Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
BAA made a pre-tax loss of £256 million in 2011, and continues to press for 3rd Heathrow runway
BAA has announced a pre-tax loss of £256m for 2011, despite record traffic at Heathrow and a leap in revenues. The loss was £60m larger in 2010. Interest payments on its £10bn debt continued to drag its annual accounts into the red. BAA said they had more passengers,"who spent more freely in our retail and car parks." At Stansted passenger numbers continued to fall even on the disappointing 2010 figures, down to 18.0 million from 18.6 million. Heathrow saw passenger traffic hit a record 69.4m last year, up 5.5% on 2010 and 1.5m more than its previous record of 67.9m, set in 2007. BAA used the opportunity to push, yet again, for serious consideration to be given to a third Heathrow runway, which is what it really wants. With the aviation consultation starting next month, they are lobbying hard to get the 3rd runway into the options for consideration.
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Doubt over Ryanair job loss claim as airline cuts Edinburgh routes
Ryanair says it is cutting one of its seven planes at Edinburgh airport, down to six. It said it is cutting 5 routes. However, one of those has already been suspended and 3 of the routes have not yet started - so hardly a cut if they aren't actually happening anyway. Ryanair also claims this will cause the loss of "up to 300 jobs". But in practice, Ryanair does not directly employ any staff at Edinburgh Airport, and BAA says the effect of one fewer aircraft would be minimal at an airport where its 485 employees deal with 9.3 million passengers every year. Edinburgh has become Ryanair's largest Scottish hub and its contract with Edinburgh is up for renewal in October so they story about the flight c uts is intended to put pressure on BAA to reduce their charges. Ryanair warned of "significant further cuts" if the new five year agreement "is not extended on more competitive terms".
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Concerns are raised by Luton’s operating company over airport growth plans by its owner
LUTON Airport’s operating company - London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL) - says it has a “number of concerns” over Luton Borough Council’s plans to expand the terminal and almost double passenger capacity. LLAOL, which has a 30-year contract to run the terminal for London Luton Airport Limited, raised several issues regarding the project’s feasibility, environmental impact and jobs, in the wake of the launch of a consultation into plans to expand the airport to 18 million passengers. LLAOL also issued a warning that airport owners would have to stump up a “very substantial” amount in severance payments if they decide to take advantage of a ‘break clause’ which would allow the 30-year contract to be scrapped in 2014.
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Manston Night Flights consultation – ends 2nd March
Thanet District Council is holding a public consultation, lasting for 28 days and ending on 2nd March. Its aim is to find out what the public think about Manston’s recent night flying proposal. All local residents in the area are encouraged to respond and send in their views. The consultation is not question-based, it simply asks for respondents' opinion of the proposals. It will give more weight to the opinions of those living under the flightpath. The local opposition campaign, No Night Flights, is concerned that the proposals would mean there would be scheduled night flights; these would be freight, not passenger flights; the new proposal wants to shorten it to 11:30pm until 6am- rather than the normal 11pm to 7am; restrictions would only apply to this new shorter “night” - there would be no restrictions on the period 6 - 7am, or 11 - 11.30pm; Manston want 659 flights a year in this new shorter “night” - an average of 1.8 each night… could be none on Monday, none on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday
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“More geese may have to be culled” at Leeds-Bradford Airport
The airport's operations director says more geese may be culled to ensure the safety of planes. He said urgent action was needed from time to time, and recently met with residents protesting against the killing of geese at Yeadon Tarn last year. He said measures such as egg picking were already in place – but sometimes it was necessary to react quickly to a particular problem. The airport already used scaring tactics to deflect the geese but had a duty to ensure safety. “We have got to be prepared if suddenly a flock of geese descend and set up a roost somewhere in the locality, and then decide to fly across the airport. We have got to be able to deal with that.”
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Manchester Airport owners agree restructure to fund Stansted acquisition
Greater Manchester's 10 councils have agreed in principle to restructure their ownership of Manchester Airport to fund a swoop for Stansted. Manchester Airports Group is seeking equity investment to give it the firepower to buy Stansted. MAG is currently owned by the 10 local authorities, with Manchester city council holding a 55% stake and the others 5% each. Proposals have been put to the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, seeking approval for a new ownership model to be adopted if an external investor can be secured.
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Southend Council set to oppose Boris’s Thames Estuary airport
Southend Council is set to formally oppose plans to build a £50billion airport in the Thames Estuary. The council is expected to agree a motion to use “all means within its power” to block the bid to create one of the world’s biggest airports, just a few miles off the town’s coastline. The pledge will be voted on by councillors on March 1. The Tory deputy leader said he was totally against the scheme. Boris has claimed the airport would only take 6 years to build if huge investment from countries such as Brazil or China could be secured. The idea has been consistently opposed by politicians from all parties in south Essex.
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Despite Heathrow’s huge business connectivity, BAA trots out its capacity arguments again citing need for flights to China
BAA continues to use any opportunity it can to push its ambition to expand Heathrow. It has used the January traffic figures as another chance to lobby for its 3rd runway and trot out its capacity argument. Passengers from Heathrow to China, including Hong Kong, rose by 3% in 2011, but happened to fall by 0.7% in January, compared to Jan 2010. BAA could not confirm whether other airports suffered a similar dip in January traffic. BAA imply, but there are no publicly available figures to check, that traffic to China from Frankfurt and Amsterdam rose in January. Germany exported £27 billion to China in 2010 and the UK exported £5 billion. Research carried out by WWF and AirportWatch in August looking at weekly flights (July 2011) showed Frankfurt had 43 flights to China, Paris Charles de Gaulle had 81 flights, Schiphol had 40 ..... and Heathrow had a whopping 94. It's not really falling behind, in any meaningful sense of the word.
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Bird watchers, politicians, fisherman, environmentalists, yachtsmen and other worried residents join new campaign against Thames Estuary airport
On 10th February, about the coldest night of the winter, around 80 people attended a rousing meeting in Leigh on Sea, to both find out about what proposals for a Thames Estuary airport mean, and join a new campaign against it. Speakers included Keith Taylor (Green MEP); David Amess MP; Peter Wexham, a Southend councillor; George Crozer, an Isle of Grain Parish Councillor; Paul Gilson, a local fisherman, and David Hedges from the RSPB. They covered a wide range of issues relating to the impacts that a massive estuary airport might have, as well as the history of failed proposals in the past. A new campaign group is being set up, gearing itself up for the consultation on estuary airport proposals and also on future UK aviation policy, that starts next month. Another meeting will soon be arranged at Canvey, to grow the campaign there.
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” futureLuToN:Optimisation ” consultation on expanding Luton airport to 18 mppa
London Luton Airport Ltd, that owns the airport, has now launched its public consultation into expansion plans. This lasts until 26th March. They then plan to submit a planning application in April, expecting a decision by Luton Borough Council by Autumn 2012. The airport is operated by London Luton Airport Operations Limited on a 30 year concession (granted in 1998). The owner has the opportunity to terminate the current concession agreement from 2014. They want to increase passenger numbers from the current annual 9.5 million (in 2011, up to 18 million, while improving the passenger experience. This is what they call Optimisation. There is not one mention of climate change, or of carbon dioxide, in the entire proposal. They acknowledge there will be more noise, but there are no details and just thin, waffly assurances that everything possible will be done to minimise it.