Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Job losses caused to Essex / London economy by expanded operations at Southend airport
With the arrival of easyJet flights using Southend airport over the past year, its number of passengers rose from a tiny number to around 720,000 in the year up to the end of February. The airport and the local authorities were bullish about the number of jobs that would be created and the boost to the local economy. However, in reality it has turned out that almost all those using the easyJet holiday flights are Brits going abroad, with very few coming in the other direction. On estimates (by government) of the cost of providing one job, the amount of jobs lost by the UK economy due to the exodus of British residents abroad can be calculated. It costs around £24,000 to £28,000 to create a job. ONS data for 2011 shows the average Briton spent £557 per foreign trip. With 325,000 Brits flying out of Southend, it can be calculated that the amount of money being sucked out of the UK economy would potentially support many thousand jobs (5,000 or 6,000 jobs or more) here, if that money was spent in the local economy instead. The airport employs about 500 people and claims more work around the airport, but in reality many of those are just jobs that have moved from elsewhere. Not many new jobs.
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Standard speculates whether Labour cabinet tend towards backing Gatwick runway
The Standard says Labour was moving towards backing a 2nd runway at Gatwick before the Airports Commission was set up. Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle has already publicly ruled out a 3rd runway at Heathrow, and Ed Miliband is"sceptical" about it. Maria Eagle has also rejected Boris’s idea of an airport in the Thames Estuary, largely on cost grounds, branding it an “unworkable fantasy”. A 2nd runway at Gatwick cannot be built before 2019 under a legal agreement, but the Standard says Ms Eagle is understood to have seen a Gatwick runway as a stronger contender than expanding Stansted, if the South-East needed extra aviation capacity. Gatwick is opening new routes, including to the Far East, as it seeks to become a rival to Heathrow while Stansted still has spare capacity. Labour says it will await the Commission's conclusions before drawing up its new policy. Supporting expansion at Gatwick, or Stansted, had also not been agreed by the shadow cabinet.
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Flybe to end all domestic flights from Gatwick by March 2014 after selling its 25 slot pairs to easyJet
Flybe is to stop all of its Gatwick flights after agreeing to sell all its 25 pairs of slots to EasyJet for £20 million, as it needs the money. That only leaves Flybe with a few London slots, at Luton. Flybe will leave Gatwick the end of March 2014. That means the end of its flights from Gatwick to Belfast City, Guernsey, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Newcastle and Newquay. EasyJet is under no obligation to replace domestic flights, and will just use the slots for the most profitable holiday routes. There are concerns in Inverness about losing their Gatwick link. Flybe launched an expensive complaint to the CAA in 2010, complaining about the level of its charges. However the CAA ruled in September that Gatwick was within its rights to raise its landing fees for smaller aircraft, as it prefers to use slots for larger planes carrying more passengers. Flybe has been hit because on domestic flights, APD of £13 is charged on both legs of a journey. Flybe's Chairman, Jim French said that even if Gatwick did not want its passengers, other airports would, and Flybe would work to ensure that the "UK's regional passengers don't get left in the cold."
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Balaced approach needed on Stansted rail services – not a non-stop line excluding local commuter use
Stansted Airport, now owned by MAG, has been lobbying for better rail links from London. It has said this in its submission to the Airports Commission on making better use of airport capacity in the south east. The airport wants faster rail journeys to the airport (30 minutes down from current 47 minutes), and needs to able to show that a high proportion (40% in its interim master plan) arrive by public transport. It wants these better rail links to be paid for by the public purse. Stop Stansted Expansion say that the faster rail journeys between London and Stansted would be achieved by non-stop trains leaving out intermediate stops (Bishop's Stortford or Harlow Town). This current stopping trains provides a vitally important service for local commuters. SSE has written to the Secretary of State for Transport saying unless Stansted Airport wants to build a dedicated rail line to serve the airport then all well and good but, if it wants to continue sharing the West Anglia Main Line with local users, there needs to be a balanced approach. In reality the number of passengers travelling by train to/from Stansted Airport has fallen by a third in recent years, from 5.5 million 2007/08 to 3.7 million in 2011/12, despite the introduction of a brand new fleet of trains in 2011.
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Over 100,000 residents of Hounslow, Hillingdon and Richmond vote in local polls against a 3rd Heathrow runway or more flights
Three of the local council areas most affected by Heathrow aircraft noise - Richmond, Hillingdon and Hounslow - recently carried out referendums of their residents on the subject of Heathrow growth. All three ended on 16th May. In total, well over 140,000 people responded to the polls. They voted overwhelmingly against expansion of the airport, against a new runway, and against more flights over Londoners. In the Hounslow poll, 72% of residents said they are against expansion, but 64% said they did not want to see a new hub airport built if it meant losing Heathrow. 83% of Hounslow residents were in favour of a night flight ban (11pm to 7pm) and 94% wanted better noise insulation for schools and residents living under the flight path. In the Richmond and the Hillingdon polls combined, 72% were against a 3rd runway, and 73% were against increasing the number of flights. The Standard says the findings of the poll are bound to be exploited by councillors as they go to the voters in next spring’s local elections. Heathrow sought vainly to rubbish the polls by saying they were voting on an outdated 3rd runway proposal.
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Heathrow confirms it is not seriously considering new 4 runway airport at Haddenham (or White Waltham)
In early May there was speculation that Heathrow was considering various options for its submission to the Airports Commission. One of these - that had been seen as outline proposals by Aviation Week - was for a 4 runway airport at Haddenham (which is east of Oxford). Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd has now confirmed that this option is no longer being considered. Local MPs and residents had been furious to learn of the plans. Colin Matthews, CEO of Heathrow, wrote to local MP John Howell and said "I can confirm that we will not be proposing plans for a new airport as part of our submission". The MP said "this should come as welcome relief to Thame and to the surrounding villages as far south as Henley who would be affected by noise from take-offs and landings.”
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Cambridge Airport unveils 50 new flights a week to Amsterdam, Paris, Milan and Geneva
Swiss-based Darwin Airline is to launch scheduled flights from Cambridge to Amsterdam, Paris, Milan and Geneva. Fifty flights will take to the air every week - 24 to and from Amsterdam, 12 to and from Paris, eight to and from Milan, and six to and from Geneva, where Darwin is based. The airport's chief commercial officer said “We expect to carry 80,000 people a year from Cambridge to these major European cities, both for pleasure and business. But Cllr Jean Swanson, the city council’s executive councillor for environmental and waste services said that while she welcome initiatives that support the Cambridge economy, she was “concerned” there had ben no detailed talks about the flights between the airport and the council. Marshall’s say all the new flights will take place during the day and no night flying is planned. Flights are due to begin in September, and follow news that recently introduced summer services to Jersey have done well.
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Board of Airline Representatives urges action to increase Heathrow capacity
In its submission to the Airports Commission on making the best use of UK airport capacity in the short-to-medium term, the Board of Airline Representatives have pointed out that airlines are only experiencing capacity problems at Heathrow. Not at other airports. A survey completed by 51 of its members found 74.5% (38 airlines) had not experienced capacity problems at any UK airport other than Heathrow, while 23.5% (12 airlines) had not sought capacity at other airports. The BAR said 51% of respondents (25 airlines) said that in the past 2 years they had certainly or probably diverted flights or capacity to other countries or destinations, rather than to other UK airports, because of Heathrow’s slot constraints. Also 47.8% (22 airlines) said they were most likely to operate additional flights to another international hub or destination, rather than to another UK airport, while Heathrow remained full. The BAR says: ‘Airlines are choosing to fly to hub airports and that is where the UK must take action for the sake of the entire UK economy.’ .
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Heathrow and Gatwick submit their responses on Aviation & Climate Change to Airports Commission
Both Heathrow and Gatwick airports have submitted their responses to the Aviation Commission's discussion paper on Aviation and Climate Change. Both base their aspirations of high growth rates over coming decades on evidence from the industry body "Sustainable Aviation". Not surprisingly, both airports' submissions are attempts to justify the unjustifiable: to claim that emitting huge amounts more carbon dioxide can be achieved with no net emissions, by various probable and improbable means. They hope improvements in efficiency by airlines and air traffic control, as well as improved aircraft design, will cut their emissions. They place unrealistic hopes in "sustainable" biofuels, with Gatwick's submission saying "...by 2050, sustainable fuels could offer between 15 and 24% reduction in CO2 emissions attributable to UK aviation." Gatwick also wants considerable Government support (ie public expense) to develop biofuels for the industry. And both depend to an enormous extent on international agreements through ICAO, and systems for carbon trading that do not currently exist.
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Heathrow submits its short term capacity fix ideas to Airports Commission – not much mixed mode, but adamant about 3rd runway a.s.a.p.
Heathrow has now made its submission to the Airports Commission, on how to improve airport capacity in the short and medium term. That consultation closes today (17th May). As reported earlier by the FT, Heathrow says it will not be pushing for mixed mode. However, it is keen to introduce the measures used in the recent Operational Freedoms trial " tactically using both runways for arrivals when there are delays; using the southern runway for Terminal 4 arrivals and the departures runway for A380 arrivals" - which in reality means using mixed mode for quite a bit of the time, but calling it Operational Freedoms. The aim would be not to increase flight numbers, but to improve resilience in the event of difficulties. It also wants an end to the Cranford agreement on take offs towards the east. The Heathrow submission also wants to change night flights around, to have more arrivals between 5 - 6am and fewer arriving on both runways between 6 -7am. It wants more areas given respite periods from noise. All this in order to soften up the public so that a third runway can be built, which Heathrow sees - in its own self interest - "is ultimately required to deliver long-haul connectivity for the UK."