General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Need for the very rich to publicise how they plan to decarbonise their lifestyles
Private jets are used, more than one might imagine, by the rich, famous and people high up in politics and business. The emissions generated are huge, and are widely seen as an incongruous anomaly, in a world where most people have woken up to the perils of increasing carbon emissions for life in coming decades and centuries. Those who support the use of private jets may claim it is not a real issue, and what has to change is better technology and different political frameworks. But there is a real problem in that many in our societies are influenced, in how they live their own lives, by how they see the rich and famous behaving. The "jet set" lifestyle is sold to people as something positive, to aspire to. Academic researcher, Steve Westlake, writes that leaders who maintain high-carbon lifestyles undermine trust and reduce everyone’s willingness to change their own behaviour - and this slows down the fight against climate change. Positive examples of low-carbon behaviour, especially by high-profile people, can have the effect of encouraging low-carbon behaviour in many people. The users of private jets etc could start to publicise measures they are taking to de-carbonise their own lifestyles.
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Some possible changes at Heathrow, to persuade ever more passengers to use it
People already badly affected by Heathrow are concerned about what might happen, with new Saudi ownership, after Ferrovial. The Saudi-backed consortium is poised to seize control of the airport, but it is far from a done deal. However, plans are already underway that could have ramifications for those living nearby. According to sources close to the bid, they have a multi-pronged strategy to broadly increase the number of passengers, even without — for the foreseeable future, at least — the construction of a third runway. Updating Heathrow’s technology is key in the strategy, with things like scrapping airline-specific check-in desks. There could be an App to get passengers to the shortest queue to drop off their luggage. Luggage tags could also be scrapped in favour of computer chips or QR codes linked to passenger booking information. And other changes. The thinking is that if the new owners can improve life for passengers, making it less stressful and decreasing waiting times, airlines will be able to persuade more people to fly. And more passengers mean more revenue for Heathrow, which currently gets £26.77 per person from its airline customers.
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Tory ministers block £30m cash that could help Labour mayor reopen Doncaster Sheffield airport
Conservative Ministers have blocked £30 million in funding that could help Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire’s Labour Metro Mayor, re-open Doncaster Sheffield airport. Local Labour leaders have been working to revive the airport, which closed in November 2022. They hoped to use a £30 million cash pot - originally earmarked in 2022 for a rail link to the airport before it closed - to help pay for building work at the site. But Tory Transport Secretary Mark Harper has refused to let them re-route the cash - which will likely go unspent within the 5 year time limit. Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) had domestic flights to London and low-cost airlines taking holidaymakers to European destinations, therefore taking money out of the local economy. When it closed, owners Peel Group said it was not “commercially viable” - despite Mr Coppard and Doncaster Council offering to underwrite operations for a year while a new airport operator could be found. Peel still own it.
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More Heathrow shareholders plan to sell stakes alongside Ferrovial
Ferrovial agreed to sell its 25% stake in Heathrow in November for £2.4bn to French private equity company Ardian (15%) and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (10%). Now 3 other Heathrow shareholders that together own 35% of the airport, have said they want to sell out too, as part of £2.4bn Ferrovial deal agreed. It has been suggested, by someone in the know, that Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme all intend to exit. So with 25% and 35%, that is 60% of Heathrow's ownership. As part of the Ferrovial deal, the airport’s other shareholders were given the option to sell their own stakes at the same valuation, with the Saudis and Ardian offered first refusal. This could be a problem for the Ferrovial sale, and the £2.4bn deal could collapse if all the shareholders cannot find buyers. Ferrovial said it was a “condition” of the transaction that the “tagged shares” were also sold. Neither Ardian nor the Saudis are compelled to buy the new shares on offer. The Saudis don't want more than 10%. They might be able to find a 3rd investor to come in and buy the 35%.
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NGOs write to aviation Minister, asking that public money is NOT used for SAF research and development
Ten environmental organisations, that are concerned about the environmental impact of aviation, have sent a public letter to the Transport Minister, Mark Harper, asking that development of allegedly "sustainable" aviation fuels should NOT be given public funding. The organisations say it would be grossly unfair for taxpayer money to be given to this, bearing in mind that a majority of people in the UK either do not fly in any one year, or take just one return flight. The majority of flights are taken by a minority, more affluent than average. The letter says that “Industry-funded” should mean that the costs of any revenue support mechanism should be paid for solely by the aviation sector. Also that taxes such as Air Passenger Duty should not be earmarked for SAF research, but go towards public funding. They say that at no point should there be any potential for Treasury money to be used to cover any scheme costs; the scheme should be administered by a body that is not the Treasury, similar to how the Low Carbon Contracts Company operates regarding renewable energy generation.
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GIP, owner of Gatwick and Edinburgh airports, sold to US BlackRock asset management
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which owns about £79bn of companies including Gatwick airport and the Suez wastewater group, has been sold to the US investment firm BlackRock in a $12.5bn deal. The takeover will make BlackRock the world’s 2nd-largest infrastructure investor, behind Australia’s Macquarie group. GIP was created in 2006, and has bought crumbling assets in the energy, transport and water industries, before fixing them and selling them on at a good profit. It now owns 40 companies generating more than $75bn in annual revenues. In the UK, its portfolio includes Gatwick, where it is a minority shareholder behind Vinci; it owns Edinburgh airport, bought in 2012; a stake in Peel Ports, which owns seven ports, and Hornsea 1, the project to build the world’s largest offshore windfarm in the North Sea. GIP bought City airport for £760m in 2006, and sold it to a Canadian-led consortium for £2bn in 2016. GIP’s bosses will now run BlackRock’s enlarged infrastructure business. BlackRock hopes to capitalise on a global acceleration in government infrastructure spending, which it hopes will boost their domestic economies.
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Might jet fuel be produced from human sewage?
A company called Firefly Green Fuels, based in Gloucestershire, is trying to make jet fuel out of human faeces. It is a waste stream that is currently not used, except for as fertiliser for agriculture (which is controversial, due to the danger of a range of chemicals that are not removed from sewage, and microplastic particles). Currently human waste, ie. sewage, breaks down and emits CO2, among other things. If sewage is used to make allegedly low carbon jet fuel, it would need complex treatment requiring a lot of energy, and there would be a further waste product in the end. Such fuels, which could just as well be used for vehicles etc on the ground, as for aviation, would emit just as much CO2 when burned as conventional fuels. Burned in jet engines, it would also produce contrails - which have their own atmospheric heating effect. Supposing jet fuel, or other vehicle fuel, could be produced from human sewage, there might then be a need for another agricultural fertiliser to replace it. The aviation industry is trying to find fuels that it can claim are "low carbon", if they are produced from carbon that has come from plants or animals - rather than fossil fuels.
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Key critic of Farnborough airport silenced by an ASBI, while the airport submits expansion plans
For four years, Colin Shearn, a 62-year-old retired corporate executive, led the Farnborough Noise Group, a watchdog for locals worried about the operations of Farnborough airport, the UK’s busiest private jet airfield. Then, one day in August, police came knocking at his door. They claimed he had conducted an “aggressive and relentless campaign against Farnborough airport” and he was accused of “bombarding” the airport and relevant authorities “with endless questions about air traffic”, while “adopting a belligerent and aggressive style, distorting or misrepresenting a point of view to suit his agenda”. He was issued with an "antisocial behaviour injunction (asbi)" – the successor to the asbo. He was ordered to stop “causing any harassment, alarm or distress, nuisance or annoyance to any person” in Surrey or Hampshire, or face jail or a fine, or both. Just after he was silenced, Farnborough announced that it planned to double weekend flights. Its latest planning application, now submitted to Rushmoor borough council, gives the airport a ceiling of 70,000 flights a year, including 19,000 at weekends, and allows for heavier aircraft to be used.
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Changes to Gatwick DCO in November, since the original application
The planning changes at Gatwick, converting the emergency runway for routine take-offs, is an attempt to "sneak" a second runway through the back door. Critics argue that the timing of Gatwick Airport's proposed changes to its expansion plans could result in people who have already commented on the plans mistakenly thinking their feedback still stands, even though the plans have now changed. Gatwick's expansion plans, to take the airport the size of Heathrow currently, are being examined by PINS, the Planning Inspectorate. Their examination may conclude in June 2024. Local group, CAGNE, says there are now some changes to the Gatwick expansion plans that were not in the original consultation. They say there will be a large increase in lorry movements due to replacing an incinerator with a waste sorting plant, not included in the Development Consent Order, traffic modelling or air quality, an incinerator that at the time of obtaining planning permission was meant to heat the north terminal. PINS needs to decide if the changes can be made to the application and included in the examination. Comments for the examination need to be submitted by 21st January 2024.
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Much of the allegedly “used” cooking oil being imported for SAF likely to be fraudulent
Analysis - by T&E - of latest biofuels data shows worrying rise in dubious "used cooking oil" imports as airlines increasingly try to promote biofuels as low carbon flying. The new report shows Europe currently imports 80% of the used cooking oil that it uses as fuel for cars, trucks and planes. About 60% of these imports come from China. With the global airline industry pushing for used cooking oil as a key ingredient in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), T&E has called for greater transparency to avoid used cooking oil (UCO) becoming a backdoor for palm oil. Europe does not produce anything like as much UCO as it wants to use. The push to import oils, with much of the allegedly "used" oil being dodgy, is set to grow as airlines push for more UCO as a key ingredient in SAF. European governments say it’s almost impossible to stop virgin oils like palm being labelled as "waste". There are also palm oil derivatives such as Palm Oil Mill Effluents (POME) and Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD). These are not waste, but by-products of the palm oil refining process, linked to significant environmental damage and ILUC.