Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Time to change Heathrow runway policy, says Tim Yeo
Tim Yeo, who is a former Conservative environment minister in John Major's government, is calling on the government to drop its opposition to a 3rd Heathrow runway. Tim Yeo is now chairman of the parliamentary energy and climate change committee, said the inclusion of aviaiton into the EU ETS meant it would not lead to an increase in emissions. Mr Yeo thinks it is more practical to build a 3rd runway at Heathrow, rather than an estuary airport - which is in the wrong place, and for which the costs are unquantifiable. Yeo backs the line that Britain must have a "world class transport infrastructure" if it was to be "a world class economy in the 21st Century".
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Dacorum Borough Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee opposes expansion of Luton
Dacorum Borough Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee discussed the expansion of Luton Airport on 6th March and gave it a clear thumbs down. Committee Members voted to recommend that the Council object to the expansion of the airport to 18m passengers per annum, and were particularly concerned about the noise impact that would be caused by the extension of the operations – particularly during the night. They expressed the following concerns, among others: * the expansion needs to be taken forward in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable way; * all impacts must be properly accounted and mitigated for; and * the proposal must minimise disturbance to local communities. Any expansion must be underpinned by effective noise and environmental controls.
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Kehoe: A third runway at Heathrow isn’t enough. Let’s allow our regional airports to take off
Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport says 3.3m passengers from outside the southeast travel to a crowded Heathrow, mostly for the simplest journeys to well-served, short-haul holiday destinations such as Mediterranean resorts. Holidaymakers from Birmingham flying to Malta or Lisbon are taking the slots needed by corporate passengers in London trying to reach valuable new markets. This makes no sense. No sense for British families or for British businesses. No wonder London’s business leaders are tearing their hair out. And this situation doesn’t help businesspeople in the regions hoping to attract investment to their own local economies. He says there are nine major runways outside of London that could better cater for regional passengers.
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Sir Richard Branson: Virgin expansion finished in UK – without a 3rd Heathrow runway
Virgin Atlantic was now focusing on expansion in America and Australia rather than the UK. Branson's announcement is intended to put pressure on the government to expand Heathrow. He made the somewhat bizarre statement that " If there is one thing that is holding the country back it was the decision by all three parties to do the cowardly thing and that was to say they wouldn't allow a third runway.". So that explains the economic downturn? Virgin's problem is that it cannot get enough slots at Heathrow, especially if BA buys BMI. So as a bit of a bribe, Branson says Virgin would be willing to invest £5bn in expansion at Heathrow with new routes and take on thousands of new people, if the Government reversed its position on the 3rd runway. Another strange comment is that "in 5 to 10 years planes would burn clean fuel and have quieter engines." What ??
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Germaine Greer: Your airport idea doesn’t fly, Boris Johnson
Germaine Greer, writing about the threat of a Thames Estuary airport says "concerns about the environmental impact of airports are always expressed in terms of the health of the human population. There is no concern for the health of the planet, though this will be the same thing in the end. It is perhaps the bitterest irony that a new airport for London may become a necessity because Heathrow has become too big and too dirty to use without incurring massive fines for excessive pollution. .... The environmental consequences [of an airport offshore] may be less obvious to humans, but for a vast range of other earthlings, they are certain to be catastrophic. Once the toxic fallout from jet engines has entered and accumulated in the food chain, the Thames may become once more what it was less than 100 years ago, a poisonous sluice."
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Zac Goldsmith MP: A new runway is the last thing Heathrow needs
Zac, who is MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, both badly affected by Heathrow noise, writes in the Standard to say that the two million or so residents who live beneath the Heathrow flight path are accustomed to the noise - but they would feel that any expansion would represent an unacceptable broken promise. They remember all too well the pledge from BAA’s chairman in 1999 that “Terminal 5 will not lead to a third runway”. But no one should underestimate the power of the aviation lobby. Just a year after its apparent surrender, BAA is at it again, lobbying with a fury. However, Zac says he has every reason to believe the Prime Minister will hold his position. The arguments are on his side. The real issue is how Heathrow capacity is used, rather than increased runway capacity.
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Prestwick airport is to be sold by New Zealand owners
Prestwick has relied heavily on Ryanair flights, which have been cut back sharply in the past two years, as the airline moved business to Edinburgh. New Zealand-based Infratil said the sales are the result of a decision to refocus where it plans to invest. It has also decided to sell Manston. Prestwick Chief Executive Iain Cochrane said "Prestwick is a great airport with a great team and a great future. I believe this is an excellent opportunity for us to attract new investment into the airport to provide the stimulus for future growth." In reality Prestwick saw a drop of nearly 20% in passenger numbers in July 2011, compared with the same month last year. Passengers for all of 2011 were around 1,295,600, down -21.9% on 2010. This is down hugely from the 1,817,200 or so in 2009.
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Confirmed: Manston Airport up for sale, as Infratil also sheds Prestwick
Manston Airport has been put up for sale by its New Zealand based owners, Infratil, leaving the future of its staff of around 100 uncertain. At Infratil’s Investor Day it announced that it intends to sell its two UK airports Manston and Prestwick because of a refocusing of its investment profile. MP Sir Roger Gale says “more than one serious player” was interested in buying Manston. For the time being it is business as usual for the airport. Infratil will prioritise its other business interests – which include electricity generation and retailing and natural gas as well as transport provision in New Zealand. The sale and the chance for a new start, could be good news for local residents profoundly opposed to the threatened night flights against which they have campaigned forcefully.
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Anger that Inspector’s decision on Lydd airport will not be publicised yet
Government inspector Ken Barton chaired the 7-month inquiry into Lydd Airport's expansion plans in 2011. This probably cost the tax payer up to £250,000. The decision has to be made by 14th March. However, it has been announced that this will not be made public until after ministers Eric Pickles and Justine Greening have made their decision. And there is no deadline by which they have to do so. There is speculation that they may not decide until next year, perhaps because the national aviation policy consultation starts by the end of this month, and this will have a bearing on whether expansion on Lydd is acceptable. There is local anger and frustration that the decision is being kept secret.
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Justine Greening confirms a 3rd Heathrow runway will not be in aviation capacity consultation
Talking to the BBC, Justine Greening has confirmed that she rules out a third runway at Heathrow which is "not the right answer". She also says "We are getting to the stage where there is a question mark over whether we've got the capacity to meet the country's needs. In the short term we've always been clear that we need to make the most of the capacity we do have. We need to use what we've got better and more effectively and we're looking at how we do that, but we also need to look ahead." And she says it's time to have a proper "fact based debate" about the future of airport capacity in Britain and in particular, the South East. Sadly Southend is going to be expected to bear more of the burden.