General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Three new briefings ask “Can the UK build a new runway, and stay within the aviation carbon cap?”
The Airports Commission gives the impression that the issue of carbon emissions has been fully considered, and that a new runway can be accommodated within UK carbon targets. However, that is far from the truth. It is by no means clear that the UK aviation could stay within the 37.5 MtCO2 cap that is needed, in order for the UK as a whole to meet its legal climate obligations. Indeed, the Airports Commission itself is aware of this problem, and its own figures show the carbon emissions from UK aviation far exceeding the cap, over many years. For the clearest view of this, see the Commission's interim report, Technical Appendix, December 2013, Pages 71 & 72. Though there will be carbon efficiencies in coming decades, in CO2 per passenger kilometre, the scale of those improvements is unknown and many are just hypothetical. The widely accepted assumption has been that the matter is just which airport gets a runway - rather than whether a runway could be built at all. The carbon situation makes it clear that the debate is still very much "IF" a runway should be built, and not merely "WHERE?" New briefings help set out the facts, and show that building a new runway would mean UK aviation exceeds its carbon cap.
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Report by Oxera for Birmingham Airport criticises Commission’s analysis on impacts of Heathrow runway on regional airports
Birmingham Airport has commissioned a study by economic analysts, Oxera, to look at the Airports Commission's analysis of impacts of Heathrow expansion on regional airports - Birmingham in particular. Oxera believes a 3rd Heathrow runway would exacerbate, rather than reduce, regional imbalances and by sucking more business into the south-east, Heathrow expansion would just widen the north/south divide. Oxera say the methodology used by PwC, on behalf of the Airports Commission, could hide winners and losers in UK regions, and underplays the negative effect that Heathrow expansion could have on some UK regions. They believe there should be better analysis of where the national losses and gains would be, and how they would be distributed. CEO of Birmingham, Paul Kehoe, seems to be more in favour of a Gatwick runway, which presumably threatens Birmingham less. Kehoe said: “Whilst Heathrow is essential and must remain a world class airport for the UK and for the Midlands to grow, Heathrow must become complementary to Birmingham Airport. More capacity at Heathrow would limit our region’s ambitions.” The Midlands claims to be responsible for 16% of all UK exports.
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Woodland Trust highlights inadequate recognition of woodland and biodiversity in Airports Commission documents
The Woodland Trust is urging people who intend to send in responses to the Airports Commission consultation to mention the omission of some vital environmental information. The Trust says trees and woodland habitats have had little mention, and the issue has not been given proper consideration. Either a Gatwick or a Heathrow runway would have serious consequences for woodland and trees, and other aspects of the natural world. The Woodland Trust believes woods and trees should not just be considered as amenity. Irreplaceable habitats like ancient woodland are just that - not replaceable. The Commission talks of ancient woodland as having ‘low replacability’ – but ancient woodland cannot be replaced. The Commission also makes little reference to the loss of ecosystem services, or the impacts of land take on biodiversity at a local or landscape scale. The need that everyone has for good quality, accessible green spaces is barely recognised. With threatened loss of 14 hectares of ancient woodland at Gatwick, with over 70 hectares woodland loss overall - and valuable ancient trees at risk around Heathrow, loss and permanent fragmentation of these precious habitats like these could have far wider implications.
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The stubborn 30% who remain opposed to a 3rd runway could be politically more important than those who support it
Heathrow airport frequently gets opinion polls done by Populus. These are phone polls, done by phoning randomly chosen numbers, in chosen boroughs. The script of the interviewer is not published, but earlier someone who received one of these calls wrote down as best she could at the time, the questions. There appeared to be some bias in the phrasing. Populus has not chosen exactly the same list of boroughs for their surveys, making comparison impossible. Heathrow says, in its survey conducted in 10 boroughs, between mid November and mid December 2014 that there was 50% net support for a 3rd runway, against 33% net opposition - from the boroughs of Spelthorne, Richmond Park, Brentford and Isleworth, Feltham & Heston, Windsor, Ealing Central & Acton, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Slough, Hayes & Harlington, and Twickenham. A survey carried out in 7 boroughs from late February to late March 2014 showed 48% net support, and 34% net oppose. A Populus survey of 6 boroughs in February to May 2013 showed 46% net support and 43% net opposition. A Populus survey in September 2007 (asking about a short 3rd runway) had 50% net support and 30% net oppose. So there really has not been a lot of change, though there are slight variations in the composition of the figures.
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London leads as the world’s top airline hub by a wide margin – by number of passengers through its 5 airports
Simon Calder, writing in the Independent, says that "far from Britain declining as an aviation superpower, the capital’s global lead over every other city in the world is increasing." Despite Heathrow being close the largest number of flights, London remains the world’s top airline hub by a wide margin (23%) - and is racing ahead of its closest rival, New York. There were a record number of air passengers using the 5 London airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City airport) in 2014, and that was about 61% of all UK air passengers (same % as in 2013). Some 144.7 million passengers flew through London’s 5 commercial airports last year, which is the equivalent of 275 people - or one wide-bodied aircraft - arriving or departing every minute of every day of the year. Heathrow's number of passengers in 2014 rose 1.7% due to using larger aircraft, and the number of passengers using the 5 London airports rose 5% in 2014 compared to 2013. While London is by far the best connected city in the world, New York comes 2nd, Tokyo 3rd and Paris the only other European city in the top 10. The pre-eminence of London indicates that the UK economy is not losing out due to any lack of airport capacity. London comfortably leads world cities, for airport capacity.
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DEFRA National Noise Attitude Survey 2012 shows extent of interference from aircraft noise in people’s lives
DEFRA has produced the results of the National Noise Attitude Survey 2012, which looked at the extent to which noise from various sources is a problem to people. They compared the figures from 2000 with 2012. They found the 4 main sources of noise were ‘Road traffic noise’, ‘noise from neighbours and/or other people nearby’, ‘aircraft, airports and airfield noise’ and ‘noise from building, construction, demolition, renovation and road works.’ Though the numbers hearing these noises had remained (2000 - 2012) roughly the same, there is a strongly statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who report being bothered, annoyed or disturbed to some extent by these 4 noise sources. The number who consider themselves to be significantly adversely affected by aviation noise has risen from 2% to 4%, which is strongly statistically significant. DEFRA says: "it must not be forgotten that a small percentage still equates to a large number of people." The study showed that of the 510 people who put aviation noise in the top 3 sources that "bother, annoy or disturb" them, some 33% reported interference with sleeping; 24% reported interference with spending time in the garden or on the balcony / terrace; 23% said it interfered with having the windows or doors open; 23% said it interfered with listening to the TV, radio or music; and 23% said it interfered with concentration. (Section V2.8)
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Government confirms APD devolution to Scotland
The UK government has published a document, "Scotland in the United Kingdom: An enduring settlement". It sets out the Smith Commission Agreement on devolving powers to Scotland. This states: "The power to charge tax on air passengers leaving Scottish airports will be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government will be free to make its own arrangements with regard to the design and collection of any replacement tax, including consideration of the environmental impact. ....if such a tax is introduced by the Scottish Parliament to replace Air Passenger Duty (APD), the Scottish Government will reimburse the UK Government for any costs incurred in ‘switching off’ APD in Scotland. ... A fair and equitable share of associated administrative costs will be transferred to the Scottish Government. ....The clause includes provision for appointing the day when APD will be switched off in relation to Scotland." Abta and the Airport Operators Association (AOA) have responded the plans to devolve APD to Scotland by demanding consistency across the UK. They claim this will affect the competitiveness of regional airports in the north of England.
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Regional airports asked to bid for up to £56 million funding for new routes over next 3 years
Airports and airlines are being urged to bid for government funding of up to £17.5 million in the next year to help launch new routes. This ‘start up aid’ will be made available from the Regional Air Connectivity Fund, which was announced by the government in June 2013 and is open to airports with fewer than 5 million passengers per year. This fund has already been partly distributed to support strategic routes to London from Newquay and Dundee but is now being extended to bids for more routes. The £56 million is available to cover 3 years of financial support for start-up aid, with £17.5 million being made available to bids in 2015/16 and around £20 million a year for each of the remaining years. To apply for the funding, airports and airlines will have to provide evidence to show their proposed route will generate local benefits and represents value for money. The initial application stage will run for five weeks, closing on Wednesday 25 February. Ministers will announce a shortlist of bids in March 2015. A list of successful bidders will then be published in June.
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Gatwick airport announces highest ever number of passengers in 2014 – 38.1 million
Gatwick has announced its highest ever number of air passengers, in 2014. There were 38.1 million passengers, which is up + 7.6% compared to 2013. Gatwick had 256,350 Air Transport Movements (flights) in 2013, which was up by 4% compared to 2013. Their air cargo was down by 8.6% compared to 2013, at 88,737 tonnes. The number of passengers at Gatwick has grown steadily since 2010, and overtook the previous peak from 2007 35,165,000 in 2013. The number of flights is still slightly below its peak level in 2007, when there were around 259,000. Gatwick said the growth was driven across a range of markets, and of course, it took the opportunity to make another plug for its 2nd runway. There were approximately 149 passengers, on average, on planes using Gatwick,compared with about 156 at Heathrow. By contrast, in 2011 there were about 134 passengers, on average, per plane using Gatwick. So along with Heathrow, there is a slow increase in the size of planes, and/or the load factor - to be expected when the majority of flights are low-cost. Gatwick says it now has more long haul flights, and passengers travelling to Dubai in 2014 increased by 8.3% compared to 2013.
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Heathrow airport announces highest ever number of passengers in 2014 – 73.4 million
Heathrow airport has announced that in 2014 they had 1.4% more passengers than in 2013, with 73.4 million compared to 72.3 million. They had just 0.2% more Air Transport Movements (= flights) than in 2013, with 470,695 compared to 469,552. And they had 5.3% more air cargo than in 2013, with 1.50 million tonnes, compared to 1.42 million. The number of air passengers has risen steadily since 2010, and is now well above the pre-recession peak of 67.8 million in 2007. The number of flights is well below the highest levels, of 476,000+ in both 2007 and in 2011, due to increasing use of larger planes. Heathrow says there were 2.5% more transfer passengers in 2014 than in 2013. The figures for the month of December, also released the same day, show Heathrow only had an average load factor of 76.6% (ie. on each plane, some 23.4% of seats are unfilled). For December 2014 Heathrow said the average number of passengers per plane was 159.6. It is more like 156 for the year. By contrast, the average number of passengers per plane was 146 in 2011 (link). Larger planes are increasingly being used. There are estimates that Heathrow could accommodate 90 million passengers per year, with its current terminal capacity (link)