General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
NATS says cross-border trial slowing planes up to 350 miles from landing, cuts Heathrow stacking times
NATS says their trial to cut the amount of time aircraft spend circling in holding stacks at Heathrow has started to reap rewards. As part of the UK-Ireland Functional Airspace Block (FAB) and in collaboration with FAB Eurocontrol (FABEC) and Heathrow Airport, the trial aims to cut average holding times by a quarter from the current 8-minute time,to 6 minutes. Since April 2014, NATS has recorded a reduction of up to one minute in holding times for those flights influenced by the trial, saving airlines some fuel and - they claim - aroud 5,000 tons of CO2 for their airline customers, as well as reducing noise for communities underneath the stacks. The trial has seen controllers in the UK, France, Ireland and the Netherlands working in partnership to slow aircraft down up to 350 miles away from London - in any direction - in order to minimize holding times on arrival. 350 miles is around the French/German border, the French/Spanish border or the north of Denmark. The aim is to make more improvements to getting planes to arrive at Heathrow on a direct route. Aircraft burn less fuel generally if flying a bit less fast.
Click here to view full story...
“Cut Tourism VAT” campaign wants boost to UK tourism by cut in VAT to 5% on holidays in UK
Domestic travel companies are warning that they will find it hard to compete on price with their European competitors this year due to the falling value of the euro, plus high VAT rates in the UK. The euro is now worth just 78p compared with 84p last March, making the Continent 7% cheaper for holidays. The Government's has abolished APD on air tickets for children aged under 12 from May this year, and will make it even harder for UK holidays to compete. Calling for a reduction in VAT for tourism to 5%, down from 20%, members of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign said it had the support of over 43,000 businesses and more than 100 MPs. The UK government has created an anomaly whereby families who go abroad get a new tax benefit but families who holiday in the UK do not. UK tourism businesses say domestic tourism can help drive growth in the UK economy but only if it remains competitive. Cut Tourism VAT campaigners say VAT in Britain on accommodation and attractions is three times that of Belgium, Greece, Netherlands and Portugal and twice that of Germany and France. The campaign says cutting VAT to 5% could boost the UK economy by up to £4 billion annually and create over 120,000 jobs around the UK. That would reduce the UK's tourism deficit, caused by flights.
Click here to view full story...
Defra condemned for proposals – yet again – to scrap local air pollution monitoring, with danger of reducing air quality
Just before Christmas Defra released a consultation (ends 30th January) which proposed to scrap the requirement for local authorities to monitor air pollution. Under the plans, councils would no longer have to produce detailed assessments, including those showing pollution hotspots. The number of monitoring stations could be reduced to Defra’s network of 100 stations from the current 10,500 used by local authorities. Clean Air in London, and AEF (the Aviation Environment Federation) both strongly oppose removing the requirement for local authorities to monitor air pollution, particularly given its importance as a potential ‘showstopper’ for a 3rd runway at Heathrow. The consultation follows a similar proposal last year which we, along with over 18,000 other organisations and individuals, objected to. Clean Air in London says it is unclear whether Defra also intends (catastrophically) to scrap the duty on local authorities to review the need for continued assessment and reporting on objectives that have been met e.g. PM10. Buried in the fine print, Defra admits that 38 of the UK’s 43 air quality zones will not be compliant with EU limit values forNO2 by 2015 with 3 zones (Birmingham, Leeds and London) unlikely to be able to comply with these limits until after 2030.
Click here to view full story...
Carbon diary of reluctant traveller – 77,000 air miles per year for work; 12,000 air miles for holidays …..
In a carbon diary looking at his annual carbon emissions, an American who works for a transport organisation, the ICCT calculated just how much of the total came from flights. For his job, he travels a lot internationally. The number of miles for work, to attend meetings to help set emission standards for planes and ships through ICAO, came to 77,000 miles - on 30 flights over 9 work trips, releasing an additional 11 tons of CO2. Other journeys during his year accounted for 11,000 miles from regular commuting trips to the office by train, and another 12,000 miles flown on two family holidays. Due to a Californian lifestyle, in a warm climate, transport makes up a higher proportion of his annual carbon footprint than for someone living in a cold climate, needing heating (or a hot one, wanting air conditioning). But on the amount from flying, he reflects that this can be seen as a systemic problem, not just an individual one. And as such this means we need governments to develop policies internationally and domestically to impose a price on carbon to curb aviation emissions. "All this, and more, will be needed given that aviation CO2 emissions are on track to triple by mid-century." Another blog stresses the need to reduce the demand for flights.
Click here to view full story...
Second Sydney airport may threaten Blue Mountains’ World Heritage status
The United Nations' world heritage body will issue a "please explain" to the Australian Abbott government demanding a detailed report on the threat posed by the Badgerys Creek airport near Sydney, to the natural integrity of the Blue Mountains - just 8 km away. The new airport was given consent in April 2014. Any risk to World Heritage status is likely to hit the tourism industry, particularly nature-based tourism. The UN scrutiny comes as the Abbott government has been accused of a "sneaky" attempt to avoid World Heritage impacts being considered as part of the environmental approval for the new 24-hour airport. However, the Environment Department ruled on December 23 that World Heritage impacts must be examined. The Blue Mountains was finally accepted on the World Heritage list in December 2000, within a fortnight of the Howard government publicly announcing that plans for Badgerys Creek had been shelved. Problems caused by the airport include airborne fuel emissions, visual intrusion, and predicted aircraft noise of 70 to 80 decibels as "adversely affecting the natural quiet" of the Blue Mountains area. Claims that planes are "quieter and cleaner" than 15 years ago, and so not problem, are not believed.
Click here to view full story...
Defra condemned by Clean Air in London for proposals scrapping local air pollution monitoring
Air pollution is a key problem for Heathrow, making the addition of a 3rd runway very hard to justify - or to fit within legal air quality limits. The main pollutant with which Heathrow has problems is NOX - nitrogen oxides, the majority of which comes from road traffic. The actual proportion from aircraft, airport vehicles and other road vehicles is very difficult to establish. The other key air pollutants are PM10 and PM2.5 - tiny particles which lodge in the lungs and can cause long term health problems. DEFRA has responsibility for air quality monitoring. It put out a consultation on streamlining some air pollution monitoring, on 19th December (finishes 30th January). The aim is to no longer require local authorities to monitor 4 pollutants, and to combine monitoring of PM10s with PM2.5s. The group, Clean in London says "DEFRA’s plans would result inevitably in the scrapping of thousands of local monitoring sites that have taken a decade to put in place and probably all of them within a few months or years." Also that "Alarmingly, local authorities are being told to make use of Defra’s tiny national monitoring network (i.e. 137 monitors, few of which measure two or more of NO2, PM2.5 and PM10)."
Click here to view full story...
Qatar Airways deciding whether to use more A350 wide-body jets or more A380s
Qatar Airways will next year get its first Airbus A350 plane. It already has 3 A380s and will soon be getting its 4th and has firm orders for a total of 10. Qatar has ordered 80 of the A350s. Qatar will be comparing how the two types perform, in deciding whether to buy more A380s. There are three varieties of A350 (A350-800. 900 and 1000) and they can have between 276-369 seats in two classes. It the most direct rival to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The A380 can take 525 passengers in a three-class configuration, and up to 853 for one class (no airline does that). The head of Qatar Airways, Mr Al Baker, expects the A350 to give fuel efficiency benefits over current planes, and says the A350 planes will enable Qatar to open new routes using it. If Qatar decides to cancel or swap its orders for more A380 it would be a serious setback for their production, as there have been no new orders during 2014. Production of the A380 will only break even in 2015. The largest user of the A380, Emirates, has had theirs for 7 years, and wants a different engine, for better fuel efficiency. The A350 XWB uses new Rolls-Royce engines which are ckaimed to use 20% less fuel than current aircraft.
Click here to view full story...
Briefing by AEF asks whether a new runway would breach legal limits for air quality
The AEF (Aviation Environment Federation) has published a short, easy to read, briefing on air pollution in relation to a new runway at Heathrow or Gatwick. It considers the importance of air pollution and how far the Airports Commission has gone to address the issue to date. The Commission says a full assessment and modelling of the local air quality impacts has yet to be undertaken. AEF says because air quality is a key issue for a new Heathrow runway, as the area already breaches legal air quality limits, the Commission should publish the modelling it will carry out of the local air quality impacts, including damage to human health. AEF says the future Government should assess the Commission's recommendations in terms of their impact on human health. They should assess the risks to air quality legal limits from runway plans, and only permit a runway if it can be shown that legal limits on pollutants can already be met consistently, and are falling. The Commission is aware that improvements in aircraft engine emissions may take a very long time to happen; that reducing the amount of air pollution from road transport around Heathrow may take a very long time; and EU air quality standards may be tightened.
Click here to view full story...
Stewart Wingate and senior Gatwick staff refuse to appear before group of local area MPs in Parliament
Sir Paul Beresford, MP for Mole Valley, has complained that Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) has refused to appear publicly before MPs at the House of Commons to answer questions on their 2nd runway proposal. The Chairman of the "Gatwick Coordination Group", Crispin Blunt MP, invited Stewart Wingate, and Gatwick senior management to appear before the group in a Select Committee-style hearing in January 2015. But GAL has declined the invitation, saying GAL directors "do not think that a further public meeting is necessary". Commenting on GAL's decision, Sir Paul said "The MPs on the Gatwick Coordination Group collectively represent over half a million people whose lives stands to be affected by the airport's expansion. .... Gatwick have failed to answer key points on the resilience of their surface access plan. If a second runway was to be built at Gatwick access both to and from the airport would become extraordinarily difficult. .... Gatwick's refusal to participate in an extended public scrutiny ....is an abdication of their responsibility as a corporate citizen in both Surrey and Mole Valley. However, given GAL's inability to answer key questions on "show stopping" issues it is perhaps unsurprising they do not welcome further scrutiny."
Click here to view full story...
Commission publishes new report on “strategic fit” for its consultation – on possible impact of runways on air travel cost
The Airports Commission has published another report to form the background information for its consultation. The consultation is on details of runway plans at two runway options at Heathrow, and one at Gatwick, and ends on 3rd February. The new document is entitled "Impacts of Expanding Airport Capacity on Competition and Connectivity - The case of Gatwick and Heathrow" and is by the International Transport Forum. It comes under the "strategic fit" category, and supports the strategic fit analysis in the consultation. By strategic fit the Commission means:"To provide additional capacity and connectivity in line with the assessment of need" and "To improve the experience of passengers and other users of aviation." (Nothing to do with those affected by aviation impacts, but not passengers). The new document looks at possible scenarios of what might happen with either a Heathrow or Gatwick runway, and how airlines might react. While it is probable that both airports would have to put up landing charges, to pay for a runway etc, it is likely the extra runway capacity would reduce the cost of slots and therefore lead to lower fares. The extent this might happen is conjecture, as it is not possible to accurately predict airline etc behaviour in future.