Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
BA & Virgin say Birmingham Airport will never be international hub
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways have hit out at Birmingham’s call for government intervention to encourage airlines to make better use of airports in the north and Midlands. They say Birmingham can never be a national hub airport, and that regional airports such as Birmingham could not provide an alternative to expanding capacity in the South East. BA and Virgin say Heathrow and Gatwick are full because people want to fly from them. Birmingham isn’t because people don’t. Also that Government should not intervene to force airlines and passengers to use airports they “do not want to fly from”. They also claim foreign governments are only interested in Heathrow in talks about opening new air routes and capacity. Birmingham Airport has launched a campaign to convince ministers that it can provide an alternative to expanding Heathrow without the need for a new runway - and it can double passenger numbers from 9 million today to 18 million without new infrastructure, and by extending its existing runway it will be able to serve 27 million people. The industry is fighting fiercely among itself on the capacity issue - and is likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
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New route from Heathrow …. not to China or emerging economies … to Palma
Vueling is launching a new route from Heathrow next March, to Palma. Palma has not been served from Heathrow since 2009. Vueling will fly daily from Heathrow Terminal 3, where it currently operates daily flights to La Coruna and Bilbao, using an A320. Vueling CEO, Alex Cruz, said: “We are delighted to be bolstering our London Heathrow services with this popular route to Palma Mallorca. This is going to be hugely welcomed by the strong expat community". (So nothing here about the allegedly urgent need for routes to the emerging economies, from an airport that is too full to add any more routes ?)
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Ferrovial in new deal to cut its stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings to 20%
Spain's Ferrovial has signed a new shareholders' pact in Heathrow Airport Holdings that opens the door for the infrastructure firm to cut its stake to 20%. The new agreement follows the purchase of stakes in Heathrow, formerly known as BAA, by Qatari and Chinese funds, as Ferrovial has sold 16% of its stake over the past year to reduce its holding to 34%. It owned 55.9% of BAA in January 2011. According to Espirito Santo Investment Bank, Ferrovial must keep a stake of at least 25% for now and at least 20% from 2019, when a £600 million credit line matures.
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Schiphol to get 3,000 fewer night flights per year – but that still leaves 29,000 per year
The number of night flights at Schiphol in the next 3 years will be reduced from 32,000 to 29,000. That still means around 80 flights per night - hugely more than other airports. There has been an agreement - the Alders Agreement - between the airport and the local communities under the airport 's flight path. It allows for some growth at the airport but only within strict environmental limits. In order to remain within these limits the number of night flights had to be cut, but the agreement is only for 3 years. Schiphol is saying that the 3,000 flights are not being switched to other airports, and it is a real reduction, not just a displacement. Up to 2020 the limit for the number of aircraft movements at Schiphol is 510,000 per year. There are also meant to be measures to use quieter planes to cut noise and compensate residents for noise.
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Update from Richmond Heathrow Campaign on the Operational Freedoms trial
The Operational Freedom Trials have caused a great deal of concern among residents under areas of London under Heathrow flight paths over the last few months. The Richmond Heathrow Campaign is helping its local residents to understand the issues, and send in complaints if necessary. They give details of who to complain, and where to. On 1st November, Heathrow Airport Limited announced that 2 further elements of the trials will not now take place. These are Operational Freedom 2 – Re-directing departing aircraft, which would have allowed aircraft to be redirected from their route sooner after take-off, increasing capacity when both runways were in use for take-offs. Also Operational Freedom 3 – landing inbound aircraft without holding, which would have decreased the number of flights arriving before 5:00 am, but increased the number arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 am as airlines determined it to be impractical. Around 16 landings per night are allowed, which normally arrive between 4:30 am and 6:00 am. The Richmond campaign's position is that flights between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am should end immediately.
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Stop Stansted Expansion calls for an end to night flights over an 8 hour period, not 6½ hours
On the eve of next Saturday’s European Day of Action Against Night Flights (November 24), Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has renewed its call for a total ban on night flights. Stansted is currently permitted by the Government to handle up to 12,000 night flights a year, between 11.30pm and 6.00am. This is more than double the number of night flights permitted at Heathrow (5,800) even though Heathrow is four times bigger than Stansted. Stansted’s rural location means the impact of aircraft noise on local residents trying to sleep is worse than at Heathrow because rural ambient noise levels at night are so much lower than in a city. Stansted has 24 hour BA cargo flights, using noisy ‘Super Jumbo’ Boeing 747-8 cargo aircraft are only based at Stansted because they are not allowed to be based at Heathrow. A report in 2011 showed the scale of the economic savings that would be made at Heathrow if night flights were stopped, due to the costs of sleep disturbance and stress caused by night flight noise - and the same logic applies to Stansted. Tired workers are less healthy and productive. "The impact of night flight noise has been consistently underestimated and it’s time for the Government to set down a firm timetable for ending the misery of night flights.”
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Gatwick campaign, GACC, says “in a civilised world there would be no night flights”
The Government is due to publish within the coming month a consultation on the future of night flights at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted. At their recent AGM, GACC members expressed support for people across Europe who are holding a ‘day of action’ against night flights on 24th November. At Gatwick there is a quota for the number of planes allowed to land at night, and a separate quota for the number of noise points. Under pressure from GACC the noise point quota has been steadily reduced over the past 20 years. There are about 50 flights each night in summer at Gatwick, more than at any other UK airport except East Midlands. But the night noise is lower than at Heathrow – because the aircraft are on average smaller. GACC will now be asking for both quotas to be reduced. The new aviation White Paper - which will be produced in spring 2013 - should recognise the desirability of reducing the number of night flights. GACC is opposed to a ‘respite period’ in the middle of the night if that meant more flights at the beginning and end of the night.
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Virgin Atlantic to start domestic flights between Heathrow and Edinburgh & Aberdeen as well as Manchester
Virgin Atlantic will be operating domestic flights from Scotland to Heathrow from spring 2013 after being offered all the remaining slots that BA was forced to relinquish after its takeover of bmi. The flights to Edinburgh and Aberdeen are in addition to flights to Manchester, starting in April 2013, that were announced in August. They will use an A320 that carries around 150 passengers. European competition authorities compelled BA to give up 14 slot pairs at Heathrow as a condition of approving its merger with bmi - that was opposed by Virgin. These domestic flights could be considered as boosting passenger numbers on transfer flights to destinations such as the USA out of Heathrow. However, Virgin has also said it will be using some of its new slots for point to point flights to Nice. [This appears to be evidence that scarce slots at Heathrow are not urgently needed for flights to the emerging or new economies for businessmen. The slots are instead used for whichever route is most profitable]. Virgin is also to trying to get a pair of slots for flights to Moscow, which the CAA recently granted to easyJet.
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Saturday 24th November: European Day of Action against Night Flights – Pyjama Photocall under the Heathrow Flight path
On 24th November Heathrow campaigners staged an event in Hounslow (Lampton Park) as part of the European Day of Action against Night Flights. People whose lives are badly affected by disturbed sleep from night flights got together to say "Ban Night Flights" - with a colourful display of banners, pillows, duvets, dressing gowns, slippers, nightwear, and hot water bottles. The UK Government is expected to consult next month on a new night flight regime for the three designated airports – Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. The current agreement with the airlines runs out in October 2014. Night flights are hated across Europe and demonstrators across Europe are also calling for the widely hated night flights to be banned. Events were staged in Belgium, Italy and across Germany. This day of action is expected to mark the start of a Europe-wide campaign to get them banned.
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As many as 30,000 demonstrators from across France in peaceful protest against Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport
On Saturday perhaps as many as almost 40,000 people (estimates range from 13,500 to 40,000) - and some 400 tractors - gathered to protest against the proposed airport Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Despite the strong mobilization, socialists politicians do not want to abandon the project - which was supported strongly by Jean-Marc Ayrault. - who used to be Mayor of Nantes and is now Prime Minister. This was the reoccupation demonstration, aiming to try and reoccupy some of the land evacuated forcefully by police last month on the site of the future airport. Behind a large banner: "Against the airport and its world the struggle takes off", the protesters gained a wooded area where they built a small house to shelter opponents, using a human chain and tractors to bring in the wood for construction. The prefecture has reiterated that these buildings were will not be allowed to remain, but the protesters intend to stay. They have set up a tent on land loaned by a local farmer as a new headquarters for the opposition and a first meeting to define "strategy" to follow in the coming days, is scheduled for Sunday.