General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Boris plans London infrastructure plan costing up to £1.3 trillion for London by 2050 – consultation
London mayor Boris Johnson has set out plans for more than £1 trillion investment in the capital’s infrastructure. Launching a consultation on his 2050 London Infrastructure Plan, Boris said the city could lose its global status without a major improvement programme. His plan includes at least one more Crossrail scheme, a hub airport in the Thames Estuary, an orbital road tunnel and 9,000ha of new green space. Bonkers as it sounds, without all this Boris says London "will falter.” The Mayor intends to establish a London Infrastructure Delivery Board consisting of representatives of London’s main infrastructure providers. Arup has estimated the total cost of the plan at up £1.3 trillion, although Johnson wants to find ways to reduce this. The consultation on the London Infrastructure Plan 2050 will run for three months, and closes on 31st October. The Mayor is expected to publish a final report in early 2015. The population of London is forecast to increase by 37% by 2050, to more than 11 million people. In the transport section, Boris is still plugging his Thames estuary airport, despite the highly negative reports produced recently for the Airports Commission.
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Russian airline, Aeroflot, to challenge fines for non-payment of EU ETS charges for 2012
The European Emissions Trading System charged airlines, during 2012, for their emissions while flying into or from European airports, in EU airspace. For non EU countries, a European country administered the payments. The payments from Russian airlines are administered by Germany. Three Russian airlines paid in full for their emissions. However, Aeroflot did not. Now Germany has confirmed that Aeroflot is being fined for its non-payment. Aeroflot has sent a “protest” letter to the European Parliament and is preparing to lodge an appeal at being asked to pay a €215,600 fine. Aeroflot says: “In response to the IATA recommendations and like other air companies, Aeroflot has prepared a protest letter to the European Parliament" ...and they are "preparing to file an appeal on the unacceptability of issuing fines against the air company." The payments are only for 2012, before "stop the clock" brought an end to payments. The compromise deal agreed by the European Parliament in early April 2014 means that, until 2017, only flights between EU airports will be regulated, not flights to or from the EU.
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SSE welcome Stansted’s Development Plan consultation as an opportunity for an open debate on its one-runway future
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) is calling for an open debate about Stansted Airport's long term plan, due to be published later this week. Manchester Airport Group ('MAG'), which bought Stansted from BAA 18 months ago, will publish its 'Sustainable Development Plan' (SDP) for Stansted, setting out what it intends to do with the airport over the next 20-25 years. The SDP will initially be published as a draft for consultation, with a final version of the plan expected towards the end of the year. SSE welcomes this initiative by MAG and wants to encourage maximum public participation in the consultation process. It is understood that the SDP will be based on Stansted remaining as a single runway airport. This will be a great relief for the vast majority of local residents but it still leaves scope - within Stansted's existing planning permission - for the airport to handle almost twice as many passengers and twice as many flights as it does today. (Up to 35 million passengers and 264,000 flights). SSE wants to see a gradual phasing out of night flights at Stansted and the return of some 270 homes bought near the airport, for a 2nd runway, to private ownership.
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Gatwick’s consultation shows some 85% of respondents oppose a 2nd Gatwick runway
Gatwick Airport held a consultation over April and May 2014, to try to get backing for its plans for a 2nd runway, and the option the airport wants - the wide spaced option with the runway used for both arrivals and departures. This has always been what the airport wanted, and the proposal the Airports Commission short listed. The consultation gave two options, that the airport did not want and has no interest in. The consultation also initially had no means for any respondent to express their opposition to any new Gatwick runway, but eventually a "none of these options" box was added - difficult to locate, far into the document. The survey results are now out. They are deeply irritating to the airport, as they show huge opposition to any runway. Of about 7,700 respondents, well over 80% said NO. Of the 7,700 or so, only 733 backed Option 3 ( the runway option Gatwick wants) and 2,165 did not want a runway at all. 4,003 responses came through the Woodland Trust and these are being discounted, unjustifiably, as though part of an e-campaign, many contained specific comments made by the respondents. Taking all the responses for no runway, they amount to some 85% of the total. Even discounting the Woodland Trust responses, 66% opposed a new runway.
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CCC confirm UK air passenger rise of 60% by 2050 only possible if carbon intensify of flying improves by one third
The Committee on Climate Change has reported to Parliament on progress on the UK's carbon budgets. They say: "Under the current rate of progress future budgets will not all be met." Carbon budgets do not currently include emissions from international aviation and shipping, but these are included in the 2050 carbon target. The government will review aviation's inclusion in carbon budgets in 2016. In 2012 the UK's international aviation emitted 32 MtCO2, and domestic aviation 1.6 MtCO2. The CCC and the Airports Commission say a new runway can fit within climate targets, but their own figures show aviation growth exceeding the target for decades. Growth in passengers of "around" 60% above 2005 levels could only fit within the carbon target if there is an improvement in the carbon intensity of aviation of around one-third by 2050. The Airports Commission's own interim report says there can only be 36% growth in flights by 2050, to stay within targets. They say any more growth than that should not happen, "unless and until" there are the necessary technology improvements, cutting aviation emissions. But neither the government, nor the CCC, nor the Airports Commission can pin down what these will be, or when they will happen. UK aviation emissions remain the highest in Europe.
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MP wants to meet with airport over flood of runway noise complaints (Not UK – but Calgary, Canada)
In late June this year a new runway at Calgary Airport, in Ontario Canada, opened. It had been in the planning for years. Calgary airport is not far from the city. Now people are finding themselves seriously overflown, and are very upset by the extent of the noise and disruption -which is greater than they had anticipated. The noise is always worst in summer, when people want to be outside, or have windows open. A Calgary MP has now met airport officials after receiving over 100 complaints from his constituents about noise, due to planes using the new runway. The MP wants there to be “dialogue” between the airport authority and nearby residents, in the hope that some solution can be found for their problems. The MP, and the affected residents, say they recognize the airport is an important economic driver for the city, but said that long-time residents deserve to be part of the conversation. The airport has to act as a "responsible corporate citizen". There are long established communities, in existence for decades, under the new flight paths, which have never had any aircraft noise problems before. People are stunned by what started over their heads - from 6am onwards. This is exactly the same as is happening around airports in so many countries. Truly a globalised issue.
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Norwegian suffers £9m loss from strike threats over its labour practices
The low cost airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle, has now started operating low-cost long-haul flights from Gatwick to the US, said the cost of strikes earlier in the year has been around £9 million. The threat of strike action, from one of Europe’s largest labour unions Parat, came after Norwegian announced it wanted to split the Danish and Norwegian cabin staff into 2 separate companies – Cabin Services Norway and Cabin Services Denmark. Unions feared the new agreement would weaken its members’ negotiating power and threaten accrued wages and benefits. Norwegian’s second quarter financial results for 2014 showed a pre-tax loss of £12.9 million, with revenues rising to around £472 million from around £377 million a year earlier. It claims an 80% load factor on its flights. There have been complaints about Norwegian trying to bypass Norway’s strict labour laws, avoiding high labour costs and enabling it to employ cheaper Thai workers. There had been uncertainty about whether the US would grant the airline a permanent licence to operate there, for fears it would “dodge international labour rules”.
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8 sites shortlisted for UK’s first commercial spaceport – Newquay, Llanbedr + 6 in Scotland
At the Farnborough Air Show, plans to build a dedicated launch facility were unveiled. The UK government has expressed its enthusiasm for this unlikely project. Of the sites revealed by he CAA, one site is in England, at Newquay. One site is in Wales at Llanbedr airport in Snowdonia national park. The other six are in Scotland: Campbeltown airport; Prestwick airport; Kinloss barracks; RAF Lossiemouth; RAF Leuchars and Stornoway airport on the Isle of Lewis. Publication of the shortlist has led to a scramble among the sites to win government backing. The Scottish government in keen on the idea, for the kudos of being seen to be a space nation. Operators now enter three months of consultation before the decision is made.The airports considered have to have long runways and have airspace that can be easily segregated to allow spaceplane flights to operate alongside normal aviation. Sites have to be remote from population, on the coast to minimise the risks from "down-range abnormal occurrences" – meaning spaceplanes crashing or bits falling off. Space travel is the highest carbon activity known to man; worse even than Formula One racing or using private jets.
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Government progress update on the Airports Commission’s interim report – key decisions delayed till after summer 2015
The long awaited response from the government, from Patrick McLoughlin, to the Airports Commission's "Interim Statement" in December 2013, had finally been made. It contains no surprises, with all the major decisions postponed: early morning smoothing of arrivals and the issue of an independent noise authority will be considered next year alongside the report from the Airports Commission in summer 2015. The night-time regime at London airports is extended without change for a further 3 years. The response says that as recommended by the Commission, a Senior Delivery Group (SDG) has already been set up, chaired by the Chief Executive of the CAA, Andrew Haines, "to develop and where appropriate lead delivery of the Airports Commission's Optimisation strategy" (how to get as much aviation expansion as possible without excessive noise burden on those overflown). McLouglin's statement says: "Some of the measures considered by the SDG form part of the national future airspace strategy (FAS) which is expected to deliver annual benefits of over £150 million to the aviation industry and environment [quite how the environment benefits is not specified] by 2020 and more than £2 billion worth of cumulative benefits by 2030."
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While global industry grows more concerned about water availability, airports remain huge water users
Airports are large users of water, not only for the passengers in the terminals but also for aeronautical uses. Deicing planes in the winter uses an enormous volume of water, including the deicing fluid contamination. Airports have the problems of safely removing and disposing of contaminated water, without damage to local water courses - but of the sheer volume they use. This is particularly acute in areas of water shortage, and in periods of drought. Articles in the Financial Times highlight the concerns of some large industries about the cost and availability of water, for their future profitability. They also make the point that water is not valued highly enough, and as it tends to be so cheap, it is wasted and over-used. Airports know, for their sustainability strategies, that they have to cut water consumption. But the amounts they use are vast. Heathrow used some 2,170 million litres of water in 2013. That is about the same as the usage of 31,000 families of four, with medium usage. In 2009 Gatwick used some 1,059 million litres. In 2011 Stansted used some 410 million litres.