General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Luton Airport’s delayed rail link, paid for by the Council, may open in 2023
The new transit rail link will connect the existing Luton Airport Parkway station to the terminal building, with electric trains running 24 hours per day. It will not operate until 2023 at the earliest, and an opening date will be announced in early 2023, though approved in 2017. Luton Rising, which owns the airport, said the delay was mostly down to revenue and ticketing arrangements. The rail link is called a DART (Direct Air-Rail Transit) and is an electrically-powered, fast passenger transit running on a 1.4-mile (2.2km) rail line connecting the station - part of the Thameslink and East Midlands Railway network - to the airport terminal in just over 3 minutes, replacing the existing bus transfer service. The airport hopes that passengers will be able to travel between Luton and London in just over half an hour. The total estimated cost of the project is £225m including transport system, station improvements and civil engineering works. The project is being funded by Luton Council and LLAL (London Luton Airport Ltd, the company that runs the airport) which is wholly owned by Luton Council. ie. it is entirely funded by public money, to assist the airport.
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Truss’ new Transport Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, backs a 3rd Heathrow runway
With the arrival of the Truss government in September, Grant Shapps (a big aviation enthusiast) was removed from the job of Transport Secretary, and replaced by Anne-Marie Trevelyan. She has now said, at the (somewhat fractious!) Tory party conference that she is supports building a 3rd Heathrow runway, and is an ‘absolute believer’ in aviation expansion's potential benefits, with it being "a really important part of our growth." Boris Johnson opposed the 3rd runway. The main focus of the Truss government is economic growth, at any cost, with desperation to get more economic activity and more money for those earning. She believes a growing airport will increase UK exports by air. After years of wrangling, Heathrow's plan to build a third runway was originally given the green light in 2018 by Chris Grayling, under Theresa May. It cannot go ahead until a DCO has been applied for and allowed, and the airport can find the necessary money. Ms Trevelyan said concerns about increasing aviation CO2 are no longer valid because of the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuels.
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Easyjet to stop offsetting CO2 emissions from December
The airline industry is being urged to do reconsider if it uses carbon offsetting programs. When they are used, the offsets used - as well as probably being ineffective - are far too cheap to make any real difference. The problem is that offsets are not a substitute for genuine emissions reductions. The way many schemes work is not transparent, and they have been called a "wild west". There is no single standard on carbon emissions and how they, or the offsets, are calculated. The same goes for SAF - " sustainable aviation fuels". Now easyJet has said it will stop offsetting carbon emissions by its planes. It has unveiled a “roadmap to net zero” emissions by 2050 including introducing (allegedly) hydrogen-powered jet engines. It also hopes for more use of SAF (future supplies uncertain) more fuel-efficient planes (very slow to develop) and carbon capture (which does not yet exist, to any meaningful extent) to reach the target. EasyJet of course intends to keep growing, keep increasing the number of flights, and keep emitting more carbon. It had a three-year contract in late 2019 to offset all its CO2 emissions –costing it about £25m a year, but it was regarded as greenwashing the environmental damage it causes.
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Manston second legal challenge applied for by campaigners
Ramsgate resident Jenny Dawes has applied for a judicial review (JR)of the decision to allow the Manston airport site to be transformed into a cargo hub. The court has still to decide whether to allow the appeal. The JR would mean the decision in August by the government to allow the scheme would be reassessed by a High Court judge. The airport's owners, RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP), had wanted to start preliminary work by Christmas. Ms Dawes, whose legal team has now filed its 1,200-page appeal, said that developing Manston Airport would cause irreparable harm to the people, the environment and even the economy of east Kent. The Development Consent Order (DCO) for the work was originally granted by the government in 2020; it was then quashed in 2021 after a judicial review; it was then approved by government this August; and it now being challenged again. In October 2021 an independent aviation assessor concluded there was no need for a new freight airport at Manston. Ms Dawes crowd-funded £119,000 to pay for the legal costs arising from the 2020 judicial review, and is hoping to generate £50,000 in donations on this occasion.
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CAA data shows 5,000 empty ‘ghost flights’ in UK since 2019, and 35,000 with under 10% load factor
CAA data shows that over 5,000 completely empty passenger flights have flown to or from UK airports since 2019, and another 35,000 flights have operated almost empty. - with under 10% of passengers. ie. 40,000 in total. Much of this was due to the Covid pandemic, but not all. Why ghost flights operate remains unclear. Only airlines know the reasons but they do not publish data that explains the practice. Ghost flights may run to fulfil “use-it-or-lose-it” airport slot rules, though these were suspended during the height of the pandemic. Other reasons cited by airlines include Covid repatriation flights or the repositioning of aircraft. But these cannot be verified and campaigners said more transparency was needed. Earlier figures (March 2022) indicated some 15,000 ghost flights that took off from UK airports between March 2020 and September 2021, but that only included international departures. The 40,000 figure includes international arrivals, and all domestic flights. These flights are a shocking, unnecessary source of CO2 emissions, and campaigners say they must be reduced. One way to do that would be a jet fuel tax, as currently the fuel is untaxed.
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Luton Airport dismisses climate change as factor in planning inquiry
A public inquiry has begun into Luton Airport's expansion plans. Luton Borough Council, whose company Luton Rising owns the airport, approved the growth plans in December. The separate private company that runs the airport, London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL), applied to increase passengers from 18 million to 19 million per year and to amend the noise contours. The government said an inquiry should review the main aspects of development. Three planning inspectors are expected to participate during the inquiry, Richard Clegg, Sheila Holden and Geoff Underwood. The agenda includes air quality, climate change, the impact of noise, sustainability, socio-economic implications, the influence of other considerations on the overall planning balance, and whether it would be consistent with the local development plan and other policies. It is unsatisfactory for the owner of the airport to also be its planning authority. Local campaign group, LADACAN, expect the hearings to shine some uncomfortable light how the focus has been just on maximising revenues, while ignoring other vital considerations, such as climate and environmental issues.
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CORSIA to add €2.40 to a flight from Europe to the US – just greenwash, and ineffective on cutting carbon
The UN aviation agency ICAO uses offsetting as its key mechanism to decarbonise aviation, but this is ineffective in reducing the CO2 emissions. New research from Transport & Environment (T&E) shows that the ICAO scheme CORSIA would add just €2.40 to the price of a flight between Europe (the European Economic Area - EEA) and the US. That really is no disincentive to fly, nor does it do anything to prevent other carbon emissions elsewhere. The cost per passenger flying between the EEA and the Middle East, would be €1.40; to China, a mere €3.5. Such amounts are FAR too low, when considering the cost of decarbonising the aviation industry. The total cost to the global aviation industry of CORSIA would be €118 million in 2030, representing only 0.4% of their total operating costs. For airlines operating flights from the EEA to the Middle East, purchasing offsets would cost €40.3 million in 2030 – just 0.3% of total operating costs. Jo Dardenne, aviation director at T&E, says: “Offsetting is a climate fraud... by an industry resisting real climate action. Paying €2 to fly ‘guilt-free’ to New York is a climate absurdity." T&E and other environmental groups have for years questioned the use of offsetting as a means to reduce aircraft emissions, which will not enable the industry to become net zero by 2050.
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Doncaster Sheffield airport to close after no ‘tangible proposals’ put forward
Doncaster Sheffield airport is to close later this year, its owners have confirmed, despite the offer of financial aid from public funds. This leaves hundreds of staff facing redundancy and comes days after Liz Truss said she had instructed ministers to protect the airport. The airport's owners, the Peel Group, which had extended a public consultation period by 10 days, said a strategic review had ended without any clear proposals on the airport site’s financial viability, or a potential buyer. They said the high costs of running the airport, whose flight numbers have fallen by more than half since 2019, meant it would start winding down operations from 31st October. Peel is in consultation with staff about losing their jobs. Local politicians wanted the government to provide more public money for it, but at present the UK government has massive and increasing debts, partly from capping household and business energy costs, and no cash to spare. Peel realises subsidising a permanently loss-making airport is not a sensible use of scarce public funds. It has made big losses since the start of the pandemic, and there are other airports in the area (Leeds, Manchester) that travellers can easily use.
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Concern if large donations to the Conservative party, from aviation interests, affect government policy
The aviation industry contributed more than a tenth of the Conservative Party’s donations between April and June 2022, prompting questions about the government’s climate policies. About £650,000 was given to the Tory party by companies and donors linked to the aviation industry, 13% of total donations, making it the third biggest sector behind finance and property. The Electoral Commission data was analysed by DeSmog, a website that monitors lobbying on climate change. The government has no real policies to reduce aviation CO2 emissions, except its "Jet Zero" strategy, but places its faith in unproven future technologies, while refusing to do anything to control air travel demand, which would be the most effective way to limit aviation carbon. It is very concerning if the large donations to the Conservative party, from aviation interests, are swaying government policy on a vital area. Christopher Harborne, the owner of AML Global, an aviation fuel supplier, gave £500,000 in May and a further £15,000 in June. Other donations were from Bridgemere UK (private jets), Knaresborough Aviation, the Rigby Group, and the executive chairman of Jet2.
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Gatwick hopes to have 32.8m passengers in 2022 – it was 46.6m in 2019
Gatwick has said it hopes now to have 32.8 million passengers this year, a forecast that is perhaps 10% above its earlier assessment in March of 30.6 million. That is still well down from 46.6 million in 2019. The airport said operations at the airport were “business as usual” and it would not need to extend its capacity restraints beyond the end of the month. It is likely that inflation and the cost of living "crisis" may deter some travellers later in the year and this winter. Gatwick's staffing problems have not been fully resolved and recently it had cancelled at least 26 flights at the last minute due to staff absence in the airport's control tower. More than 13 million passengers travelled through Gatwick in the six months to the end of June.