Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
“London First” calls for more intensive use of Heathrow runways with mixed mode in submission to Airports Commission
"London First" is an aggressively pro-growth, pro London business lobby organisation, whose stated mission is to "make London the best city in the world in which to do business." It has sent in a submission to the Airports Commission, calling for expansion of Heathrow and the ending of runway alternation. This would mean both runways being used for much of the day, in "mixed mode". London First believes that fitting some 10% more fights into Heathrow will solve the UK's economic ills, and takes a dashingly cavalier attitude to the impact of the extra noise on the quality of life of Londoners overflown. They appear to either not understand how aircraft noise impinges on the lives of those under flight paths, or deliberately seek to underplay the problems, and exaggerate the small reductions in noise that aircraft manufacturers have achieved. They use noise figures from the time of Concorde to give the impression there has been a huge noise reduction. London First also recommend that Gatwick and Stansted be allowed to compete more effectively, and have better rail services, to take some business from Heathrow.
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Borough-wide consultations by Richmond, Hounslow and Hillingdon Boroughs on Heathrow expansion – end 16th May
Hounslow Council has a community consultation, called "Make Some Noise Over Heathrow" through which they are trying to assess the views of their borough residents on Heathrow expansion. Residents can comment online or via a paper questionnaire, which is being distributed to some 100,000 households. The consultation started on 9th April and ends on 16th May. Richmond and Hillingdon councils have similar consultations which also end on 16th May. Hounslow is one of the places most affected by noise from the airport, lying directly under both main approach paths from east to west, and is also affected by noise from easterly take-offs. Cllr Colin Ellar, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, said while appreciating that many borough residents work at Heathrow, they want a better deal for all residents who suffer the environmental downsides of Heathrow, particularly aircraft noise. They want the views of residents to be heard above those of government or of Heathrow itself. The results of the consultation will be presented to the Airports Commission later in the summer.
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Lydd Airport expansion plans to be shown off at Dubai Airport Show and other international shows
The owners of Lydd Airport, Lydd Holdings, is exhibiting the plans for their 294 metre runway extension, plus a 150-metre starter extension and an new terminal building, in Dubai. There is the Dubai Airport Show taking place, and Lydd Holdings are showing off their plans to delegates from some 200 companies from 32 countries. Lydd Holidngs is to invest £25million into the development, and has already spent £35m upgrading the site over the last year including installing a new executive terminal with VIP facilities, improved passenger check-in and security and a new departure lounge. They will be promoting the airport at other international aviation shows this year, including the EBACE (European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition), later in May. Currently the airport has begun to work on the pre-development conditions, which include things like carrying out baseline biodiversity surveys (water voles, bats, lizards, grass snakes etc), and a Carbon Management Action Plan for the ground operational vehicles etc. The airport may not start the terminal until the runway extension is started .
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Thames Estuary airport ballot extended from Hoo Peninsula to all of Rochester and Strood
Rochester & Stroud MP Mark Reckless has organised a ballot for people on the Hoo Peninsula about a Thames Estuary airport. The area to be canvassed has now been extended across the constituency. Another 30,000 papers have been ordered, with getting them distributed by volunteers being a logistic challenge. So far more than 10,000 ballot papers have been delivered, of which around 3,700 have been returned. Mark Reckless says there has been an "overwhelming response" and that 95% of those returning ballot papers have been against an airport. The peninsula has a population of more than 20,000 and includes villages like Cliffe and Grain, which have both been suggested as possible sites for an airport. The ballot has been criticised by the Labour party, who have long campaigned for a referendum across Medway on the issue. This would be held on a specific day, with voters going to polling stations to cast their vote. Unfortunately however, Mark Reckless is keen to see either Gatwick or Stansted airports expanded instead.
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Heathrow considering a range of runway options including long & short 3rd runway, and 4 runway airport at Haddenham or White Waltham
"Aviation Week" has reported that Heathrow is considering at least 10 expansion options which are being whittled down. These "Heathrow 2025: Masterplan Options & Indicative Layouts" documents - seen by Aviation Week - were produced by the Mott MacDonald consultancy. Four of the options are a short 3rd runway north of the airport, at Sipson - or a long 3rd runway there. Another two options are for a 4 runway airport (each the same design) either at Haddenham or at White Waltham. Haddenham is about 15 miles east of Oxford, and building a vast airport there, in countryside, would mean the virtual removal of two villages, Chearsley and Long Crendon. White Waltham is a small general aviation airfield about 15 miles west of Heathrow and close to Maidenhead. The 4 runway airport design could potentially handle 140 million passengers and 800,000 air traffic movements a year, (compared to some 70 million passengers and around 480,000 movements now) - so that is just under twice Heathrow's capacity today. The current designs are early drafts developed last year, and Heathrow will be "making its considered submission to the Airports Commission in July.” .
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New book on carbon footprint of international air passengers – shows Heathrow massively ahead of any other world airport by CO2
In a new book on global aviation carbon emissions, by Dave Southgate in Australia, there are a multitude of remarkable facts. The book gives details of CO2 emissions country by country, airport by airport and airline by airline. The UK comes second globally for the amount of carbon produced from international flying, second only to the USA, and above Germany (3rd), UAE (4th) and Japan (5th). The CO2 emissions generated from flights from Heathrow are not only the highest from any airport in the world, but they are some 45% higher than the second airport, ranked by CO2. Heathrow's CO2 emissions are some 16.4 kt CO2, compared to Dubai in second place(11 kt), Hong Kong third (10.3 kt) and Frankfurt fourth (10.2 kt). In a global ranking of size of country carbon emissions, Heathrow would occupy 4th position in the country hierarchy if it were a country. The top 10 countries constitute 50% of the global aviation carbon footprint. The carbon emissions of British Airways are the 2nd largest of any airline, other than Emirates. Many more details in Dave Southgate's book.
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Supreme Court rules UK Government is breaking air pollution laws
The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the government has failed to meet European air pollution limits. Britain will therefore face European fines and may have to drastically reduce the use of heavy goods vehicles and cars in some of the UK’s major cities. Much of the problem is from diesel vehicles. The Supreme Court said "The way is open for immediate enforcement action at national and European level.” The government had been challenged by ClientEarth (lawyers who work on environmental issues) because of air quality concerns in 15 cities and regions across the UK, including London ( where one area that is very bad is around the Heathrow area), Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. The low air quality is already having a marked effect on health, and ClientEarth felt the only way to get the UK government to act on the matter was legal action. The UK has so far made repeated attempts to get the air quality limits weakened or delayed. The European Court of Justice will have to clear up some legal issues, so the UK government may be able to play for time and delay doing anything for a year or so. The infringement action to be taken has not yet been decided. This will have an impact on Heathrow expansion plans.
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CAA proposals to limit airport charges at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted over next 5 years
Proposals by the CAA on changes to the regulatory regime for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are the most significant reform of airport regulation since the 1987. Heathrow is likely to be prevented from raising its charges to airlines as much as it had hoped. The CAA plans could mean cheaper air fares from Heathrow, though the airport had wanted to be allowed to raise charges by 5.9% per year in real terms between 2014 and 2019 - to pay back to shareholders. The CAA wants a rise only in line with inflation, at the most. The CAA will be consulting on its proposals and make its final decision in October. Heathrow's charges are higher than those of Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Hong Kong, because airlines like to fly there and there is little spare capacity - hence the market would allow the cost to rise. In the past, the CAA allowed Heathrow to rise its charges, to pay for infrastructure like T5. The CAA is now considering removing caps on aeronautical charges at Gatwick and Stansted from next year. They would then be able to agree aeronautical charges with the airlines, but the CAA would retain the right to intervene if it regards the agreements as unacceptable. The civil aviation act in 2012 gave the CAA new powers over airport regulation.
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Huge rally against Heathrow expansion – if allowed it would face opposition on a truly massive scale
Over a thousand people attended a rally in Barnes, against the possible expansion of Heathrow. The rally was organised by Zac Goldsmith, and attended by Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Boris said he thought the Conservatives "would be utterly nuts to go into the next election with the possibility of a Heathrow third runway on the table." [However, unfortunately Boris thinks the alternatives offered by Gatwick, Stansted and two sites in the Thames Estuary should be concentrated on. Worryingly, he seems to favour expansion at Stansted, and have little concern about aviation's carbon emissions]. Boris told the rally that a 3rd runway at Heathrow was "just too difficult to deliver - 15 years at least it would take to bring about. “Above all you would be inflicting noise pollution not just on west London but on huge parts of London that don’t even know they are going to be affected. That is not the right way forward for the greatest city on earth.” Zac said the opponents of a 3rd runway will continue to make clear their opposition to further expansion, and he wants "ministers to be left in no doubt that if they give expansion a green light, they will face a campaign on a truly massive scale.”
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Lydd airport: will it find enough passenger demand, or is its business plan nonsensical?
Gwyn Topham, in the Guardian, speculates on whether the government granting planning permission to Lydd airport is an indication to their thinking on airport expansion in general. The decision came relatively soon after publication of the aviation policy framework in March which reiterated the idea of growth elsewhere to take pressure off London's main airports. And it may be connected to Osborne's budget talking up infrastructure and its impact on the economy. Approval has been given for up to 500,000 passengers a year, though Lydd will struggle to get anywhere near that. They hope to eventually be able to use the railway track that carries nuclear waste from Dungeness to link passengers to Ashford's high-speed train – a 37-minute journey to London, albeit expensive. Though Lydd would like to get easyJet, as Southend has, but it is more likely to expand the executive jet service. And they hope when Gatwick is full and wants more A380, it will kick out the smaller planes, which will then find Lydd useful. That will take a while ... and currently the lack of demand makes the Lydd business plan nonsensical.