Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Manston airport asked to do local survey on possible demand for KLM flights to Amsterdam
Manston airport struggles on, with very few passengers - below 500 to 1000 per month recently. It now has hopes that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines might start a twice daily flight from Manston to Amsterdam. KLM is to announce a "strategic move in the UK market that will have a significant and positive impact on regional businesses and leisure users" in Canterbury on Tuesday, November 13. In September, KLM asked Manston to conduct an online survey of local residents to find out what the level of demand is for the service. It would take just 40 minutes to fly to Amsterdam and, from there, passengers would be able to fly to more than 90 direct destinations worldwide. Manston chief executive Charles Buchanan seems to have forgotten that Gatwick airport is not far away. The airport has the capacity to handle some one million passengers a year and its master plan estimates passenger numbers could rise to 5m by 2033. But it is just not in the right place, and nothing can change that. No buyer can be found.
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Medway Council submits evidence against a Thames Estuary airport
Medway council have said an airport in the Thames Estuary is unnecessary, too costly, in the wrong location and damaging to the environment. They have submitted their evidence to the Government’s transport select committee which set up its own examination into aviation in September. Chair of the transport committee Louise Ellman MP said the strategy for aviation should not be delayed , invited the public and interested groups to submit their views to the transport committee and said this feedback would help influence the Government during the policy development process. Medway Council, supported by Swale Borough Council, have submitted a report - by Robin Cooper - expressing its opposition to a Thames Estuary airport with evidence supporting its views. They say it is not sensible, because it will not be built in a sensible timeframe, it will have a disastrous environmental impact, it would require significant taxpayer subsidy and it will not attract airlines.
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Heathrow Operational Freedoms trials, the A380 and impact of its vortex on smaller planes following it
The A380, being such a massive plane, and classed as a "Super" by weight - above the next category of "Heavy" creates a greater vortex behind it. Therefore there have to be significant separation distances between A380s and planes following them, especially smaller planes. In the Heathrow Operational Freedoms trials, one of the changes they are looking at involves landing Airbus A380 on the designated departures runway (this means that those living under the approach flight paths are having planes overhead during the part of the day that should be their "quiet" time). The A380 is the biggest aircraft that operates at the airport. Due to the vortex it produces, aircraft behind it have to allow a greater distance when coming into land. The knock-on effect is that the arrivals programme can be delayed allowing for the A380 to come in before smaller aircraft can then make their approach to land. The airport is testing what difference it would make to the arrival schedule by allowing the aircraft to land on the departure runway. Heathrow hopes to use more larger planes, to deal with ever more passengers. This A380 effect could be a problem.
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Plans to transform Cardiff from declining regional airport to international hub revealed
Backers of what is being called the Western Gateway Project, have submitted details about it to the DfT as part of its consultation on aviation policy (closed 31st October). The plan is to transform Cardiff from an under-performing regional airport into an international hub. In a first-stage vision for the Spanish-owned airport a group of transport experts and entrepreneurs believe a relatively modest investment of £250m could elevate the airport into a “western gateway” facility – potentially providing hub and point-to-point flights to global destinations such as North and Latin America – while also helping to address the issue of where to provide additional hub airport capacity in the UK. The group plans to make a fuller submission to the Airports Commission next year. As well as founder and entrepreneur Rudi Plaut the group’s other members include enterprise academic Professor Brian Morgan and transport experts Martin Evans and Stuart Cole. They will now look to work with the Welsh Government to develop a more in-depth business case for a hub airport.
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Violent clashes between opponents and gendarmes in the battle against Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport
On 30th October there were more violent scenes as hundreds of French police battled against protesters at Notre-Dame-des-Landes as the authorities tried to evict people from areas that are intended as part of the new Nantes airport. A large area of good agricultural land is to be taken over, to build the second airport for Nantes. This means the eviction of a number of farmers from their land. There has been fierce opposition to the plans for months. Earlier in the year there was a hunger strike by some of the farmers, and their supporters, for a month. Hundreds of local people, as well as socialists and anti-globalisation protesters have fought hard to prevent this airport being built. They say it is not needed, there is not a good economic case for it, and at a time when France should be cutting its CO2 emissions, this new airport will only serve to increase carbon.
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Heathrow rejects both “Heathwick” and any idea of a dual hub with Stansted
On 21st October, Philip Hammond (now Defence Secretary, but who was Transport Secretary) said a Thames estuary airport would be very expensive and require closing Heathrow, which he believes would “destroy” the economies of West London, the Thames Valley, and the Surrey-Sussex corridor and be a complete disaster. He also said “I have long thought the answer is one hub across two sites, with a fast shuttle service between Heathrow and Gatwick.” Now José Leo, BAA's [now renamed Heathrow Ltd] company’s chief financial officer says "Heathwick" would mean Heathrow would lose a “critical element of competition” if passengers had to spend time on trains between airports. So neither Heathrow nor Gatwick want Heathwick. On the suggested rail link between Heathrow and Stansted, Mr Leo said that had a dual hub system between Heathrow and Stansted been viable, BAA,would already have pursued that option, but it would not be of use to Heathrow.
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Business passengers becoming a rare breed at Stansted
Recently published figures from the CAA show that business passengers are increasingly deserting Stansted - which is working at under half its capacity. The CAA’s 2011 Passenger Survey Report published earlier this month shows that Stansted catered for just 2.8 million business passengers last year, the lowest number for ten years whilst Gatwick handled 5.6 million – an increase of 1.1 million on the previous year – and Heathrow handled 22.0 million business passengers, up 2.2 million on the previous year. Fewer than one in every six passengers at Stansted is now travelling for business purposes, the lowest proportion for any of the UK’s top 6 airports - (the main London 4 plus Manchester and Birmingham). Stansted is now so dominated by Ryanair, which accounts for over 70% of its passengers that though flights go daily to holiday destinations, there are no flights to key business cities in Europe, far less further afield.
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Ciampino (Rome) campaigners expose Ryanair’s false jobs claims
Ryanair claims that it has created 4,000 jobs in Rome since it started using Ciampino Airport a few years ago. These claims have been ridiculed by the local campaigners. In a press release they said: "If tomorrow Ryanair claims the Colosseum in Rome exists only because of them, calm them down! We can prove with absolute certainty that it already existed". The campaigners show that Ryanair takes money out of the Italian economy. They quote the Corriere della Sera newspaper which found that Italy has lost at least €500 million in taxes in recent years because Ryanair has been allowed to pay its taxes in countries with a lower rate of tax. They also show that some Italian airports have paid Ryanair to use the airport or charged them very low landing fees. Aircraft noise has become a major problem for residents at Ciampino Airport since Ryanair started using the airport a few years ago. Many communities live very close to the airport.
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London Southend Airport to begin terminal extension in November
Southend airport is set to begin a €12m terminal extension project in early November 2012. The process will be in three phases. The first phase will be construction of a new arrivals facility with completion scheduled by the end of May 2013. Completion of the project will see expansion of the terminal building to 90m long, a rise in number of check-in desks/baggage drop off points and adding space for passengers in security. The Departure Lounge will be expanded and there will be changes in Arrivals. The airport anticipates the final phase to be finished ahead of Christmas 2013. They hope the number of passengers will top 2 million by 2020.
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Important legal challenge by Vienna campaigners on noise compensation
Vienna airport has plans for a third runway, saying it is necessary due to increasing numbers of passengers etc. A decision due to be made on 8th November by the European Court of Justice could have major implications for campaigners across Europe. The court will decide whether compensation should be paid to residents who experience noise as a result of new flight paths being introduced. The compensation would be paid for loss of value of their property. The case has been brought by AFLG (Antifluglärmgemeinschaft) which consists of the 38 citizens' initiatives who are opposed to the proposed 3rd runway at Vienna Airport. More details about the challenge in this newspaper article