General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Plan for huge airport in the Severn Estuary, “Severnside Airport”, submitted to Airports Commission
Plans for a new £5 billion Severnside airport which would serve 40 million passengers every year have been put submitted to the Airports Commission. The plan by MSP Solutions, is for a new airport constructed on a reclaimed island in the Severn Estuary, between Chepstow and Newport in South Wales, which would replace Bristol and Cardiff airports (which would have to close), and would be the biggest regional airport in the country – (in the perhaps unlikely event it is ever built). The aim is to build the new airport alongside the M4 and the First Great Western rail link to London. Not surprisingly Bristol Airport believes that efforts at dealing with expected growth in air travel should be concentrated on the existing airports. The CEO of Bristol airport says “The idea of a new Severnside Airport was dismissed by the Aviation White Paper in 2003 on the basis that it would ‘struggle to attract sufficient traffic to be financially viable and would not generate sufficient economic or regeneration benefits to merit support’. The Commission will continue to consider the submissions received and decide in December which merit further detailed study, for final decision after the summer 2015 election.
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Airports Commission publishes full list of long term proposals to increase UK airport capacity
The Airports Commission has put together the long list of airport proposals, and other proposals including many on surface access, that have been submitted. The majority are for the main contender airports, (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Thames estuary options, Birmingham etc) but with several from small airports or airfields and some in areas not currently airports, such as rural Oxfordshire and the Severn Estuary. The Commission will now consider all of these, and publish "a shortlist of the most credible long term options, taking into account the Commission’s assessment of the need for additional capacity" in December 2013. It is possible for anyone to send in further comments on any of the schemes submitted, until 27th September. The Commission has also published an information note, considering its work programme for Phase 2 - which is after December 2013. It says: "If the Commission reaches a view in its interim report that a significant increase in aviation capacity is needed, the second phase of our work will develop the list of credible long term options into detailed schemes, and subject them to a thorough appraisal process."
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Airports Commission publishes proposals for short and medium term options for making the best use of existing airport capacity
The Airports Commission has published a paper summarising the range of options received from external submitters for making best use of existing capacity in the short and medium term (meaning measures that do not require new runways or terminals, and could be introduced within under 5 years, or over 5 years). In February 2013 the Commission asked for submissions on this, with a deadline of 17th May, and some 75 responses were received from organisations and individuals. They are now inviting anyone who did not comment then to do so now, with a deadline of 27th September. (There is also a deadline of 27th September for comments on the airport capacity proposals). The Airports Commission will make recommendations to government on short and medium term options in its interim report at the end of 2013. The Commission says it is "now working on analysing the evidence and ideas put forward. This will include detailed consideration of each measure’s impact (both positive and negative) on areas such as the environment, capacity, resilience and connectivity."
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Airports Commission publishes a discussion paper on its Phase 2 work, January 2014 to summer 2015
The Airports Commission has published a note on how it sees its work over the year and a half after December 2013, which it calls Phase 2. The Commission will make its interim report in December, both on short and medium term measures to boost UK airport capacity, and also on which long term airport expansion schemes merit further, detailed consideration. "If the Commission reaches a view in its interim report that a significant increase in aviation capacity is needed, the second phase of our work will develop the list of credible long term options into detailed schemes, and subject them to a thorough appraisal process. This is likely to include looking not only at individual proposals in isolation, but also at how they might be combined." They also say: "To support the development of its sustainability assessments framework, the Commission has established a Sustainability Reference Group. This is an advisory group comprising experts from relevant Government Departments and statutory bodies (the Environment Agency, Natural England and English Heritage)."
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Report finds net cost to the aviation sector of achieving carbon-neutral growth from 2020 will be trivial
A new report has found that meeting the aviation industry’s "carbon-neutral growth" target from 2020 could add as little as $1.50 to $2 to the price of a transatlantic one-way ticket in 2030. Aviation intends to make its growth "carbon neutral" buy buying carbon offsets from other sectors, rather than making actual cuts in the sector's own CO2 emissions. The report is by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF - Guy Turner, Chief Economist) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF - Annie Petsonk, International Counsel). Their analysis shows that surplus offset credits already available in the world’s carbon trading systems could, in principle, meet just under 50% of the industry’s potential need for the 2020 to 2050 period. The cost of carbon credits to the aviation industry would represent less than 0.5% of international aviation revenue, or roughly 25% to 33% of what airlines bring in from ancillary revenues such as checked bags and selling snacks. Under a moderate scenario for aviation growth, the amount of carbon credits needed range is 8 to 14 billion tonnes, over the period 2020 - 2050.
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Notre-Dame-des-Landes: 1,000 kites “occupy” the sky – symbolic of opponents’ determination to keep it free of planes
On Sunday 4th August, as many as 8,000 people gathered at Notre Dame des Landes as part of a weekend of protest against the planned new airport for Nantes. People have again come from all over France to show their support for the airport opposition. In the morning, they flew some 1,000 or so kites, many that had been made in preceding weeks and many with slogans on them. The aim of the kite flying was symbolically to occupy the skies and show that the skies above the Notre Dame des Landes bocage countryside (the site chosen for the kite flying is due to be an airport terminal) are free; the campaigners intend these skies to remain free from planes. Some of the kites read, in French, "Pour que nos libertés occupent le ciel" and "Le ciel libre aux hommes libres" ("For our freedom occupy the sky", "Free sky to free men" ). The two day gathering had a festival atmosphere, with music (musicians playing under a sign that read "Un aéroport à NDDL, jamais !") and also lectures and speeches. ACIPA has been organized a summer gathering for 13 years on the same site, but this was the largest yet.
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Durham Tees Valley Airport bid for Regional Growth Fund money rejected again
Durham Tees Valley airport has been wanting £4.6m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) to help create an overall investment of £46.5m for the airport. But now for the second time, their bid has been refused by government. If approved, it would have meant a new access road on the south side of the airport and might - the airport claims - have led to the creation of "1,400 new jobs over the next ten years." Hartlepool councillors are not happy, and it was agreed at a meeting of the full council to write to Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Innovation and Skills, to express their “disgust” over the decision. Labour councillor Robbie Payne, chairman of the council’s regeneration committee, said: “The decision has not only put our region at a disadvantage but makes Durham Tees Valley more unsustainable." The RGFofficials did not include the bid among their 102 successful projects, including 6 in the Tees Valley. In October 2012 their bid for funding for a freight terminal was rejected by the RGF.
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Proposals to Airports Commission of airport or runway plans – that have been publicised (+ maps)
The 19th July was the deadline for submissions to the Airports Commission of proposals for plans for new airport capacity. The Commission has said these will all be published on its website in August or September. So far only those publicised by their proponents are publicly available. We have put together a list of those of which we are aware. The main sites for planned new airport capacity are Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Thames Estuary and Birmingham - though there will be others, perhaps in the west country? The Commission asked for no more than 40 pages, and for a specific list of criteria to be taken into account in submissions, including noise, air quality, and climate including "overall compatibility of growth in air travel with the national and global climate change targets" and "the relative climate change impacts of different options for providing additional capacity." Proposals did not need to be made by the airport owner, but could be made by other interested parties. In December the Commission will publish their list "of the most plausible options for delivering any additional capacity required in the longer term." We give indicative maps showing possible locations of new runways.
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Responses to the Airports Commission’s discussion documents – including links to those from AirportWatch members
The Airports Commission has now published on its website all the responses it has received to its various discussion documents. The discussion documents have been on: aviation demand forecasting; on air connectivity and the economy; on aviation and climate change; and on airport operational models. Due to the huge volume of text, the Commission has put the responses in zip files, with links to each response as a pdf document. However, some older computers may have difficulty in opening the zip files. AirportWatch has listed below all the organisations that have responded to each of the discussions. AirportWatch has also given links to submissions from our member organisations, and those not from the aviation industry or the advocates of airport expansion. To see all the submissions, visit the Airports Commission website. It is anticipated that the Commission will shortly - in August - put up all the airport or runway proposals that were submitted by the 19th July deadline.
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Greater Manchester town halls share in £48m bonanza from MAG’s extra large dividend
The Manchester Airports Group (MAG) owns Manchester Airport, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports, and now Stansted. MAG is owned by the 10 councils of Greater Manchester. Manchester City Council owns 35.5%, and 9 authorities, the Metropolitan Boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, together with Salford City Council, collectively own 29%. Australian investment fund Industry Funds Management owns 35.5%. MAG has made a greatly enlarged dividend to its shareholders, through buying Stansted and the large investment from IFM. MAG has agreed to increase its dividend from £20m in 2012 to £72m, which includes an additional one-off dividend of £30m. From this £48m will be shared between Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities, with Manchester getting some £26 million of it and the remaining 9 sharing some £22 million, in proportion to their shares. In contrast the dividend has been £20m for the past 4 years. Manchester Airport has been in public ownership since 1938, and public money has been invested in it. The councils benefiting say they do not spend the money on specific projects, but subtract it from the total amount they must save after government cuts. It may be used partly to invest in the local economy, to raise skills and create jobs.