Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
A personal blog on what’s behind the proposed new airport at Notre Dame des Landes.
This is a blog explaining many of the issues behind the development of a new airport at Nantes, by an Englishman living in France - working as a translator. He sets out some interesting facts relating to the values of land, the deal done with Vinci, the pressure to move the existing airport to a new site including spurious arguments about safety, the rising price of oil as forecast by no less a body than the IMF, and the misguided use of large amounts of public funds that could be better spent elsewhere. On the day when thousand of brave French people will attempt to win back some of the land in the "Zone at defendre" at Notre Dame des Landes, this background is interesting.
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EC stance on air pollution in London could affect ability of Heathrow to expand
Government plans to delay air pollution improvements in 12 areas of the UK areas were refused by the European Commission in June. The UK may now face fines if it fails to improve air quality quickly. The worst offender is London, where it is estimated that there over 4,000 ‘excess deaths’ per year from air pollution. This could have implications for Heathrow expansion. Air pollution is recognised by the government as the 2nd-biggest public health threat, after smoking. A judgement will be made at a later date on government plans to delay meeting NO2 standards in major cities until 2020 – or in the case of London, 2025. The EC decision addresses the shorter term, whereas a 3rd runway at Heathrow could not be operation for about 10 years. However, the tough stance by the EC suggests that any plan for Heathrow expansion, which increased air pollution and prevented limits being met, would face legal action.
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KLM to start twice daily flights from Manston to Amsterdam from April 2013
KLM has announced a new service from Manston to Amsterdam, twice a day. Manston says this will create 28 jobs in Kent. The attraction is that Amsterdam is a hub for some 130 other destinations. The airport did a survey in September to judge demand for a service to Amsterdam, and of the 9,300 responses some 80% said they would use a direct service to Amsterdam, with 60% then connecting with flights to other parts of Europe. Of those responding 96% said they would use Manston in preference to other airports - Gatwick is not far away. KLM is to run two morning flights from Manston, with one returning in mid-morning and the other in the evening. Infratil still cannot sell either Manston or Prestwick. Flybe pulled out of Manston in March saying flights from Kent were not economically viable. Manston has been valued at £7.6m. But Manston may cease to be an airport if it cannot be sold ....
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Heathrow gets another report from Frontier Economies – pushing dodgy figure of £14 billion loss in trade … if no massive UK hub
Heathrow has commissioned yet another report from Frontier Economics, making out that there is a huge loss - "up to £14 billion per year" - to the UK economy from not having a massive hub airport. Colin Matthew does admit that the headline figure,for purposes of publicity, of £14 billion "should be treated with caution". ie. it is a somewhat random figure, and quite how it is arrived at is not explained. In a Frontier Economics report in September 2011 they said there might be a £14 billion loss of trade over 10 years, not per year. The analysis seems to seriously confuse chicken and egg. Do more flights to certain destinations generate more trade - or are more flights needed once there is already trade with that destination? This seems to be a very one-sided report, putting a flimsy case for self-serving ends, and deliberately misleading on the realities on air travel. In reality 70% or so of flghts from Heathrow are for leisure purposes - not businesses. More long haul flights for leisure are what airport expansion would promote. These lucrative routes are what Heathrow wants more of. More flights are profitable for airlines and airports, without doubt. But the benefit to the UK economy as a whole is very much less certain.
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BAA challenged on claim that it is lack of runway capacity at Heathrow that is limiting flights to China
HACAN has challenged BAA’s claim that it is lack of capacity at Heathrow that is limiting the number of flights between the UK and mainland China. In reality there is a bilateral agreement between the two countries which restricts passenger flights between the two countries to 62 a week - 31 each. HACAN has also produced evidence to show that the greater difficulty of getting a visa for the UK than for the EU is a major deterrent to Chinese people coming to Britain. BAA is claiming, disingenuously or dishonestly, that Frankfurt and Paris are leaving Heathrow behind as they forge ahead with extra flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - while conveniently omitting to mention that Heathrow has many more flights to Hong Kong, which is also an important part of China and a key hub airport. BAA is working hard to make out that huge numbers of transfer passengers are important for London's economy. In reality Heathrow has the largest number of terminating passengers of any airport in the world. Therefore it does not need the extra passengers an expanded hub would bring to make it commercially viable to operate lots of flights to key business destinations.
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Manchester Airport unveils plans to win back millions of passengers from London with new routes
Manchester Airport say they want to introduce direct services to major cities like Bangkok, Los Angeles and Beijing - which could mean millions of passengers a year not having to travel to London to fly. The airport’s chief commercial officer Ken O’Toole says 22 million people live within a 2-hour drive of Manchester Airport – the same catchment as Heathrow. But each year some 4 million of those travel to London airports, mainly because Manchester does not have direct services to some major cities. Manchester has opened new routes to cities such as Washington, Warsaw and Las Vegas this year. Mr O’Toole said 100,000 people within Manchester’s catchment area were flying to Hong Kong each year from London airports, as well as 60,000 to Beijing, 113,000 to Bangkok, 60,000 to Lahore, 50,000 to Delhi and 70,000 to Mumbai. Manchester Airport will next year launch a ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign, promoting their routes, especially to the Far East.
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Notre Dame des Landes. The ZAD. One person’s account of what is going on and why.
This is a long, personal account of what is going on at Notre Dame des Landes, by someone there with the anti-capitalists who are fighting the police and the authorities to defend the site. Vinci want to start work on the new airport and the roads for it by the end of November. The activists hope to take back some land on 17th November. The anti capitalists have moved in to fight with the local people and local farmers who have had their land expropriated for the airport work. This account is long, but makes a fascinating read, revealing the passion and determination of those fighting this development - which they see as hugely socially and environmentally harmful.
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Blog by Zac Goldsmith: “No ifs, no buts, we need a decision on Heathrow now”
In a blog in the Spectator, Zac writes that waiting 3 years for the Davies Commission to report, and then another 3 years for a lengthy planning process, it could be more like six years before work even begins. He says a delay of 6 years would cause paralysis for business, and also for residents. "The dithering isn’t simply bad for the economy. For voters beneath Heathrow’s flight-path, this ambiguity looks like a hidden green light for expansion." Zac believes that the government’s review will almost certainly rule out Heathrow expansion, as the economic arguments "will not justify subjecting 2 million residents to increased aerial bombardment." And Zac argues that "the arguments being used to bulldoze the government into a U-turn are grossly exaggerated." His solution is for Heathrow to operate much more efficiently, to get rid of the point-to-point flights to places such as Cyprus and Greece, and for a two-hub approach, with Heathrow catering (broadly speaking) for western-facing flights, and Stansted catering for eastern business flights.
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Airport protesters at Notre Dame des Landes, at Nantes, are preparing for a huge push to re-occupy land on 17th November
Around 2,000 hectares of mostly farmland at Notre Dame des Landes in rural western France are set to be the stage for what is likely to be a violent confrontation on Saturday 17th November, when anti-airport activists square up to riot police. Protesters, battling plans to build a new airport near Nantes have organised a mass "re-occupation" rally when they will attempt to reconquer part of the proposed site after scores of them began being unceremoniously evicted by police last month. Although their campaign dates back many years, it has taken an ugly turn in recent weeks, with riot police using tear gas to break up camps of protesters who responded in kind by throwing Molotov cocktails and setting up burning road blocks. By evicting people to silence the dissent, the government has succeeded in making the situation worse. Opponents of the airport do not believe the economic justifications being made for it, and are angry about the harm that will be done to the eco-systems of the local wetlands and the rise in pollution that a new airport would bring. There are also farmers who are furious after having had their land expropriated to make way for the airport and a proposed new road system. Much of the opposition’s anger is directed towards Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who as former mayor of Nantes was a key supporter of the project, and the company Vinci, who will operate the new airport.
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‘More air traffic through Heathrow would ruin quality of hundreds of thousands of lives’
The Standard reports that the all-party 2M group of London Councils, including Wandsworth, Richmond, Hounslow and 17 more, have warned the Airports Commission that allowing both runways to be used for arrivals and departures at same time (= mixed mode) would be 'devastating' to thousands of Londoners. Alternating runways at 3pm each day gives residents a break from aircraft noise and removing this would destroy the quality of life of hundreds of thousands. The 2M group represents 20 councils and 5 million people under the flight paths. It is warning that allowing more plane traffic through ending runway alternation and having mixed mode instead would be as damaging as building a 3rd runway, and have a devastating impact. On a typical day the first planes approach over South and West London from 4.30am. Intervals between aircraft are around 90 seconds.The 2M group want guarantees that alternating runways and limits on night flights will not be sacrificed so Heathrow can handle more flights. The Standard continues to push for a Heathrow 3rd runway.