General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Nobody takes a flight from London to Manchester. So why would we take HS2?
In an article in the Spectator, someone who travel for business comments about the absence of flights available from London airports to Manchester. There are now apparently only 10 flights per day (sounds a lot) from Heathrow, and no longer any flights from other London airports. The reason is presumably that the train is faster and more convenient for most people, and there is no demand for more flights (and many of the existing flights are just to link passengers to other Heathrow flights). The point made by the author is that for a businessman, making a trip to anywhere as far away as Birmingham or Manchester is basically "a day out of the office" and it would make little difference if half an hour was saved, or not. It is still basically a day, there and back. "Frankly, most businesspeople rather enjoy two hours on a train. You can read, write and look out of the window just as you do in an office — with the additional advantage that the view’s better and nobody knocks on your door to ask silly questions." The article is written to show the tiny time saving from HS2 is not of much use - but the same point can be made for several domestic air routes.
Click here to view full story...
Heathrow hits out at Gatwick in airport tussle claiming only Heathrow can attract long haul flights
As well as the airlines doing battle with the airports (eg. BA and Heathrow), the airports are at loggerheads with each other, in deadly rivalry. How Heathrow has publicised its dissing of Gatwick, in the hope of persuading the Airports Commission of the merits of its case. Today was the final day for any submissions to the Commission, before they publish their airport shortlist some time in December. Heathrow makes out that a single massive hub airport is vital (well, they would, wouldn't they?) and Gatwick makes out that it can do very nicely with long haul point-to-point flights (well, they would, wouldn't they?). Heathrow says some 20 long haul routes from Gatwick have failed over recent years, and Gatwick disputes the figure and gives reasons why some closed down. Gatwick says Heathrow can never expand as its flight path noise already affects too many people (the most of any airport in Europe). Heathrow says Gatwick could not attract airlines as they only want to come to Heathrow. And on it goes. Good luck, on ploughing through all the competing claims, Sir Howard !
Click here to view full story...
Boris objects to proposed cap by EU on state aid to airports – his estuary schemes would need minimum £20-30 billion from government
London Mayor Boris Johnson said EU proposals barring the use of state aid for the construction of airports serving more than 5 million people a year would undermine plans to grow the UK’s aviation capacity. Government subsidies for large airport projects, currently assessed on a case-by-case basis, would be outlawed starting in early 2014, whether for new infrastructure or upgrades of existing facilities, according to the draft EU guidance. In his letter to the Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, Boris wrote that there are "unintended and potentially catastrophic consequences" in "tying the hands” of member states, and he said the measures would limit London’s ability to expand vital links to emerging markets in Asia and South America [which, of course, is nonsense]. Boris said the new EU rules would limit London to expanding terminal capacity at existing airports with less ambitious, and more easily financed, plans than his over-ambitious Thames estuary schemes. TfL said in its submission that a new hub as envisaged by Boris requires an estimated £20 - 30 billion pounds of state investment. The EU consultation on state aid to airports and airlines has just ended, and the EU will now start to analyze feedback received.
Click here to view full story...
Ryanair in corporate charm offensive to get more business passengers
Ryanair is now accepting payment via American Express in a bid to boost the proportion of business passengers it carries from around 20% currently. The airline said the agreement built on its existing services aimed at corporate travellers, such as online check-in, priority boarding, reserved seating, ability to board and exit the aircraft first, or choose one of 45 pre-reserved seats, a free 10kg cabin bag and free downloads of the Ryanair app. Ryanair says it carried 81m passengers this year – more international passengers than any other airline in the world. EasyJet,which has a total of around 50million passengers per year, has also been getting as many business passengers as possible. EasyJet had about 10 million business passengers in 2012, around 9 million in 2011, and some 8 million in 2010. (Not all to or from the UK). EasyJet has stepped up its efforts in the last year by signing a series of deals with travel management companies and corporates around the UK and Europe.
Click here to view full story...
Scrap state support for flying, says Keith Taylor, MEP
Keith Taylor, the Green Party MEP for the South East of England, has called for an end to the ‘unfair and unhealthy’ subsidies given to the aviation industry. In a response to the European Commission’s “Consultation on the draft Guidelines on State aid to airports and airlines” Mr Taylor has said that he would like to see a move away from public money being spent on subsidising flying. It is estimated that the aviation industry in Europe would continue to receive around €3 billion a year in direct subsidies under new European Commission proposals. States would continue to disproportionately subsidise smaller airports, which are almost exclusively used by low-fares airlines. The direct subsidies are complemented by even larger tax exemptions, recently estimated by CE Delft at €30-42 billion every year. Mr Taylor believes EU state aid for the aviation industry should only be in the case of very isolated regions, where support can be provided under a Public Service Obligation.
Click here to view full story...
Labour leader Ed Miliband warns Sir Howard over risks of extra Heathrow runways
Ed Miliband has had talks with Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of the Airports Commission. Ed has expressed concern about the possibility of a 3rd runway at Heathrow, which would put at risk Labour's chances of winning several key marginal seats, including Battersea, Brentford and Isleworth, Ealing Central and Acton. Labour understands that a 3rd runway, or 4th, at Heathrow would cause more noise and pollution misery for hundreds of thousands of Londoners. Labour also insists that any airport expansion will have to meet the target of cutting aviation CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, as the CCC advise. However, the Standard says: "Labour is not ruling out supporting a bigger Heathrow but it is likely to demand convincing evidence that extra noise and pollution can be sufficiently mitigated." It adds: "Labour could be tempted to reject Heathrow expansion before the election" to boost its electoral chances. It also says: "Aviation sources said Sir Howard ... was concerned that Ms Eagle was moving towards favouring a 2nd runway at Gatwick."
Click here to view full story...
Lord Digby Jones tells Airports Commission – “don’t just stand there. Do something!”
Lord DIgby Jones has been a vociferous supporter of a 3rd Heathrow runway for many years, as well as backer of the aviation industry. He has now written, with two other former high ranking figures in business, to the Airports Commission asking them to "be bold" and get a move on with making a decision on building a new runway. Sir Digby was briefly the chair of the aviation industry lobby body, "Flying Matters" before stepping down to become trade and industry minister in Gordon Brown's ailing government. Lord Digby believes the government should first lift the flight number cap at Heathrow to allow concurrent take-off and landing from both runways, and there should be other changes to allow Gatwick and Stansted to compete more effectively. He believes the UK is falling behind competitors, and the building of a runway would solve all the UK economy's problems - and prevent the UK losing out to rivals. He says: Politicians, please don’t just stand there. Do something! You are crippling our economy by doing nothing. Back in 2007, speaking of people troubled by noise from East Midlands airport, he said: .."rural residents should sacrifice their well-being in exchange for economic progress ..."
Click here to view full story...
Global analysis of aviation CO2 shows Heathrow far above any other global airport and UK 9th highest aviation CO2 per capita
Dave Southgate is an Australian aviation expert, with many years of experience of working on the measurement of aviation emissions. He has produced a new e-book, on the carbon footprint of global scheduled domestic and international passenger flights in 2012. It contains detailed information covering some 85% of global aviation emissions, and gives some interesting insights. For the UK, domestic flights are a very much smaller proportion than in larger countries. However, Heathrow remains by a very large margin the airport with the largest carbon emissions of any worldwide, about 16,584 thousand tonnes of CO2 per year, with Los Angeles in second place with some 11,866 thousand tonnes. The book also shows the UK ranks 9th in the world for carbon emissions per capita from aviation, with (of European countries) Switzerland in 6th place, the Netherlands in 8th place, far above Germany (12th) and France (13th), with the highest per capita aviation emissions being Qatar, UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong, Australia and USA. By total emissions per airline, Lufthansa and British Airways are almost the same, ranked 5th and 6th, with Air France ranked 8th and Ryanair ranked 20th.
Click here to view full story...
Geoff Muirhead steps down from his position at the Airports Commission
Geoff Muirhead, who has been a commissioner at the Airports Commission, has agreed to step down. This comes in response to the challenge from Stop Stansted Expansion, due to Mr Muirhead's previous work for the Manchester Airports Group, which now owns Stansted. Mr Muirhead continued to work for MAG in an advisory capacity even when he had accepted his role on the Commission. As MAG owns Stansted, which is one of the sites being seriously considered for expansion and a new runway, there is an obvious conflict of interest. Despite the claim that he was impartial, it has been clear all along that he is very pro-aviation. The problem now remains that Mr Muirhead has been with the Commission for almost a year, and his input may already have influenced the Commission. It will be necessary to establish to what extent the process may have been tainted by his involvement. SSE included this point in their pre action protocol letter that was sent to the Secretary of State for Transport, and Howard Davies in August.
Click here to view full story...
FoI request reveals TfL has spent £1.4 million so far, with a budget of £3 million, on promoting Thames estuary airport (or Stansted)
Figures from Transport for London (TfL) - obtained from a Freedom of Information request - show Boris Johnson has spent £1.4 million promoting the idea of a Thames Estuary airport. Some £1.2 million has gone to paying consultancy fees, for work such as looking at environmental impacts of an airport and the infrastructure that would need to be built. £15,000 was spent on hiring College Public Policy, a consultancy group, to help with TfL's submission to the Airports Commission. In contrast, Medway Council budgeted £50,000 in 2012 to fight against the airport, although it is not clear how much of this was spent. Boris backs building the airport, which would be the world’s biggest airport, at Grain. This would have 4 runways and operate 24 hours a day. “Boris has been throwing away public money on his flight of fancy and it needs to stop" - Mark Reckless MP. TfL say in May 2011, £200,000 was set aside by TfL to consider the options for expanding the country’s aviation capacity. A further £3 million has been budgeted by TfL up until April 2014, of which there is around £1.7 million remaining.