General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Gatwick campaign questions Sir Howard’s claim that a new runway is needed
At a meeting on 7th October, Sir Howard Davies, chairman of the Airports Commission, gave a speech concluding that ‘we will need some additional runway capacity in the south east of England in the coming decades.’ The Chairman of GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, Brendon Sewill said: "That was not surprising – if he had said that no new runway was needed he would have done himself out of a job! What was significant was that he felt the need to answer the growing volume of opinion against any new runway. But his statement is bound to add to the worry of people around Gatwick, [and other possible new runway sites] and to the misery caused by blight." In his speech, Sir Howard ignored the impact that a new runway would have on the local infrastructure – the need for more houses (in the case of Gatwick around 40,000), great pressure on local schools, on the health service and social services, and overcrowding/congestion on roads. GACC does not find convincing the case Sir Howard made for rejecting strong arguments against a new runway, and will be taking up his invitation to submit comments by the end of October.
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Sir Howard Davies speech gives provisional support for a new south east runway – but shows how borderline the decision would be
In a speech in central London Sir Howard Davies set out what he described as the Airports Commission's "emerging thinking" after their first 11 months of work. He said it " it would be helpful at this stage to set out some of our early thinking on the issue of overall capacity." He said: "Our provisional view.... is that additional capacity will need to be provided, alongside an overall framework for managing emissions growth, if we are to deliver the best outcomes in both environmental and connectivity terms." Also that: "...our provisional conclusion from this analysis ...is that we will need some net additional runway capacity in the south east of England in the coming decades." He first went through 4 sets of arguments against a new runway (less future demand for air travel than anticipated; future demand can be met by existing capacity; carbon emissions from growing aviation could breach UK climate commitments; regional airports could take the extra demand). He then gave explanations for each why he believed the optimal solution would be more runway capacity. He said, on the guidance from the CCC on aviation CO2 emissions needing to be restricted that: "We are in the process of updating the Committee on Climate Change’s analysis and will present our findings in our Interim Report". Comments on the speech are welcomed by the Commission until 31st October.
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Reshuffles: Baroness Susan Kramer replaces Simon Burns. Mary Creagh replaces Maria Eagle
Susan Kramer has replaced Simon Burns as Minister of State at the Dept for Transport. Simon Burns had responsibility for aviation, but it not likely this will be under Susan Kramer, given her fierce opposition in the past to a third runway at Heathrow. Robert Goodwill has replaced Norma Baker as Under Secretary at Department for Transport, has been given transport. In the past he twinned his farm with Sipson! Mary Creagh has replaced Maria Eagle as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.
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British Airways considers transferring its hub to Madrid, as CAA lets Heathrow raise charges at rate of inflation
British Airways has warned that it will consider a future outside Heathrow after the CAA revised its proposals to cut landing charges – despite agreeing that the airport was badly managed and staff overpaid. Airlines are annoyed as the CAA ruled that charges will rise at the rate of inflation over the next 5 years instead of the RPI minus 1.3% rate it had proposed in the spring – and well above the real terms cut demanded by airlines. Heathrow has argued for higher charges, so it can give increasing returns to shareholders to ensure foreign investment continues. The airport claims if it cannot raise its charges, it will not be able to invest to make the airport better for its passengers. British Airways accounts for just over half Heathrow's traffic and now threatens making its hub at Madrid as that would be cheaper and more "realistic". The CAA said that its decision to freeze rather than cut landing charges at Heathrow reflected the increasing cost of raising capital for investment. It has allowed Gatwick to increase landing charges by RPI plus 0.5% annually for 7 years and deferred its ruling on Stansted.
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CAA proposes Heathrow charges rise in line with inflation over next 5 years
The airport regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, has proposed that Heathrow should cap its landing charges so that they rise in line with inflation for the 5 years 2014 - 2019. Heathrow is complaining about this, as it wants a much larger increase in its charges and says this price cap would have "serious and far-reaching consequences" for passengers. Heathrow had submitted its request to the CAA for charges to be allowed to rise by 4.6% above the Retail Price Index (RPI), which is a measure of UK inflation. The CAA had initially proposed that the annual increase at Heathrow should be RPI minus 1.3% but said a key reason for its proposal to allow rises in line with inflation was "due to an increase in the cost of capital driven by higher debt costs". If the proposals are accepted it will put an end to over a decade of prices rising faster than inflation at Heathrow. Airlines like BA at Heathrow had asked for a 9.8% a year cut in landing charges over the 5 years. The CAA propose allowing charges at Gatwick to rise by 0.5% above RPI for 5 years, and has deferred a decision on charges at Stansted.
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GMB union slammed for ‘scaremongering and lies’ emails to members, scaring them into signing up to “Back Heathrow”
The GMB Union has been criticised for ‘scaremongering’ its members by making alarmist and false claims on the likelihood of closure of Heathrow. The GMB has emailed members insisting they sign up to the flailing "Back Heathrow Campaign", which is funded by the airport, to try and drum up local support for a third runway. The GMB tell their members, in their email, that: ”Without a third runway, Heathrow will close. No more jobs, prosperity and opportunity.” [Full text below]. The letter says: "A number of very scary proposals are being tabled that could see the end of Heathrow as we know it." and " House prices would plummet as people moved away. Worryingly, such a nightmare scenario could soon be on the cards." In reality, Heathrow would not close, whatever the Airports Commission decides, and its closure is not a serious proposition. Aviation campaigner Alan Haughton said: "What the GMB Union have told members is reckless, unhelpful and could be seen as strong-arm bullying tactics to force them to sign up to the Back Heathrow Campaign."
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Stunned by IPCC report’s content, Wall Street Journal weather man tweets his last flight – given up flying, for the sake of the climate
Last Friday, New York meteorologist Eric Holthaus, who works for the Wall Street Journal covering weather, posted an article explaining the newly released IPCC climate report. The gist of the article, as encapsulated by its headline was “The world’s best scientists agree: On our current path, global warming is irreversible—and getting worse”. He was so stunned by the IPCC report's content that he broke down in tears, and said that to cut his own carbon footprint substantially, he live-tweeted his final flight. He said "I've never cried because of a science report before." And "I realized, just now: This has to be the last flight I ever take. I'm committing right now to stop flying. It's not worth the climate." He realised, at San Francisco Airport that his current lifestyle was no longer sustainable — or conscionable. He felt what was needed was drastic and immediate cuts to CO2 emissions. Holthaus found, on a carbon calculator, that his CO2 from flying some 75,000 miles per year put his carbon footprint at around double the average American. He plans to use rail, Skype and other electronic forms of contact for meetings.
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“Flying Clean” Alliance buzz ICAO talks trailing “Can’t Spell Procrastination Without ICAO” banner
The American Flying Clean Alliance took flight and buzzed the 38th Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization in a plane trailing the banner, “Can’t Spell Procrastination Without ICAO.” The flyover took place as delegates from 191 countries entered the assembly to again consider controls for aviation CO2. Flying Clean said ICAO has been talking about dealing with carbon pollution from planes for 16 years, but doing nothing. ICAO needs to know that the world is watching and expecting action. The Flying Clean Alliance, in the USA, represents thousands of elite frequent flyers and tens of thousands of everyday flyers who believe the aviation sector needs to stop blocking meaningful action on climate. The ICAO vote is expected on 2nd October, when they need to agree to a global market-based system to curb aviation climate emissions in 2016, which would go into effect in 2020. Global aircraft emissions are anticipated to almost double by 2020, if the industry expands as much as it hopes it will. This increase comes after 16 years of conversation since ICAO was first charged with addressing aviation and climate. That's procrastination for you.
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Centre for private jets at Southend wants to grow from 4 to 20 business jets per day
Southend Airport is hoping to increase the numbers of private jets it handles, and increase the number from some 3 - 4 per day at present, to more like 20 per day. Biggin Hill is its main local rival for business jets. In 2012, Biggin Hill dealt with 5,335 during the year, while Southend had 1,163. Stobart Air’s executive handling facility at London Southend Airport celebrated its first anniversary this July. In comparison, in 2012 London City airport had 264 business flights (the rest are commercial), Luton had 15,055 and Farnborough had 21,986 - so way ahead of the others. Southend claims that although it is further outside London than Biggin Hill, passengers arriving at Southend can travel into the City in little more than hour, are that they are more reasonably priced than some of their competitors. The airport says one major advantage of their executive handling facility is that it is open 24 hours a day with onsite Customs and Immigration services also available permanently. ie. night flight noise for Southend and Rochford residents nearby.
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Third runway at Heathrow would mean local surface transport chaos
One of the most pressing, but least considered problems when proposals are made to expand Heathrow is that of surface transport to and from the airport. The Campaign for Better Transport, in a recent report, says Heathrow sits in the most congested quadrant of London. The roads around Heathrow are already full and journey times are getting longer. So much so that the Department for Transport has said that it’s likely to need to take action to relieve congestion due to traffic growth regardless of what happens at the airport. The Piccadilly Line, which provides most of the public transport capacity to Heathrow, is already one of the most crowded on the underground. Even if you include Crossrail, it is clear that public transport will not have the capacity to accommodate the extra demand that Heathrow envisages from a 3rd runway - 40% more passengers by 2030 and nearly double that by 2040 - and additional pressure will therefore be placed on the roads. An additional Heathrow runway would cause widespread transport chaos.