Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Campaigners step up Dunsfold Park fight due to threat of unrestricted flights
Date added: 11 May, 2011
A warning ‘wake-up’ call has been issued to all Waverley residents to act now
to stop Dunsfold Airport. Dunsfold Park currently has a cap of 5,000 annual ATMs but it has submitted an
application for a lawful development certificate (LDC) for unrestricted aviation.
Owners hope to reactivate the underlying aviation consent to make it commercially viable. FoE have produced
a good briefing on what needs to be done. Dunsfold have got top planning lawyers,
who won at Farnborough, to make their case.
Click here to view full story...
EMA wind turbines to produce a tiny amount of the airport’s electricity
Date added: 11 May, 2011
Another in a line of airport greenwash. East Midlands has unveiled two wind
turbines which will now generate all of 5% of the airport's electricity demand.
Naturally, in relation to the carbon emissions that the planes using the airport
produce, it is less than a drop in the ocean. However, every tiny bit helps ....
sort of. The turbines have been passed by the CAA for safety. EMA has also (amazing
innit?) a biomass boiler and a willow farm.
Click here to view full story...
Have your say on new Heathrow airport consultation on noise mitigation
Date added: 10 May, 2011
On 9th May BAA launched a consultation on Heathrow's noise mitigation scheme.
Hounslow Council is asking its community to mobilise to seek major improvements
to the company’s proposals. It appears that BAA’s proposals leave not just affected
residents with a noise mitigation scheme that is seriously inferior to those which
apply around many comparable airports in the UK and the rest of the world. This
is part of BAA's Noise Action Plan.
Click here to view full story...
Prestwick. Coming to the end of the runway?
Date added: 10 May, 2011
From a peak in 2007 when more than 2.4 million people passed through arrivals
and departures at the Ayrshire airport, now New Zealand owner Infratil confirmed
that the average over the past year has been little more than 1.5 million. Prestwick
has not made a profit in its two most recent financial years and it doesn’t expect
to turn one this year either. This despite the fact that it has made almost 200
staff redundant – nearly two-fifths of the total – in that period.
Click here to view full story...
Heathrow Airport villages ‘dying due to buy-up scheme’
Date added: 5 May, 2011
Villages around Heathrow are "dying" because of a home buy-up scheme run by the
airport operator BAA, according to local MP, John McDonnell. BAA stepped in to
buy 266 "unsellable" houses when planning for a 3rd runway 8 more going through).
John said despite the plans being scrapped many of these homes were standing empty
leading to the "death of village life". Others are let to short term tenants. There
is still a constant fear of runway plans returning.
Click here to view full story...
Ryanair cuts send passenger numbers down 11% at Prestwick
Date added: 4 May, 2011
Prestwick Airport suffered an 11% annual fall in passenger numbers after Ryanair
slashed capacity last year. This was announced by Infratil, which blamed it on Ryanair’s reduction of UK
domestic and Irish routes and services. Ryanair cut its services from Prestwick to both Stansted and Belfast City airports, and
it also withdrew a number of routes completely, including those to Charleroi,
Torp in Norway, Gothenburg, Shannon, Milan and Budapest.
Click here to view full story...
New law enables Met Police to recover London City Airport security cost
Date added: 3 May, 2011
New legislation could mean the Met Police can recoup some of the cost of securing the
airport. Changes instituted on April 1 mean the onus is now on UK airports to fund policing,
which at London City is estimated to cost around £5.5 million. London City would
not comment on how much of the bill it will pick up, citing confidentiality over
security. Opponents have long argued it is unfair for the taxpayer to pay for
policing a privately-owned airport.
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Controversial planning document could pave way for Belfast City Airport runway extension
Date added: 3 May, 2011
Local residents have expressed their alarm at a draft planning policy document
which could pave the way for George Best Belfast City Airport to be permitted
its long-sought runway extension. It states that the economic implications of a proposed development can, where significant,
be the determining factor in approving a planning application - which would shift
the goal posts in favour of the airport. If so, environmental concerns would be
brushed aside.
Click here to view full story...
Plymouth City Airport to close in December
Date added: 28 April, 2011
Plymouth City Airport is to close in December. Its owner, Sutton Harbour Group, blamed the economic downturn and "challenges for the UK
regional aviation market". It said the airport, which employs 56 people, had suffered "significant losses
in recent years" and was facing a £1m loss over the next year. Air SouthWest axed its service to London Gatwick in February, meaning fewer than
100 people were flying out of Plymouth every day.
Click here to view full story...
BAA allocates £210m to new capital projects at Heathrow in 2013/14
Date added: 28 April, 2011
BAA will allocate £90 million to Crossrail and £210m to new projects under its
£735m capital works programme in 2013/14. The remainder of the budget will be
spent on projects already underway including on the construction of Terminal 2
and upgrades at Terminal 3. The CAA extended Heathrow’s current regulatory period
by one year to 31 March 2014 in response to upcoming government reforms to the
framework for the economic regulation of UK airports.
Click here to view full story...
