Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Poll finds only one in five supports a Thames estuary airport
A recent small telephone poll of 250 Kent people, by the Kent newspaper company, asked “Do you support plans for a new international airport in the Thames estuary or on the Isle of Grain." Responses showed that of those questioned, 31% were undecided on their opinion on an estuary airport. (So about 52% were opposed, and about 17% were in favour).
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Aircraft Noise demos from Frankfurt to Berlin Thousands of German noise opponents protest in several cities
There have been major protests at several German airports today, against aircraft noise, with whistles, drums and banners. There were about 20,000 protestors at Frankfurt protesting against noise from the new runway that opened in October. This was the largest protest at the airport since the opening . The police estimated the number of participants to 7,700, the organizers - a coalition of citizens' groups against the airport expansion - spoke of 20,000 people. There were also demonstrations at Berlin, Leipzig, Munich and Dusseldorf.
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Birmingham airport continues to promote itself as the alternative to a “Boris island” airport
John Morris, head of government and industry affairs, Birmingham Airport has a long article in the Birmingham Mail and the Post, saying how ideally suited his airport is to take extra traffic and expand hugely, being the best solution to the alleged lack of airport capacity. He says Boris is "quite right to ask how Britain’s airports can meet the growing demand from holiday-making families and business travellers" and asks "....it hardly seems possible that an estuary airport could be built within 20 years. So how is Boris going to fill the gap in the meantime?" Answer: Birmingham. The DfT future passenger forecasts in August 2011 suggested Birmingham might reach 27 million passengers by 2050, but the airport puts this at 30 million by 2030. They want the focus moved from the south east, and they want what they describe as courageous thinking. i.e. expand Birmingham.
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Plans for new Doncaster Robin Hood Airport link road from M18
Plans for a new link road to Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire are to be unveiled at 3 public meetings. The road, including a route to Rossington and a bridge over the East Coast Main Line, will run for 2.5 miles (4km) from junction 3 of the M18 to the A638 near the airport. Doncaster Council received £18m funding from the Regional Growth Fund. Subject to planning permission being granted, work on the road could start in summer 2012 with it opening in early 2014. FoE says the new link road doesn't go to the airport; instead there’s less than 1 mile of new dual carriageway from the M18, followed by a single carriageway extension of about another 2 miles, but then they’re back on the existing road network for the last 3+ miles. Clearly the airport will gain some advantage by this but not excessively.
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Stansted sale: BAA loses appeal against ruling
BAA has lost its appeal against a ruling by the Competition that it must sell Stansted airport. The CC first ruled 3 years ago that BAA's dominance in London and Scotland meant it must sell Gatwick, Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports. BAA continued to fight the Stansted decision. Its appeal has now been dismissed by the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, a judicial body whose panel is made up of judges and industry experts. BAA had argued that Stansted served a different market from Heathrow, and are used by different airlines, so they argued it was not anti-competitive for it to operate both airports. BAA does not want to have to sell Stansted in such an unfavourable economic climate.
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The anti noise protests continue in Germany with much debate on the noise impact of airport expansion
Several articles from German news websites, badly translated in to English, but giving a feeling of what is happening in Germany, and how the protests against the unexpectedly bad noise produced by the new Frankfurt airport runway, opened in October, are having an impact politically. The Germans, in their thousands (and these are articulate and purposeful Germans protesting) are not going to put up with the new noise intrusion into their lives, and especially not at night, whatever Fraport (the airport) and Lufthansa say about the night flights being essential for business. The benefits are far less than the social harm the night flights are doing, and the ability to quietly enjoy their homes without a flight path overhead is not something that the residents near Frankfurt airport are prepared to lose.
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Update on Dunsfold Aerodrome – now gone to Appeal for Certificate of Lawfulness
The Aerodrome's Appeal, against the rejection by Waverley Borough Council, of their application for a Certificate of Lawfulness started on 31st January. It may take 10 days, or less. In addition, Dunsfold Park has also applied for an increase in Annual Traffic Movements from 5,000 per year up to 6,600, and the removal of flight restrictions during the Olympics. They now want to have flights permitted after 8.30pm on weekdays, and after 3pm at weekends, though that is currently not allowed. Local residents are very concerned that if Dunsfold Park are successful in their appeal against Waverley Borough Councils’ refusal to grant a Certificate of Lawfulness, or if they are successful in their most recent applications then Dunsfold aerodrome will have UNRESTRICTED AVIATION ACTIVITIES. Not even the major airports in the UK have approval for totally unrestricted aviation.
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BAA agrees finally to sell back the 279 houses it has been hanging onto at Stansted. It has also lost its appeal against sale of the airport
BAA has finally agreed to sell back all the 279 houses around that airport that it bought, when hoping to build a second runway. Most were bought around 8 years ago, but some as much as 30 years ago. But there is no timescale yet for the sales. This is a major shift in the company’s position; in March 2011, Mr Matthews declared that just some of the BAA-owned houses around the airport would be sold, whilst those which might one day be needed for a 2nd runway would be retained. However, BAA is still refusing to sell back the houses it owns around Heathrow on the grounds that they might one day be needed to make way for a 3rd runway there. Stop Stansted Expansion welcomed the news, which is long overdue, and will help remove the blight and uncertainty which has overshadowed the community for far too long.
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Birmingham Airport’s long-awaited runway extension finally set to fly
£100 million contract to build Birmingham Airport’s long-awaited runway extension and carry out major improvements to the A45 is expected to be approved within weeks. The airport and Birmingham City Council have shortlisted 4 construction companies for the work. The successful bidder is likely to be announced by March, with work likely to begin in the summer. The project claims it will bring jobs, boost the regional economy etc etc but has proved controversial with environmental groups including Friends of the Earth questioning the value of increasing the number of flights. FoE has been critical of the funding arrangements, with £26 million towards the £32 million cost of diverting the A45 coming from the public purse. Work to the A45 and the runway extension is expected to be completed by 2014.
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Risk of bird strikes would make Thames Estuary UK’s ‘most dangerous airport’
A report commissioned by Labour in 2003 says that an airport in the Thames estuary would have a high risk of birdstrike, with the chance of a plane being hit being one per 100 to 300 years, much higher than the risk at other airports. And this even after extensive work to make the area as unattractive as possible to birds, such as cutting down woodland, draining ponds, planting artificial grass and shooting birds when necessary. Even with all that work to be as unfriendly to birds as possible, it is "not considered possible to reduce the risk to a level similar to that experienced at other UK airports." This report is as one reason Labour rejected the Cliffe proposal, but it was not published at the time. Ministers have not yet announced the exact site for the proposed airport that they will consider in the aviation consultation, staring in March.