General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
High Court judge rejects application to legally challenge August 2022 approval of Manston expansion plans
A DCO (Development Consent Order) for the re-opening of Manston airport, and its use mainly for air cargo was approved by the government in August 2022. Then local residents, through Jenny Dawes, made an application for permission to get a Judicial Review of the decision, on 29th September 2022. A High Court judge has now announced that this legal challenge has been rejected. In her 1,200-page appeal, Jenny said the reopening "Manston Airport will cause irreparable harm to the people, environment and the economy of east Kent". The airport owners, RiverOak Strategic Partners’ (RSP), have applied for permission to upgrade and reopen the airport primarily as a freight airport, with some passenger services, with a capacity of at least 12,000 air cargo movements per year. The plans were given the go ahead in August despite planners recommending that the development consent order application (DCO) be refused. An earlier DCO for development of Manston as a freight airport was rejected by the High Court in February 2021.This was after Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, in July 2020 had decided to ignore the advice of the Planning Inspectorate in October 2019, that the DCO should be rejected.
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Holland-Kaye says the rich should pay more for using SAF, to subsidise tickets for poorer countries
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos (which is attended by a lot of high carbon emission companies) the CEO of Heathrow, John Holland-Kaye, has said that in order for the industry to meet targets for the use of so called "sustainable aviation fuel" (SAF) someone is going to have to pay more for air tickets, in order to pay for it. He said rich travelers will have to pay more to fly if the aviation industry is to transition to SAF, as they are hugely more expensive than conventional kerosene. If the rich, including most in rich countries, and businesses pay more, then tickets could cost less for people in poor countries. Of course, the best way to cut aviation CO2 is for people to fly less, but that idea is anathema to Holland-Kaye and his industry. SAF is expensive to develop, and the industry already has a lot of government subsidy, to develop its production. But it is unjust for the population, many of whom never or rarely fly, to have to pay for this fuel, for the minority who fly frequently. SAF is the only tool the industry has, to try to cut CO2 emissions, while increasing flights and passengers. However, in 2019 it accounted for just 0.1% of jet fuel used in commercial aviation, and the sector hopes it will make up 0% of global jet fuel by 2030.
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Swansea airport has had no passengers since 2004 – now plans a link to Exeter
Swansea Airport has announced it is launching flights to and from Exeter this year. There have been no scheduled passenger flights operating from Swansea Airport since 2004. Passengers who fly to Exeter from Swansea will be able to use the airport as an interchange, getting connecting flights to Spain, Ireland and the Channel Islands. The airport looks likely to be leased once more to its current operator, despite complaints about the way it has been run over the years. The airport is owned by Swansea Council and managed by Swansea Airport Ltd, which has served a notice requesting a new tenancy. The council has to respond by February 3, and cabinet will meet next week to decide. The council doesn't want to operate the airport itself because of the cost and also the "significant" carbon emissions involved. The authority is aiming to be "net zero" in carbon emissions by 2030.
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EU considering plans law to force companies to prove green claims are real – not greenwash
The European Union has drafted plans to make companies back up green claims about their products with science-based evidence, in an attempt to fight greenwashing and misleading advertisements. The draft legal proposal by the European Commission aims to clamp down on companies promoting their products as "climate neutral" or other "green" claims unless these can be substantiated. There would have to be proper methodology that tracks environmental impacts of all sorts, including air pollution and CO2 emissions. Currently most green claims are woolly, vague and misleading, and customers are buying products based on unreliable information. Under the proposal, companies that claim their product has a positive environmental impact must also disclose if this causes an negative impact in another area. Claims based on promises of future environmental performance must be backed up by milestones the company will achieve by specific dates, including if carbon offsets are to be used. There is currently no law against greenwashing in the UK, but the Financial Conduct Authority consulted in October 2022 about greenwash claims made for financial products, as it said the financial services sector was a major culprit. As is the air travel industry.
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Heathrow local opponents ready to fight the airport’s expansion plans – again!
Writing in the Uxbridge Gazette, the Stop Heathrow Expansion group comment on the anticipated statement from Heathrow about its finances and outlook, and intentions on a 3rd runway. Stop Heathrow Expansion group says Heathrow has a lot of hurdles, if it wants to build a 3rd runway. "Stricter climate change and environmental laws have been in force since the last proposal was put forward; they will be a major stumbling block for another doomed attempt at R3". They also say spending so much money on what would probably end up as a bit of a "white elephant" would not be great for the airport's foreign shareholders, who want high dividends in the coming decade. And the local borough council, Hillingdon, remains totally opposed to the expansion plans, which would have overwhelmingly negative impacts on the area and its residents. Heathrow's full financial results will be released on 23rd February.
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Independent review of the government’s Net Zero target and what progress is being made
In 2019, the UK Government and the devolved administrations committed to the Net Zero target as recommended by the Climate Change Committee. Now Chris Skidmore MP has undertaken a review of the government's Net Zero plans. It looks at all sectors what progress has been achieved, and what is needed. There are many mentions of aviation, including how the sector will be responsible for an ever larger % of total UK carbon emissions, unless strong measures are taken. The review wants much more investment in so-called "sustainable aviation fuels" (SAF). It says Government should publish the Low Carbon Fuels Strategy in 2023 and the necessary legislation for the sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) mandate to apply from 2025. "Recognising that an adequate price stability mechanism is vital for investments in SAF, government should set out evidence for barriers to SAF investments and options to address this." And "In particular in the aviation industry, there are currently several projects looking at so-called recycled carbon fuels. To ensure these fuels deliver carbon savings, it will be important to ensure that these adhere to waste hierarchy principles and potential reduction in waste streams is considered." It also calls for an Office for Net Zero delivery for joined-up, cross departmental work and action.
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Cancer charities call for general aviation small planes to stop using leaded fuel
While the kerosene used in the engines of commercial planes, or most private jets, does not contain lead, the AvGas (aviation gasoline) fuel used by the light planes used in "general aviation" - ie. largely hobby flying - does contain tetraethyl lead. There are 134 recreational, general aviation, airfields in the UK. There is the fear that the little piston-engine aircraft using these airfields are emitting lead, which is causing air pollution in the area. Ministers have been urged by cancer charities to follow the US and EU with plans to ban the lead-based fuel, by 2030 and 2025 respectively. The charities (Breast Cancer UK and the Cancer Prevention and Education Society, as well as Green Alliance) say the UK is in danger of “falling behind international standards” because it has left the EU’s system for regulating potentially harmful chemicals, UK REACH. Lead accumulates in the body, and there is no safe level of exposure. It has been banned from use in car fuel since 2000. There may be over 370,000 homes within 4km of general aviation airports, which may have unacceptable levels of lead pollution.
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Campaign for Better Transport says it is time to properly tax private jets
Private planes emit some 50 times more CO2 than trains. The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) thinks that private passengers who use private jets should start paying for the climate damage they cause. In 2021, there were 135,505 private aircraft movements (arrivals and departures) in the UK. European private jet carbon emissions have increased by 31% since 2005, far faster than commercial aviation emissions. The UK is responsible for more than any other European country. Few of these private jet trips are necessary, and the passengers could generally use commercial flights. Depending on the trip and the plane, a passenger in a private jet might be causing the emission of between 5 and 14 times as much CO2 per as a standard class air passenger. A few flights in a private jet could emit as much as an average EU citizen in a whole year, or ordinary living. CBT is calling for private jets to pay more. Currently they pay the same rate of APD as business or first-class passengers, with a higher rate applied to aircraft of 20 tonnes or more with fewer than 19 passengers onboard. This rate should be increased tenfold; this new ‘super’ APD tax could raise around £1.4 billion each year. VAT should also be charged.
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A different business model is needed for aviation – not high-volume, low-profit per passenger
A new research paper, in the Journal of Air Transport Management (by Stefan Grossling and Andreas Humpe) looks at the likely increase in CO2 emissions from global aviation, with and without managing to use genuinely low carbon fuels. It concludes that the air travel sector is set to expand significantly, with ever more demand for air travel. But the only method the sector has to cut its CO2 emissions and climate impact is to local new, low carbon fuels. These will inevitably be more expensive than the fossil kerosene used now. The supply of the fuels will also be limiting, and even if electricity for electrofuels can be obtained from nuclear-generated electricity, if will be costly. This increase in cost will be the mechanism to reduce overall demand for air travel, though it is not the stated intention of governments. The current business model of the airline sector is high-volume, low-profit-margin. That is not a sustainable model for a sector with such high carbon emissions. Historically airlines have usually made losses, unless there are enough passengers. Unless this changes, the CO2 from aviation will continue to increase.
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Report questions using renewably generated electricity to make e-fuels for aviation
The aviation sector is desperate to find some form of jet fuel that it can claim is low carbon, so it can justify continuing to fly ever more planes, transporting ever more passengers, against all logic of the carbon emissions generated. Hydrogen-fuelled and electric planes are not going to contribute in any meaningful way, for decades, if ever. That leaves SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), one section of which might be "electrofuels" - ie. those generated by using surplus renewably generated electricity. But there are huge problems, due to the immense global demand for this electricity, which needs to be used for domestic heating and lighting, for all commercial buildings, all vehicles, trains etc etc. There just is not going to be much spare electricity, to (rather inefficiently) produce jet fuel. Now a new paper from a climate venture capital firm says this is not an efficient use of the electricity. "The figures show that a lot of renewable electricity is spent for scaling the production of synfuels which means it would be more efficient to use that electricity for other things like displacing coal generation or powering an electric vehicle."