General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Green Party argue that site of London City Airport should become a multi-use development, for homes and businesses
The idea of closing London City Airport and using the huge amount of land it takes up for more intensive, and useful, purposes is not new. A report was produced in April 2014 by NEF, setting out very persuasive reasons why this is not a crazy idea. Now Sian Berry, the Green Party Mayoral Candidate, has again suggested this. The plan she proposes is for the site, which is currently up for sale, into a new quarter for homes, businesses and innovative industries. The Greens propose a consortium with City Hall, councils, business and academia to buy the airport. They are urging potential purchasers to look seriously at the compelling business case for changing the use of the site. The land taken up by the airport, and land around it which is in the Public Safety Zone (for crash risk) and so cannot be used, could create far more economic activity, and far more jobs. This might amount to some 16,000 more jobs than the airport provides and add an additional £400 million to the UK’s economy. The land is in a key geographical location, and would be easy to link to transport networks. It could create thousands of new homes within easy reach of central London, helping to ease the housing crisis. As a writer from Estates Gazette says: "London is crying out for more big sites like this where mixed-use schemes can be built." The site is wasted as a small airport - especially when Crossrail makes the trip from the Docklands area to Heathrow easy and fast.
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Caroline Pidgeon: “No, London doesn’t need another runway – and the only people who’d benefit own airports”
Caroline Pidgeon is the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor of London. Writing in City Metric, she explains why there is no need for a new runway, and recommends people read the short paper by AEF, "The Great British Runway Myth – Why there is no need for any new runway in the south east" which clearly sets out the arguments. A key fact is that while the number of UK air passengers has grown by 32% since 2000, the number of actual flights has grown by just 0.6% due to use of larger planes, and getting higher load factors. At Gatwick, 12% of runway slots are not being used; Stansted and Luton have over 40% of slots not used, so there is no shortage of London runway capacity. Caroline says: "In the whole aviation debate, it is strange that the views of ordinary passengers in the rest of the UK are rarely given a fair hearing" .... but we "need to improve train links to Stansted, to ensure that this airport is able to make proper use of its spare capacity." ... "Heathrow Airports Holdings quite understandably wants to create a dominant position in the UK, ideally at the expense of other airports. More landing rights means more profits for them. The closer to a monopoly on international flights they have, the happier they are. But the idea that this company speaks up on behalf of “UK Plc”, or the needs of passengers across the UK, is a joke."
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Site of possible 172 acre business park near Horley, on flood plain, over 2ft deep in water
Plans were announced in October for a huge, 172 acre, business park to be built just south of Horley. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council agreed in principle to use compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) for a business park on the land off Balcombe Road. There is a lively local opposition group. Now a local teacher, Joanna Barnett, has posted a video of herself standing in 2 feet of water, and then in a small rowing boat, on the flooded land. The land regularly floods, being part of a flood plain, helping to protect Horley. The teacher asks where that water would go, if the are is covered in concrete and tarmac. There are serious concerns that building in a necessary flood plain would make flooding in surrounding areas worse. The water can only drain away slowly into the Burstow Stream and the Gatwick stream, ultimately ending up in the river Mole. Mrs Barnett asks: "Why do you think its OK to spend public money, £540,000, preparing this land for the business park? That is our money and it should not be spent trying to pave over a flood plain." More than 3,200 people have now signed a petition railing against plans to create the huge business park. The local group,"Keep Horley Green" are campaigning against the development, which is on land categorised as a public open space. A consultation is due in 2016.
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Heathrow passengers up 2.2% last year compared to 2014; ATMs up 0.3%; air cargo down 0.2%
Nearly 75 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in 2015, an increase of 2.2% on 2014 and the airport’s highest ever number of annual passengers.The number of flights (air transport movements) was up 0.3% on 2014. The number of seats per aircraft increased by 2.1% to 209, and passengers per aircraft rose to 1.9% to 160. But the average load factor remained constant at 76.5%. (For 2013, Heathrow said its average load factor was 76.4%, and average number of passengers per aircraft was 154.8). At the end of 2015, over 20 daily A380 departures and arrivals were operated by eight airlines "Heathrow continued to play a leading role in helping Britain’s exports reach global markets, with the UK’s largest port by value recording cargo volumes of 1.5 million metric tonnes for the year." That is Heathrow's way of saying the cargo tonnage fell by 0.2% in 2015 compared with 2014. Heathrow says "emerging markets continued to be a driver of traffic growth at Heathrow", with passenger volumes up 8% to Latin America and 6% to the Middle East. They also say passenger volumes during 2015 were up 14% to China. That's confusing, as the increase in passengers to the "Asia/Pacific" area, which includes China, only rose by 0.3% for the year. Heathrow itself admits it has terminal capacity for 90 million passengers, so at 75 million, it is not "full". The Airports Commission said that would not happen till 2030.
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Sunday Times reports how Heathrow has paid its owners dividends of £2.1 billion since 2012 – but just £24 million in Corporation Tax
The Sunday Times reports that Heathrow has paid its owners back £2.1 billion in dividends, starting in 2012. But it has only paid a total of £24 million in corporation tax since 2006, with that payment being last year. Heathrow's owners are rewarded whenever the value of the airport increases. If new airport infrastructure is built, the passengers pay for it through the £20 cost on their ticket (and other spending), and the owners benefit.. The CAA calculates how much is spent on investment, and allows Heathrow’s investors to earn a return on the total. The more Heathrow spends, the more its backers can earn. If Heathrow was to spend £17.6 billion on its expansion, the value of the airport would be considered to have increased that much. Due to the huge debts Heathrow has (£12.5 billion out of the £16 billion Ferrovial paid in 2006) the airport's banks prevented dividends to owners, until 2012. They got £240 million in 2012, which has risen to £2.1 billion. Some of the proceeds of the sale of Gatwick, Edinburgh etc has been used for dividends. The Sunday Times says: ..."with a debt-to-assets ratio of about 85% is one of the most heavily indebted airports in the world." Heathrow will have to recoup the money by high passenger charges, years before the runway is built and open, as otherwise Heathrow's massive investors are not prepared to take the financial risk. Heathrow is no longer a company quoted on the stock exchange, but that could happen in future.
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Heathrow hopes putting in electric car charging points will make it seem more “green”
The New Year has barely begun, and Heathrow is off on (...yet another ...) 8 months or so of it PR and spin, hoping to persuade those who matter to approve a 3rd runway. So it has put out a woolly statement about various very minor measures it is taking to slightly limit its environmental damage. John Holland-Kaye said: “2015 saw us commit to a series of action plans that will make us a better neighbour, by reducing noise, emissions and traffic." How? They have installed 135 charging stations for electric vehicles. No matter that most of the UK's electricity is not produced from renewable sources. And some of their vehicles are (sic) "zero emission" cars - if such a thing was possible. Perhaps realising that is not terribly impressive, John H-K says “But we know that we need to do more, and in the coming months will set out even more ambitious plans that will make an expanded Heathrow the most environmentally responsible hub airport in the world.” Yes? Heathrow have a few suggestions for other improvements, none making a big difference. Such as: measures to encourage staff to car share to work, or even cycle; phasing out noisier "Chapter 3" aircraft; by March its Air Quality Strategy for 2020 and its Action Plan will be published; and there will be a new App providing real-time public transport and traffic information for passengers. And updated "blueprints" on progress....
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Solar farm built by Stobart at Southend airport – another allowed close to Bournemouth airport
A new 2.5 megawatt ‘Solar Photovoltaic Array’ has been built by Stobart Developments on 3.2 hectares of unused grassland at the north of the Southend airport site. The airport hopes around 20% of its annual electricity requirement will now be generated by the panels. There will be over 9,500 panels, "mounted on 3 metre high steel frames supported on approximately 2600 piles across 37 rows. The layout of the panels has been specially designed to prevent reflective glare affecting approaching aircraft and the air traffic control tower." There had previously been concerns about glare from the panels affecting pilots. There is now also to be a solar farm under Bournemouth Airport's flight path, about 720 metres to the west of the airport. It has been approved by planners at East Dorset District Council. Questions were initially raised over air passengers' safety when the proposals were revealed, due to the glare and reflection on sunny days. The airport had objected to it, due to solar glare, saying "the effect on operations is pronounced and severe throughout the year, making aircraft operations unsafe if the development was to go ahead." However, their complaints were then conditionally withdrawn after a "glint and glare" study was done.
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Heathrow 3rd runway to provide a good range of destinations purely for exotic leisure travel
Heathrow has been trying to persuade politicians, business leaders, and the world at large that it needs a new runway in order to boost the UK economy, because of all the business flights and vital business "connectivity" connections. Quietly, in the Airports Commission's Final Report, released on 1st July 2015, the importance of the business and economic benefits were down-played, and more emphasis was put on the desirability of more - and cheaper - leisure flights, how more holidays improved people's sense of well-being etc. Page 70 said: "Leisure flights have a high social value. Empirical analysis focused on passengers travelling on holiday or to visit friends and family has shown how the access to leisure travel affects mental health and well-being." And now it emerges that many of the alleged "new" destinations that Heathrow might be able to fly to, with a 3rd runway, are unashamedly purely for exotic holidays. Some of the airports mentioned are Kilimanjaro, making it easier for trekkers and people of safari; Quito, making it easier to get to this UNESCO World Heritage site city; Memphis, where tourists can easily visit Elvis' former home, Graceland; Salt Lake City, for easy access to the ski areas; and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), for the best beaches. So all the devastation and the immense environmental and social impact of a new runway is so rich tourists can have slightly easier trips on their holidays.
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Essays on why we travel, what we get out of it – travel as epic adventure or religious experience …
The growing obsession with travel is apparently induced by very cheap air fares, growing affluence, ever rising expectations, an increasing sense that hypermobility across the globe is an entitlement - on top of an emptiness and dissatisfaction with what everyday life has to offer. In a series of essays, an anthropologist looks at some of the reasons for our globe-trotting, why we do it, and what we get out of it. He considers travel as epic adventure, and how we seek challenges, in our rather mundane lives, over-influenced by health & safety; how we want to substitute novelty for normality; to reverse our daily routines, and abandon the comfort of familiarity. And the quest for ourselves. In looking at travel as a religious experience, he considers the rite of passage of much gap year travel..." some 25,000 visit Thailand, Australia and New Zealand ...there is ritual talk: “where are you going?”; “where have you been?”; “did you ‘do’ this monument/trek/natural wonder?”; etc. Drink, drugs and digital photos, sun, sea and social networks ... Upon their return from the wilderness, our young vagrants are transformed (or reformed) into worldly-wise Westerners, new sovereign citizens of a global era. (Theirs is the Earth and everything that’s in it!) ... Indeed, for many in the West today, overseas travel has come to fill the void vacated by ‘real’ religions, providing meaning, purpose, awe and wonder, as well as a sense of belonging."
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Is travel now the ultimate “must-have” possession, used to define who we think we are?
David Jobanputra is an anthropologist and film maker, who has given much thought to why we travel so much. He has looked at travel largely as something rich westerners do, in more exotic lands. But he also asks about travel in the way it has now become a serious consumer product, and one through which we try to define ourselves - sophisticated, trendy, caring, bold, discerning etc. "We choose a personal brand identity to which we aspire and the travel industry supplies us with the right product to match." ..."Consumption is our lifejacket. It is also our straitjacket." ..."We buy status, power, a sense of inclusion. We even buy our adventures. In the age of consumerism, everything is commoditised ... including tourism....Transnational travel makes culture a commodity. When the ethic of consumption is extended to new people and places, everything comes with a price. Visit to the palace - $12; mountain trek - $35; traditional dance performance - $8; sense of self-worth - priceless. Today’s holiday brochures boast bargains like an Argos catalogue; instead of homeware and cheap electronics, we find tigers, temples and tribal villages. All are commodities, just the same. We buy these things for the same reason we buy any other non-essential product: to look better, feel better or else appear better."