Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Heathrow to demand £18bn compensation if a new hub is built
"This is Money" reports that Heathrow would demand compensation of between £11 billion and £18 billion if it was forced to close because a new hub airport was built elsewhere.They say executive sources said it would seek to recoup the net asset value of Heathrow, plus a premium for compulsory closure. Heathrow is 40% owned by the Chinese, Qatari and Singaporean governments and 34% by Ferrovial. BA would also expect compensation for the investment it has put into the airport, it is believed. Willie Walsh has said BA would move to an alternative site only if Heathrow were closed. The prospect of huge compensation bills on top of the £80 billion needed to build a new four-runway hub airport in the Thames estuary would make the cost prohibitive. BA and other airlines have insisted that they would stay at Heathrow if they had a choice. They also say linking Heathrow to either Gatwick or Stansted would not work. And love the 4 runway idea.
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Heathrow arguing, as ever, about need for single hub airport, due to benefits of transfer passengers
The Sunday Telegraph [no analysis, poor journalism, just regurgitation of Heathrow's claims] reports that Heathrow's first tranche of evidence to be put before the Airports Commission will say that only a single hub airport allows for a sufficient number of vital transfer passengers. This, of course, is what one would expect them to say, from self interest. The Telegraph says that at present 1 million long-haul business and 1st-class passengers travel through Heathrow every year, which is nearly 85% of all such traffic that leaves the UK. Heathrow relies on transfer passengers from other international destinations to support the number of flights that leave Britain to vital business centres in China and the USA. Heathrow says if there were two hubs (as happens in New York), such as Heathrow and Gatwick, or Heathrow and Stansted, the transfer traffic that makes these flights profitable would be lost. And "The number of destinations served will therefore be cut, at a cost to British businesses." The first stage is for the Airports Commission, under Sir Howard Davies, to decide whether a single hub is necessary - or whether there is enough capacity already and traffic needs to be more efficiently spread between airports.
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Price of Prestwick and Manston slashed to just over one fifth the price Infratil paid for them in 2003 and 2005
The value of Prestwick Airport has fallen to under a quarter of its level 2 years ago as owner Infratil struggles to find a buyer. The New Zealand-based company yesterday put the value of Prestwick and Manston Airport in Kent at £10.5 million. They had been valued at £32m earlier this year. Infratil bought it for £33.4m in 2003. A valuation carried out at the end of the financial year in March 2011 said the airports were worth £44m. Both airports were put on the market in January when Infratil said they were under-performing. It had been hoped a sale would be completed by early next year but no buyer is forthcoming. Passenger numbers at Prestwick have dropped to just under 1.1 million a year – less than half the level of 3 years ago – as Ryanair, which provides the bulk of passenger flights, has relocated many services to Edinburgh. The lack of investment has left Prestwick looking tired and off-putting to potential buyers.
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Vinci appointed to £184m Gatwick revamp of South Terminal Pier 1
Gatwick has announced a £183.9 million project to redevelop its South Terminal Pier 1. The work would be done by Vinci, the company trying to build the fiercely opposed airport at Nantes. The existing pier, which opened in 1958, will be demolished in the new year, with a two-storey replacement set to open in summer 2015. The project follows a series of upgrades at Gatwick, including the extension of the airport’s North Terminal, and a revamped security area at the South Terminal. Gatwick also recently announced plans to “develop options for a second runway”, although a legal agreement prevents any such facility from being built until after 2019
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Schiphol claims to operate Heathrow’s 3rd runway and provide the UK with global links
Schiphol airport has launching an aggressive advertising campaign, making out that it is offering more than 100 daily flights to the UK, enabling Britons to connect to 275 destinations across the world. Schiphol now serves 23 UK airports in Britain, compared with 12 offered by Gatwick and only 7 by Heathrow. Schiphol has 5 runways – compared with Heathrow's 2 [of course, they cannot all be used at the same time - probably in practice only two are used at once]. Schiphol hopes to have more passengers etc than Heathrow within a decade (don't they all?). The Telegraph is promoting this story, to help pile on pressure for new runways in the south east, and also as part of its continuing campaign against APD - wanting flying to be even more under-taxed than at present. The Telegraph, and Schiphol, are promoting the fear that Heathrow might be overtaken some time, with threats that ...."the Government is outsourcing Britain's airports and jobs to our European competitors."
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London City Airport expansion plans take off in cloud of criticism
A £15 million expansion programme announced by London City Airport to mark its 25th anniversary has been criticised by campaigners over the increasing number of flights—double the restrictions imposed when it first opened. London City Airport is to submit a planning application shortly for more infrastructure to allow for expansion and for medium haul flights. But the expansion year-on-year goes against the original planning when the airport was opened on November 5, 1987. Only 4 airlines operated from the airport in 1987, with flights to just 3 destinations—Plymouth, Paris and Brussels. Today, 25 years on, 10 airlines fly to 42 destinations across the UK and Europe, as well as twice-a-day to New York. Hacan East, which represents families living under the flight paths across east London, has accused airport bosses of broken promises. The government inspector at the original airport public inquiry in the 1980s restricted aircraft to quiet turbo-props rather than the jets that proliferate today, and flights limited to 30,000 a year.
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Could there be an airport at the end of Southend Pier?
An enterprising “architect” has proposed solving the country’s aviation crisis by building a new four-runway airport - at the end of Southend Pier. The tongue-in-cheek idea, which has been posted online, envisages “London-Southend Pier International” catering for 150 million passengers a year. Its inventor, Make It Architects, said:they believe it to be the world’s first pier-based international airport. “We believe this revolutionary solution to the UK’s aviation capacity issue could become a blueprint for airport expansion across the country, and are already drawing up a proposal for Blackpool, or Blackpool-London North International Airport as it will be renamed.” Make It Architects proposes extending the pier’s single-line train service - which has a maximum speed of a few miles an hour - to connect it with the new hub. They claim a new, high-speed monorail could also be built to whisk passengers to St Pancras in fewer than 20 minutes - while Adventure Island would become the world’s first theme park departure lounge.
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Industry poll shows some tourism executives want a Heathrow 3rd runway. Non story! Not news!
A poll carried out for "World Travel Market" apparently shows that 34% of tourism chiefs - not only those from the UK - believe expanding Heathrow is the best way of solving the UK's airport capacity problems. (Not much of a surprise, as the industry has lobbied relentless for that for years). They say "Of the 1,300 bosses surveyed, 20% backed the Thames Estuary airport plan". World Travel Market director Simon Press said: "It is clear that senior travel executives from around the globe are in favour of expanding the UK's primary airport with a third runway at Heathrow. Expanding other airports in south-east England is more popular than building a new airport which suggests that our overseas colleagues think the UK Government should steer clear from an ambitious if expensive solution when there are better options available." At the end of last week, Boris criticised the government for setting the date of the Airports Commission final report to be about 2 months after the 2015 election, and David Cameron then said Boris was wrong to dismiss a third runway at Heathrow and he will not be given a veto on the issue.
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Protest wildlife walk against the proposed World Logistics Hub at Manchester airport
On Saturday 3rd November around 100 local residents and campaigners took part in a protest walk against the proposed £100m World Logistics Hub at Manchester Airport. The protesters braved the cold to take a route around the 90 acre former greenbelt site, which is threatened by the plans to build 43 cargo sheds and almost 1,500 car parking spaces. Local residents, wildlife enthusiasts and environmental campaigners spoke at various points along the walk, sharing their experiences of fighting Manchester Airport expansion and highlighting the numerous ways that the plans would affect local people and the environment. The Wildlife Walk came the week after the Wythenshawe Area Committee ‘recommended for approval’ the World Logistics Hub plans, on the 25th October. The application will now be sent to the Planning and Highways Committee at Manchester City Council for a final decision on 22nd November 2012. Campaigners argue that job creation figures proposed by the airport are inflated.
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Sir Howard Davies suggests payouts might be given to people under flightpaths
The Standard reports that Sir Howard Davies suggested, at the launch of the Airports Commission, that cash compensation could be paid to west London residents if a 3rd Heathrow runway is built. He would look at whether financial payments should be given to people under the flightpaths if Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted expansion took place. He said: “There are examples in other countries of different kinds of compensation arrangements which have been used, and that is certainly something we are going to look at.” and “I am conscious that allowing a lot of options to run does create the risk of planning blight ... and I don’t want to alarm people who have no need to be alarmed.” He also said the 2013 interim report by the Commission will be much more significant than previously expected and narrow down the rival options to a shortlist of “realistic” schemes, ending the anxiety of people living near more marginal sites. The 2013 interim report will also make recommendations on immediate ways to boost capacity in the south east, possibly including mixed-mode operation at Heathrow or night flights.