Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Munich could become a German Heathrow if local opposition manages to block 3rd runway plans
John Stewart and some other campaigners recently visited Germany, to see the current protests against airport expansion there. John has written about their visit. He says campaigners are getting organised to oppose the planned building of a new 3rd runway at Munich. The case for a new runway there is weak because the existing runways are nowhere near capacity, most of the flights from Munich are domestic so could transfer to rail, and there is very low unemployment in the area. Visiting Frankfurt, they attended one of the regular Monday evening protests. The movement there driven by the concern about climate change, have brought together a first-rate coalition of environmental activists, local residents, sympathetic politicians and academic experts. They are a considerable force to be reckoned with.
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Manchester airport to help unemployed find work, but MAG jobs increases are not impressive
Manchester Airport has opened an academy to help unemployed people in Greater Manchester to get jobs in the travel trade. The training is being provided by tutors from Stockport College and is designed for the airport environment, making it one of the first projects of its kind in the world. They are given help with their CVs and presentation skills, with potential employers – ranging from airlines to shops based in the terminals – visiting the academy to interview the students when they have vacancies at the airport. Which is all lovely and very helpful. However, Manchester Airports Group Annual Report for 2010/2011 shows they only employed 16 more staff in 2011 than in 2010 (2,591 compared to 2,575). The number of extra staff at Manchester airport was 32, which was a rise of 1.6% while Manchester Airport's number of passengers went up by 6.5%. Staff increases don't keep pace with passenger increases, at MAG or at other UK airports.
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Planning applications at Southend Airport, including terminal extension and new carpark
There are currently three airport-related planning applications being considered relating to Southend Airport. A proposed extension to the brand new terminal is Phase 2, and would see the terminal building becoming 90 metres longer. The number of check in desks / baggage drop off points will increase, as will the amount of security screening channels. The Departure Lounge and the Arrivals area will be enlarged. Also an enhanced baggage reclaim facilities, a larger immigration area, and more retail and catering. There is also a speculative application by a local builder, to make money out of his land as a car park. And it has been noticed that Stansted staff are needing homes to rent, while being relocated to Southend. So much for more local jobs.
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BAA LAUNCHES YET ANOTHER APPEAL OVER STANSTED
BAA has announced that it has initiated appeal proceedings against the Competition Appeal Tribunal's judgment of 1 February 2012, upholding the Competition Commission's ruling that BAA must sell Stansted Airport. This means that the uncertainty over the future ownership of Stansted Airport is set to continue for at least another six months. Once again, BAA has waited until the very last day before lodging its appeal – just a few hours before the deadline.
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Birmingham Airport runway extension gets final green light
The final obstacle to Birmingham Airport’s runway extension project has been removed as shareholders gave the go-ahead to the £65m scheme. The 400 metre extension will give the airport the ability to offer long-haul flights to Asia and the US west coast. A long-awaited shareholders' meeting signed off the airport's business case for the scheme. Birmingham hopes to fly to business and leisure destinations such as China, South Africa and the west coast of America directly once its runway extension is built. The start date for the work is not yet known. The government has said it will contribute £15.7m from the Regional Growth Fund towards the cost of diverting the A45 to make way for the runway extension. Regional passenger body Centro will contribute £10m towards the work.
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Even if people prefer a 3rd runway to Boris Island, it doesn’t mean they like either
An ICM poll commissioned by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, on attitudes to a third Heathrow runway, or an estuary airport, says that a 3rd runway was favoured by 25% of respondents, with 21% backing the new airport. When asked if they believed the Government was right to block Heathrow’s 3rd runway, 35% agreed while 32% thought it was the wrong decision. And it says "The Government needs to urgently rethink its decision to rule out any potential expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted, which all offer more sensible and cost-effective alternatives". John Stewart writes that this poll is yet another attempt to avoid the real debate about whether any further airport capacity is required in the South East. It is part of a coordinated series of publications by the aviation industry and its allies intended to influence the government’s draft aviation policy due to go out to public consultation at the end of this month.
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All-business class luxury flights from Hong Kong to Gatwick start 8th March 2012
Kong Kong Airlines will start a business only flight from Hong Kong to Gatwick on 8th March. It will run three new Airbus A330-200s with just 116 seats - by way of comparison, Qantas' international versions of the same aircraft pack some 253 seats across both business and economy class. There will be 34 Club Premier 'suites' at the pointy end of the A330s with fully flat 1.8 metre (6'1") beds in a spacious 1-2-1 staggered layout. Further back are 82 Club Classic seats in a more conventional 'cradle' or recliner design, with a 1.3 metre (51 inch) seat pitch and 10.4" HD video screen in a still rather roomy 2-2-2 cabin layout. So not remotely fuel efficient. This is the airline that has come under fire from animal rights groups for profitably transporting live dolphins by air in cramped containers from Osaka to Hanoi.
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Clean Air in London resigns from stakeholder group after Government admits it has no intention of complying with air quality deadlines for NO2
Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has published the Government’s response to its further inquiry into air quality. The EAC - members of which are MPs - expresses it’s ‘disappointment’ that Government disagrees with many of its recommendations. Government denies its approach is ‘business as usual’. Government admits it has no intention of complying with air quality laws for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) even by the extended compliance date of January 2015 which it says is ‘inadequate’. Caroline Spelman dismissed the EAC's advice, saying costs of meeting EU pollution goals do not match benefits. Clean Air in London says “Astonishingly, the Government makes crystal clear it has no intention of complying with legally binding deadlines for NO2 which have been in legislation since 1999 and required to be met by 2010." Heathrow contributes huge amounts of NOx, from planes and road traffic.
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Lydd Airport. Project runway: carving up the Kent marshes
In a long and comprehensive article in the Observer Magazine, Jamie Doward looks at the issues involved in proposed expansion of Lydd airport, to take up to 2 million passengers - a massive growth from its current, sleepy state with around 1,000 passenger per year. The area is of immense wildlife value, being a NNR, SSSI, SPA and SAC. A decision by government is due in about a fortnight. The article says: " If Pickles approves the airport's expansion he will be going against the government's adviser, Natural England, Shepway's planning officers, the majority of Lydd's residents, the scientific consensus on the need to reduce carbon emissions, the prime minister's perceived green credentials and the coalition's belief in empowering communities as enshrined in its much-vaunted localism act." If government does approve it, "The whole character of the place would change because, as studies show, airports lead to urbanisation."
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Luton Airport expansion plans spark birth of new campaign group, HALE
A new campaign group called "Hertfordshire Against Luton Expansion" (HALE) - has been formed by angry residents living under Luton Airport's flight paths, in response to Luton Borough Council's plans to create an airport potentially bigger than Stansted or Manchester on the already congested site. HALE is seeking to mobilise people's interest and awareness around Luton's expansion plans, because to double the amount of noise, traffic and flights will be unbearable. HALE held their first public meeting on 23rd February. Feelings are running high, and the airport's consultation is flimsy and inadequate, with insufficient information on almost all topics. HALE has researched noise figures and found that flights from Luton are getting noisier each year despite the myth that modern planes are quieter - the fact is that the fleets are getting larger, heavier and louder.