General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Richmond campaign shows Heathrow runway would lead to 50% of the new capacity used for international transfers
The Richmond Heathrow Campaign has produced a very useful set of carefully argued briefings and aspects of a 3rd Heathrow runway (noise, CO2, air quality etc). These can be found here. There is now an updated briefing on economics. It makes several vital points showing how the Airports Commission’s conclusion and recommendation for a Heathrow runway is not supported by its own evidence. The RHC points out that the Commission's own "strategic fit" document shows that with a new Heathrow runway, there would be an extra 22 million international-to-international (I to I) transfer passengers using Heathrow per year (about 30 million in 2050 rather than about 8 million then if there was no runway). The additional 22 million passengers would take up over 50% of the new runway capacity, and would provide little or no economic benefit to the UK. They do not pay APD. Transfer passengers do not leave the air-side at Heathrow. They contribute to the airline and airport profits and their value is said to add connectivity by providing minimum aircraft loads for otherwise unviable routes and by adding to route frequency. Support for thin (i.e. low demand/frequency) destinations is a main justification for the Commission recommending a Heathrow runway. But 95% of Heathrow’s I-to-I transfers support higher frequencies to already popular destinations rather than otherwise economically unviable thin destinations.
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Labour divided as 30 northern Labour MPs back Heathrow expansion, believing it would help their regions
Nearly 30 northern Labour MPs have signed a letter backing a 3rd Heathrow. The letter to Lillian Greenwood, shadow transport secretary, was signed by members of the PLP Northern Group. They include senior figures such as Chi Onwurah, Kevan Jones, and Nick Brown. This may be an indication of the Labour party’s divisions over the issue. Key to David Cameron’s calculations will be whether he can win enough backing in Parliament for Heathrow expansion, given that it is opposed by several of his senior colleagues including Zac Goldsmith, Boris Johnson and Justine Greening. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are against a Heathrow runway, but it is not clear if Mr Corbyn would order Labour’s 232 MPs to vote against it. If as many as 26 Labour MPs from one region are in favour of the Heathrow runway it suggests that Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell’s views are not shared by all the rest of the party. The PLP Northern Group hope the regions would benefit from a Heathrow runway, and (like everyone else other than a few with the time and abilities to understand it all) have not read the Airports Commission's papers in detail - showing negative implications for regional airports from a new runway. A rather flimsy paper by "Quod", setting out predictions of growth and jobs for the regions, is the basis of hopes by regional MPs.
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John Holland-Kaye and Sir Howard Davies give evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee
The Environmental Audit Committee is holding an inquiry into the implications for Government commitments on carbon emissions, air quality and noise should the Airport Commission's recommendation of a 3rd runway at Heathrow Airport be adopted. It is holding its second evidence session, hearing from John Holland-Kaye and Matt Gorman, of Heathrow - and Sir Howard Davies and Phil Graham, from the (now closed) Airports Commission. They will be asked questions on noise, air pollution and CO2. The Airports Commission, in their final report on 1st July and in supporting documents, gave unsatisfactory answers on all these. There are no details of flight paths from a new runway, with no information on which areas would be newly overflown. There is no certainty that levels of NO2 around the airport, already sometimes over EU legal limits, would not rise with a 50% increase in the size of the airport, and massive increase in road traffic. There is no satisfactory answer on how the UK could meet its aviation carbon target, while building a new runway. Heathrow has put forward various ideas on how it might slightly reduce its noise and NO2 impacts, many speculative (eg. marginally less noisy planes). The airport is not keen on ceasing night flights (11pm to 6am) though that was one of the Commission's suggested conditions for a runway.
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George Osborne launches National Infrastructure Commission, under Andrew Adonis, so UK can “think big again”
George Osborne has launched his national infrastructure commission. He said infrastructure investment would be at the heart of November’s spending review and the new independent body would think “dispassionately and independently” about Britain’s infrastructure needs. Andrew Adonis will chair the commission, which will oversee £100 billion of infrastructure spending by 2020. Osborne says the failure of successive governments to invest in infrastructure has meant that the British people have longer commutes, higher energy bills and can’t afford to be home-owners. Osborne himself has overseen a 5.4% fall in infrastructure investment since he took office in 2010. He wants this government to be thinking "long term" and he wants new railway lines, new broadband installed (and perhaps a new runway). Other members of the commission include Michael Heseltine, Prof Tim Besley, Sir John Armitt, and Bridget Rosewell, The commission will have the initial priorities of examining connections between the big northern cities, London’s transport system and energy infrastructure. It will produce a report at the beginning of each parliament with recommendations for spending on infrastructure projects, though politicians will have the final say. In the spending review, Osborne will probably announce a suite of asset sales which the Treasury expects to raise billions of pounds to be ploughed back into projects.
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EU caves in to car industry pressure to weaken NO2 emissions limits for diesel cars for years
EU governments have agreed to new limits for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel cars. The unexpected decision was taken by the European Commission's Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV). The bad news is that they are double the ‘Euro 6’ levels agreed back in 2007. The EU has granted car-makers delays to a more stringent “real driving emissions” test, permitting them to emit x2 the amount of NOx from 2019. The standard from 2021 is that all new cars will still be allowed to emit 50% more NOx than the Euro 6 limit of 80mg/km. MEPs and campaigners were shocked at the cave-in to the lobbying of car-makers, by the EC, seeing it as a stitch-up by national governments. Only the Netherlands opposed the proposal, which passed after heavy lobbying from the car industry and EU countries such as the UK, Germany, France and Spain, which are currently facing court action from the EU for failing to meet NO2 standards. "For car-making countries, it’s like dieselgate never happened,” said Greg Archer, the clean vehicles manager at the environmental think-tank T&E. The Commission has argued that uncertainties in the testing method justify setting a higher long-term limit but this is likely to be legally challenged. The lower standards will make it even harder for a new SE runway to meet air pollution standards. The Heathrow area is often already in breach of legal limits.
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Petition set up by academics from many countries asks universities across the world to reduce flying
A group of 56 scholars has launched a petition calling on universities and academic professional associations to greatly reduce flying-related footprint as part of effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The academic group believe there is a need for collective action to improve the climate profile of academic communities. A petition has been set up, asking universities, institutions of higher education and professional associations to greatly reduce their flying. It appreciates that for academics to fly less, it requires their colleagues to change behaviour. There is an expectation to attend meetings and conferences. The petition asks universities etc to include all university-related flying (whether directly paid by the university or by others) in their environmental impact measurement and goal-setting. Also to support and work to realize marked reductions in flying by faculty, staff, and students commensurate with the cuts suggested by climate science. And to establish and publish short- and medium-term benchmarks for reductions. The petition originators hope universities etc will use their influence with professional associations to reduce reliance on flying for academic and research conferencing. Professor Kevin Anderson, a respected UK climate scientist, has already written and spoken often on this subject, and does not fly to conferences.
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Direct flights from Manchester to Beijing, starting June 2016, announced on President Xi’s UK visit
Manchester airport started Cathay Pacific direct flights to Hong Kong in December 2014. Now with the state visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to the UK, the first ever direct air link between Beijing and Manchester has been formally unveiled. President Xi was joined at the airport by David Cameron for the announcement of the Hainan Airlines service, which will fly four times per week, from June 2016. There are the usual claims of huge impacts on the economy with the link contributing "£50m annually to the city’s economy" and the usual mentions of both economies being "open for business." Also the "northern powerhouse." There are also other "substantial cooperation agreements" being signed between the two countries, covering economy, trade, investment, infrastructure, scientific innovation, manufacturing and sports. The Manchester Airports Group has been keen to get direct Beijing flights for years, to link northern businesses to the Far East economies - and get high spending tourists. The Chinese state-owned Beijing Construction and Engineering Group (BCEG) has already invested heavily in Manchester's "Airport City." There is also to be a £130 million 'China Cluster' to provide a commercial base for Chinese businesses arriving in the UK, based around two campuses within the Manchester Airport City development.
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Heathrow slots that should be ‘ring fenced’ for Scottish flights redeployed for leisure routes to Spain, Italy & France
Simon Calder reports that precious landing slots at Heathrow that had been “ring fenced” for Scottish routes are being redeployed by British Airways to open new routes to Spain, Italy and France - leaving Scotland with one million fewer seats a year. When BA bought BMI, it was forced to hand 9 daily slot pairs specifically for use on routes connecting Heathrow with Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The so-called “remedy slots” had been used by BMI to operate flights from Heathrow to Scotland, and were taken up by Virgin Atlantic, which ran them for 2 years as “Little Red”. But last month Virgin scrapped Little Red. Therefore the slots revert to BA, which is using them to launch routes to Menorca, Biarritz and Palermo (starting next spring) - as opposed to the "emerging markets” in Asia, Africa and Latin America that are often cited in support of a 3rd runway at Heathrow. There will also be increases in the number of departures to long-established destinations such as Berlin, Stockholm and Venice. ie more holiday destinations. If another contender were to come forward for the “remedy slots”, BA would be obliged to hand them over. It is difficult to see, though, an airline that could make a success where Virgin Atlantic failed.
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Boris warns regional airports, including Liverpool & Aberdeen, of likely cut in links to Heathrow with a 3rd runway
London Mayor Boris Johnson has rubbished claims a Heathrow 3rd runway would boost connectivity for the regions. He says Liverpool may not get a domestic link to Heathrow, even with a new runway. He has warned other regional airports of the same thing. In 1990 Heathrow supported 18 domestic routes, but that has fallen to seven. With a new runway, the Airports Commission expects that to fall to just four. The current seven are Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle. They have all on average seen their number of daily flights to London. If businesses in the Liverpool City Region, such as advanced engineering, creative and financial and professional services, need to air link to the world, they could do that through a hub airport (Heathrow, Schiphol, Paris etc). Or they could do it by their own direct flight links, but those would be less likely if there is an even bigger monopoly airport in the south east of England. Since 2012, the number of daily flights between Aberdeen and Heathrow has dropped from 13 flights a day to 8 flights a day. Heathrow claims it would provide more regional links - but it has cut these in the past, preferring to focus on more profitable long haul flights. That tendency is likely to continue, even with a new runway.
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London mayor Boris Johnson warns expanded Heathrow will not help Teesside connections
Boris Johnson has alerted business and political leaders in Teesside that they face the prospect of not regaining its aviation route to Heathrow, even with a 3rd Heathrow runway. The number of British cities served by Heathrow has fallen from 18 routes in 1990 to just 7 today. Teesside has not had a London connection since 2009 when flights from Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) to Heathrow were scrapped. Boris has written to 11 regions and more than 480 key UK businesses to highlight the "staggering" fact the Airports Commission's own analysis has forecast that an expanded Heathrow would accommodate even fewer domestic routes. This would mean there would only be 4 regional airports with Heathrow flights, rather than 7 now. It is therefore increasingly unlikely DTVA will regain its connection. Boris, of course, instead wants his "Boris Island" airport in the Thames estuary ...People in Teeside can already fly to Amsterdam or Schiphol to connect to international flights. DVTA wants to reposition itself to focus on business routes, expanding general aviation activity and broadening the base of aviation-related activity on the site - to stay afloat.