General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Stop Stansted Expansion brands airport expansion plans as premature and opportunistic
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has condemned Stansted Airport for insulting the intelligence of Uttlesford District Council (UDC) and the community at large by claiming that its latest expansion proposals will have "no significant adverse environmental effects". SSE's Chairman Peter Sanders has further stressed the need for the council not to be hoodwinked by the airport's spurious claim and to ensure a comprehensive, honest and thorough assessment of all the environmental impacts that would result from major expansion. The statement comes following the airport's formal notification of its intention to submit a planning application later this year to seek permission to grow to an annual throughput of 44.5 million passengers and 285,000 flights. This compares to last year's throughput of 24 million passengers and 180,000 flights. If approved, this would mean an extra 20 million passengers and an extra 104,000 flights every year blighting the lives of thousands across the region. Stansted hasn't even started to make use of its 2008 permission to grow from 25mppa to 35mppa. Even by its own projections, the airport doesn't expect to reach 35mppa until 2024 although the credibility of its forecasts is questionable given its wildly inaccurate record on this front.
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New report shows Scot Gov plan to cut aviation tax will damage Scotland and mainly benefit frequent fliers
A new report published by Scottish Green MSPs shows that the Scottish Government's plan to cut aviation tax will cost the Scottish public purse hundreds of millions of pounds and put £47.3million into the pockets of businesses. It also shows wealthy frequent fliers stand to gain hugely more from the tax cut than regular travellers. This week the Scottish Greens will make a final attempt to amend the Air Departure Tax Bill at Holyrood so that instead of rewarding wealthy households and corporations and a highly-polluting industry, any new tax regime encourages a reduction in aviation and a shift towards cleaner forms of transport. The report finds that much of the benefit of the planned cut will accrue to those living in Scotland’s central belt; only 6% of all international flights by UK residents are taken by children, so the SNP's claim that this policy will help "families" is highly misleading; such a generous tax subsidy for business flights within the UK will harm rail travel by incentivising a shift towards air travel; and reducing the cost of air travel will lower the cost of taking holidays outside of Scotland relative to holidays within Scotland, "cannibalising" holidaymakers from Scotland’s domestic tourism industry and worsening the deficit between what we spend abroad and what visitors spend here.
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Campaigners point out that cutting Scottish air tax benefits rich households and corporations the most
Plans by the Scottish Government to reduce and then abolish Air Passenger Duty (APD) in Scotland are “predominantly a tax giveaway for Scotland’s wealthiest households and corporations”, according to a new report. The study by the Fellow Travellers campaign group against high carbon emitting air travel found 70% of Scotland’s richest households stand to benefit from the proposed cut, compared to 30% of the poorest. A Scottish air departure tax is set to come into force from April 2018 if passed by parliament, replacing APD. The SNP wants the tax cut by half by the end of this parliamentary term, with the charge to be scrapped when resources allow, claiming it will improve connectivity and create economic benefits. However, the Fellow Travellers report found that, based on official figures, halving the tax would lead to £189 million in lost revenue for Scotland by 2021/22. It says: “The SNP’s commitment has fired the starting gun for a race to the bottom on air passenger taxes in Great Britain. Any competitive advantage conferred on Scotland’s airports from a reduction in these taxes will be short-lived.” .... “This is predominantly a tax giveaway for Scotland’s wealthiest households and corporations.” APD currently brings in about £300 million per year. That could pay to employ 11,500 nurses. Or fund a year of childcare for 54,000 children. Or convert every bus in Edinburgh to being fully electric.
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Tory MPs say Heathrow runway ‘not going to happen’ following hung parliament
Conservative MPs have warned that a manifesto pledge to expand Heathrow will not go ahead, following Theresa May's failure to secure a majority in the election. As many as 40 of the Prime Minister's own MPs are against the building of a 3rd runway. Labour are divided on the issue and their election manifesto only committed the party to expand Britain’s airport capacity, with four conditions; the proposed Heathrow runway cannot meet those conditions. Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP for Richmond - re-elected in June - tweeted: " Heathrow expansion... not going to happen." He told The Sun: "Heathrow expansion already faced huge obstacles, not least a very strong legal challenge by Local Authorities and appalling air pollution implications.” Both Mr Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, and Justine Greening, the Education Secretary, are ardent opponents of a Heathrow third runway. The campaign, No 3rd Runway, canvassed candidates before the election and found 31 out of London's 73 MPs were opposed to the runway, many posing for photos endorsing their pledge to oppose it. The number of opponents would far outweigh Mrs May’s waver thin Commons majority potentially provided by the DUP.The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is opposed to it. The new Minister for London, Greg Hands, is opposed to it.
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Northern Powerhouse minister, and CEO of Rail for the North, both resign
The concept of the Northern Powerhouse was encouraged by George Osborne. He became the Chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership in September 2016. While Heathrow likes to claim its 3rd runway would help the growth of the Northern Powerhouse, the reality is that profitable long haul flights from airports in the north would be negatively impacted by Heathrow getting a greater monopoly of them. The huge sums of public money that would need to be spent on Heathrow surface infrastructure would also possibly mean less money available to be spent in the north and the regions. The Conservative Manifesto said: "We will continue our programme of strategic national investments, including High Speed 2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and the expansion of Heathrow Airport". However, now the Northern Powerhouse minister, Andrew Percy, has resigned from the job and decided to return to the backbenches. The Manchester Evening News says: "Questions have been raised about the Conservative's commitment to former Chancellor's George Osborne’s creation, a project to encourage economic growth in the north." The Chief Executive of Transport for the North of England, David Brown, has also left his job, to work for Arriva.
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With Saudi-Qatar diplomatic ties cut, and airspace closed, Qatar Airways asks ICAO to step in
In early June, a longstanding war of words between Saudi Arabia and its oil and gas-rich neighbour Qatar has got worse. Saudi Arabia and three of its biggest allies — Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain — all announced that they were severing diplomatic ties with Qatar, as well as suspending air, land, and sea travel to and from the country. The move came after Riyadh accused Qatar of backing radical Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS. Since then, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives have also joined the diplomatic boycott. Qatar owns 20% of Heathrow, and its funding would be needed to pay for the 3rd runway. Qatar is one of the wealthiest countries on earth, but it’s going to feel the pain all the same because it relies heavily on its neighbours for trade and travel in and out of the region. The peninsular nation imports most of its food through its land border with Saudi, which is now closed. Now Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, has called on ICAO to step in to the diplomatic rift that has closed Saudi airspace, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt airspace to Qatar Airways. This has not only halted air traffic between Qatar and the four Gulf states, but also is forcing Qatar Airways to fly longer distances on some long-haul routes.
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Heathrow overtaken by Schiphol as Europe’s top airport for direct connectivity
London Heathrow has been toppled from its ranking as the number one airport in Europe for direct connectivity, according to a new report (not available to the public) from Airports Council International (ACI) Europe. Amsterdam's Schiphol airport now has the top ranking, with Frankfurt third, and Paris Charles de Gaulle fourth and Istanbul Ataturk fifth - on level of "direct connectivity." Schiphol has risen up the ranks fast since 2007, and about 20% + of its flights are low cost. The ACI Europe's airport industry connectivity report found that for the 2nd year in a row, direct connectivity is growing at a faster rate than indirect and hub connectivity. ACI Europe said this reflected the expansion of low-cost carriers on both short- and medium-haul markets and "the relative retrenchment of network carriers". Frankfurt is still the highest-ranked airport for hub connectivity in the world, with Amsterdam in second, then Dallas-Fort Worth, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Atlanta. ACI noted that over the past 10 years, 99% of the growth in passenger traffic of the top 20 European airports was due to low-cost airlines. Low-cost carriers have moved into larger airports and hubs, and they are now making inroads into the long-haul market.
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Grayling continues as Transport Secretary – Gove replaces Leadsom at Environment, including dealing with air pollution
Chris Grayling has kept his job as transport secretary after Theresa May carried out a minor post-election reshuffle, but Michael Gove has returned to the Cabinet as environment secretary, at DEFRA. Most cabinet ministers retained their posts, but Andrea Leadsom has been moved from Environment to Leader of the Commons. Mr Gove will have to tackle the issue of air quality, where the Government was forced to publish a draft national plan to tackle NO2 pollution from vehicles before the election and is facing further legal action. ClientEarth, which brought the High Court case requiring ministers to rewrite their national air quality plan, has already returned to the courts to challenge the new draft plan, even though the consultation on the plan runs until Thursday (15 June). Defra has said it is preparing its final plan for publication by 31 July, ‘in line with the timetable directed by the Courts’. Dr Thérèse Coffey will remain as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at DEFRA with the air quality portfolio.
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Airbus says production ‘could’ move out of Britain unless Brexit demands on free movement etc are met
Airbus says production ‘could’ move out of Britain unless Brexit demands are met, and they want "non-negotiable" demands over the free movement of people. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Theresa May agreeing to begin Brexit talks in the “next couple of weeks” Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Bregier has set out “minimum” demands on Brexit. As well as the free movement of workers, they want trade tariffs and regulatory conditions. Airbus insists that the Brexit deal must allow staff from all over the world to enter Britain easily, ensure that parts are exempt from trade tariffs and ensure certain regulatory standards are maintained. Otherwise, he said, Britain would risk losing Airbus production in the future, as it is easy to set up plants elsewhere in the world. Airbus builds wings for around 50% of its aircraft at Broughton and has a wing-design facility at Filton, Bristol. The two sites have about 10,000 staff, and Airbus claims it also supports around 100,000 UK supply chain jobs (indirectly). The company has always warned Brexit may see a reduction in investment in the UK and while wing production for the best-selling A320 and A380 would remain at Broughton, Brégier warned the next generation of models could go to other countries.
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Election fallout: will government plan to get 3rd Heathrow runway be hit?
The Conservatives are set to form a minority government, which could affect a range of transport issues from Heathrow expansion to road schemes even if the Conservatives remain in Government. Although Theresa May intends to continue as prime minister, with the support of the DUP, we are now entering a time of uncertainty. Anti-Heathrow expansion campaign group HACAN has done its own research on MPs, showing that 31 of the capital’s 73 MPs are known to oppose the runway. HACAN chair John Stewart said: ‘Once the views of all London’s MPs are known, it is highly likely that a majority will be opposed to Heathrow expansion. Of themselves they may not stop it but they could act as a very awkward bloc to a new runway ever seeing the light of day, particularly given the fact that the new Government doesn’t have a majority of seats in Parliament.’ Rob Barnstone, coordinator for Stop Heathrow Expansion, the group representing residents opposed to the project, claimed the failure of the Conservatives to win a majority in the Commons has created less certainty on issues including the third runway at Heathrow. He said: "The Government were relying on a large parliamentary majority, including many new and loyal backbenchers, to push through a third runway. "Now that Theresa May's gamble has rendered her anything but a conquering hero, the future of the project looks much less certain and potentially in jeopardy."