General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Airport retail now altering ad displays according to the sort of customers passing through
In the departure lounge of Heathrow's Terminal 5, passengers buy over $450 million per year of perfumes, clothing, scarves, sunglasses, jewellery, watches, bags and small leather goods from top expensive brands. A similar scene plays out each day at a plethora of major international airports across the world and the last 20 years, airside retail has undergone a radical transformation.The passengers at airports constitute a captive audience, passing “the magic hour,” between clearing security and boarding their planes. Airports have a lot of information on passengers — who they are, where they are going, on what airline, at what time, in what class. Now by digitising product displays, retailers may soon be able to more rapidly adjust their merchandising strategies, in real-time, to reflect the profiles of much larger numbers of customers currently passing through the airport. eg. if you have got the English going through in the morning and they like their Johnny Walker Black you will put it on the advertising screens, and if later there is a Chinese plane coming through, you advertise something else that they like buying.
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Air China suspends Gatwick-Beijing service for the winter – not enough demand
Much of the clamour by the aviation industry is for more airport capacity for more flights to the Far East and the emerging economies. The claims are that the UK will be left behind economically if there aren't frequent direct routes to numerous Chinese etc cities. However, it now emerges that Air China is to suspend its Beijing service from Gatwick from 27th October for the winter as there is not enough take up. It will probably resume in April 2014. The route was only started in 2012. Over the summer, the airline increased the size of aircraft used on its other UK route (Heathrow - daily), which has caused it to temporarily withdraw services from Gatwick for one season. The move appears to demonstrate that - despite strong load factors - the service is not viable year-round from 2 UK airports. Gatwick has suffered the loss of several long-haul routes - Korean Airlines suspended its Gatwick-Seoul route late last year and Hong Kong Airlines all-business class service was cancelled after only a few months of operation.
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In Toronto uncertainty continues over a possible new Pickering airport, with citizen opposition
There has been a long fight against the building of a new Pickering airport for Toronto. In their 40-plus years of struggle against a development - in a growing suburb to the east of the city - many citizens feel priority is given to business interests over prime agricultural farmland. Until a firm and unequivocal commitment is made by Ottawa to abandon the project completely the citizen activists central to the struggle to halt the development can never be sure the project won’t find new life, at some distant moment, under yet another government. Most frustrating for those who oppose the project is that in their view there has never been an adequate explanation for why Pickering needs its own Mirabel, a Greater Toronto Hamilton Area equivalent of Montreal's white elephant airport that has become synonymous with poor air transport planning in Canada. "Land Over Landings" is the community group that leads opposition to the airport plan. It is continuing the public engagement their predecessors began in 1972.They say that clean water and local food will always be more vital than easy access to yet another area airport.
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Easyjet launches new fare for business travellers to attract more – already around 10 million per year
Easyjet wants to make further inroads into the corporate market with the launch of a new “inclusive fare”, which will not be available directly from its website. The new fare is designed for corporate passengers and travel bookers, and will only be accessible through the aviation industry booking systems. The new fare will include a 20 kg hold bag and seat selection, with Easyjet insisting the overall price will be cheaper than booking the different elements separately. EasyJet says this fare "will help us to compete even more effectively with the legacy carriers as well as providing further choice and value for the 10 million-plus corporate travellers (about 10 million in 2012, and 9 million in 2011) who choose to fly Easyjet every year.” Easyjet has been targeting business travellers for several years and has stepped up its efforts in the last 12 months by signing a series of deals with TMCs and corporates around the UK and Europe.
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Friends of the Earth say the business case for airport capacity expansion does not stack up
As the debate continues over how to improve capacity at airports in London, or more relevantly, whether increased capacity is actually needed, Friends of the Earth says the concept is “nothing more than a political football” and the business case for expansion is not robust enough,” says Jane Thomas, senior campaigner for Friends of the Earth. "A lot of this is political posturing, [which] costs communities and the environment a huge amount, so we urge politicians to be very mindful of that.” FoE stress that there is decreasing demand for air travel for business reasons, and this is not being taken into account in the debate by the aviation industry and its backers. More companies are able to use video conferences, and realise that executives can be more productive if not spending so much time travelling abroad - when contact can often be made electronically. In the UK, the majority of business is done with European countries, where increasingly high speed rail is replacing air. Recently RSPB, WWF and HACAN commissioned a report by CE Delft which showed that once a city reaches a certain level of “connectedness”, further expansion is unlikely to significantly affect the economy.
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Business lobby group, “London First” calling for airport action – including better rail/road links to Gatwick and Stansted
Chief executives of 25 of London’s leading businesses will tomorrow confront Sir Howard Davies to demand immediate action to fix Britain’s (alleged) "airports capacity crisis." Members of lobby group London First say that British business will fall behind without three fixes for its airports: an immediate rise in the number of flights operating at Heathrow, an independent “noise regulator” to protect residents, and investment to improve road and rail links to Stansted and Gatwick. Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, said: “Debating the pros and cons of new airports and runways is all very well. But the more pressing concern is what we are going to do right now to increase our connectivity with emerging markets and grow our economy.” Among those attending the meeting will be bosses of CitiGroup, CLS Group, Nomura, Linklaters, Ernst & Young and 3i Group. “London First” is an aggressively pro-growth lobby organisation, whose stated mission is to “make London the best city in the world in which to do business.” It has consistently pushed for Heathrow growth, with more aircraft noise for London residents, over recent years.
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Heathrow ranked 3rd busiest airport worldwide by passenger numbers – still largest for international passengers
Figures for air transport movements and numbers of air passengers at airports worldwide, from ACI (Airports Council International) show that by number of passengers, Heathrow was the 3rd largest airport in 2012. The busiest was Atlanta, with Beijing second. However, both Atlanta and Beijing have a large proportion of domestic passengers. Heathrow remains the world's largest airport for international passengers, with Dubai in second place. In 2012, airports in Europe had 1.7% more passengers than in 2011, while there were 4% more air passengers, worldwide. However, ACI figures show there was a fall of 0.2% in the number of aircraft movements worldwide, indicating use of larger planes and higher load factors, due to financial pressures. In terms of the number of aircraft movements, in 2012 Paris and Frankfurt had slightly more than Heathrow (ranked 10th, 11th and 12th worldwide). In terms of number of passengers, Heathrow was 3rd, Paris 7th, Frankfurt 11th and Amsterdam 15th.
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Report by CATE shows immediate global action needed to reduce aviation climate impact
A new scientific report produced by CATE (Manchester Metropolitan University’s Centre for Air Transport and Environment) called “Mitigating future aviation CO2 emissions – timing is everything” shows that the real climate benefit of any action to cut aviation's carbon emissions depends on the cumulative emission reductions between now and a future date, and not just on achieving a certain amount of emission reductions by a specific year (as ICAO has focused on). This is because CO2 has a long lifetime so concentration levels are determined by cumulative emissions over time. Early reductions result in a lower emissions trajectory than equivalent annual savings made at a later date. This highlights the critical importance of ICAO taking early action to cut emissions quickly, and increases the pressure on ICAO not to defer a decision on the adoption of a market-based measure (MBM). The report finds that biofuels are not effective as a solution to the aviation emissions problem, but that improvements in technology and operational improvements offered the second best mitigation potential as a single measure.
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SSE has served formal notice on the Secretary of State for Transport requiring the removal of Geoff Muirhead from Airports Commission
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has served formal notice on the Secretary of State for Transport requiring the removal of Mr Geoff Muirhead from the Airports Commission on the grounds of apparent bias. This is the first formal legal step towards judicial review proceedings which will commence with an application to the High Court in early September if Mr Muirhead continues to serve on the Commission. Mr Muirhead is the former Chief Executive of the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) the company which now owns Stansted Airport, from which he retired in October 2010, after 22 years with the Group. After retiring, and even when he had been appointed to the Airports Commission, Mr Muirhead continued to work for MAG in a highly paid role until January 2013. He was paid £82,000 by MAG during the six months from October 2010 to March 2011 inclusive for acting as an 'ambassador' to the Group. As he has not voluntarily stood down, SSE is now seeking legal redress. SSE believes there is far too much at stake to allow Mr Muirhead's role as a Commissioner to go unchallenged.
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Full list of airport schemes to increase airport capacity, including some weird & wonderful – eg. 7 runways at Heathrow
The full list of airport proposals for consideration by the Airports Commission, to solve the alleged shortage of airport capacity, has been published. As well as those for the expected airports, (Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, the Thames Estuary, Birmingham etc) there are some weird and wonderful suggestions. Some are for sites such as rural Oxfordshire, or for RAF bases; there are plans for Fairoaks airport, Manston airport, Cardiff airport, Luton airport, the Severn estuary and the Goodwin sands. There are also proposals for surface transport improvements, and several from enthusiastic private individuals. One of the more bizarre is for no less than 7 runways at Heathrow. Anyone wishing to make specific comments on the detail contained within any of the proposals published is welcome to do so, to the Commission, before 27th September 2013 at the latest to airport.proposals@airports.gsi.gov.uk.