John Stewart suspects that the sheer scale of Heathrow's proposals have hardened and widened opposition to expansion: from local residents, the public at large, local authorities and climate activists. "The climate movement will now be limbering up for another battle of Heathrow."
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HACAN will fight tooth and nail against Heathrow’s plans for a 3rd runway
HACAN, representing residents under the Heathrow flight paths, has vowed to ‘fight tooth and nail’ against the proposals for a 3rd runway released by Heathrow Airport. HACAN welcomed the measures announced by Heathrow to cut noise but argued that these will be negated by the huge increase there will be in the number of planes using the airport if a 3rd runway is given the go-ahead. Heathrow has confirmed that flight numbers will rise by nearly 250,000 a year to a total of 740,000 (from the current 480,000) if a new runway is built. Heathrow's 3 options are for: (1). A south west option which requires demolition of the 850 properties in the Stanwell Moor area. (2). A north west option in the Harmondsworth Moor area involving demolition of 950 properties. (3). A northern option, very similar to the previous plans for a 3rd runway, involving demolition of Sipson and parts of Harlington. Heathrow has ruled out a 4th runway until at least 2040 as it is not convinced there will be the demand. But it has said that, if a 4th runway was required, one of the options for a 3rd runway would be used. A fourth runway would result in a total of around a million flights per year using the airport.
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Boris Johnson ditches idea of “Boris Island” airport in favour of Lord Foster Isle of Grain plan
There are reports that Boris has ditched his idea of an island airport in the Thames Estuary ("Boris Island") in favour of a huge hub airport on the Isle of Grain. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Boris said the Grain scheme proposed by Lord Foster would “knock the spots off” rival airports on the continent and make Britain the “global capital of aviation”. He is likely to submit 3 schemes to the Airports Commission by 19th July, for Boris Island, for the Isle of Grain and for Stansted. The Isle of Grain is his preference, with some of the new airport built on reclaimed land. There would be a new rail link to London, transferring passengers from Waterloo in under half an hour. The airport would open in 2029 handling 90 million passengers per year and expanding to 180 million passengers per year by 2050. Access to the new hub airport would be by widening most of the M25, an Airport Express rail link to Waterloo, and Crossrail linking it to Heathrow. The entire project would cost about £65 billion - or more.
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‘Quick death’ might be better for Stanwell Moor in Heathrow debate
A "quick death" for Stanwell Moor is the best-case result for residents - that was the feeling after a meeting on 1st July to discuss the blight of a potential third Heathrow runway through the village. The threat of long term blight and community death are some of the most serious concerns. Kathy Croft, chairman of Stanwell Moor Residents’ Association, said after the gathering: “I would rather a quick death for Stanwell Moor than endure the fate suffered by Sipson.” Heathrow has yet to confirm or deny the reports of plans for a third runway to be built over the Stanwell Moor area - it will publish its submission to the Airports Commission on 17th July. The Stanwell Moor Residents have another meeting with Heathrow scheduled for July 18. A spokesman for Heathrow said: “It is important that those who are most affected by the airport are given the opportunity to put their concerns to Heathrow first hand, and that we listen and respond to them. “We will continue to meet regularly with local communities, such as Stanwell Moor as we move forward through this process.” Mrs Croft said: “I would just like a decision, the last thing we want is to be like Sipson."
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Gatwick Airport appoints MI6 HQ architect Sir Terry Farrell to promote its 2nd runway plans
Gatwick Airport has appointed a leading architect, Sir Terry Farrell, to help in its plans to build a 2nd runway. Sir Terry will help Gatwick in its proposals for a "constellation of 3 London airports" with 2 runways each - 2+2+2. Gatwick hopes competition between it, Heathrow and Stansted was "the best solution for London". Sir Terry's previous projects include the MI6 building and Home Office headquarters in London and Incheon Airport in South Korea. Sir Terry's firm, Farrells, will look at the impact on London of having competing airports of equal size compared to a single "mega-hub" airport. He said: "The world city of London, with the largest aviation market in the world, is the hub and its airport infrastructure needs to evolve and grow around the city" and that "a single mega-hub airport is at significant odds with what London needs."