General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
The strange, legally uncertain, limbo area of the airport transit zone – Edward Snowden
Amid the thousands of people passing through Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Edward Snowden is apparently staying put there. He is not the first person to be stranded in the legally ambiguous zone between the arrivals gate and the immigration desks of an international airport. Russian authorities says Snowden is in the airport’s transit area, has not passed through Russian immigration, so he is not technically in Russia and is free to leave. Snowden could end up joining the roster of unwilling airport residents whose ordeals, suspended between states, have stretched on for months or even years. Saying the transit area is not officially in the country is more a diplomatic convention than a legal reality, according to an immigration expert. “Many nations pretend that airport transit lounges are not part of their territory, indeed not under their jurisdiction. As a matter of international law, this is completely false. Sheremetyevo has seen crowds of refugees from countries including Afghanistan and Somalia living in corridors awaiting refugee status - a strange existence, without purpose.
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Hogg Robinson reports more business trips being made by rail including Eurostar
Hogg Robinson, the travel management company, has produced a report for the first 3 months of 2013 that indicates there is increasing trend for business travellers to travel to France using high-speed rail services including Eurostar. Also that many companies have changed their travel policy, requiring travellers to travel by rail for this particular route as it allows for work to be completed en route. Though business travel to India increased, both China and Brazil saw a fall in transactions as their strong economic growth showed signs of slowing. Overall business class sales fell 14.8% year-on-year while economy transactions rose by 0.5% and Hogg Robinson said the shift from business class to economy was “particularly acute in Europe”. There is a focus on cost and more use of economy fares, particularly to short-haul destinations. "We’re also seeing rail re-emerge as a genuine alternative to air travel." They say the BRIC countries are now well established business travel destinations and, with the exception of India, the huge growth in air travel to these destinations is slowing." .
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ABTA publicises report, to be submitted to Airports Commission, on value of leisure aviation to UK economy
ABTA has publicised the key findings of a new report it has commissioned from CEBR on the value of leisure aviation to the UK economy. This report is not yet publicly available, but will be presented to the Airports Commission at its evidence session on Tuesday 9th July in Manchester. ABTA's report says that - (predictably) - the travel industry - which largely takes Brits to holiday abroad, or visit relatives abroad, makes a huge contribution to the UK economy. It says this makes up 1.1% of UK GDP and is a direct value to the UK economy of £14.1 billion per year. It says "when taking account of the economic impact of leisure aviation in the wider economy, this value rises to £36.1 billion, or 2.8% of GDP." They also claim that leisure aviation supports about 1.2% of total UK employment and equates to 289,000 full-time jobs across the whole of the UK. Much the same analysis could actually be done for many other sectors of the economy. [In reality, the DfT confirmed in 2012 that the aviation industry supports about 120,000 jobs in the UK and supports many more indirectly.] ABTA and the CEBR produced a report in May 2012 claiming that UK outbound holiday makers spend about £31.2 billion per year in the UK before their trip, including the cost of travel].
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The 50,000 mile journey of Wimbledon’s tennis balls for their production
Research done by Mark Johnson, an operations management expert at Warwick Business School, has found that the components that make up a Slazenger champion grade tennis ball for use at Wimbledon travel over 50,000 miles and across four continents during the ball's production. Much of it by air. The balls are produced in the Philippines. Wool travels by air from New Zealand to Stroud (UK) to make the felt; that is then shipped by air to the Philippines; clay is shipped from South Carolina in the USA, silica from Greece, magnesium carbonate from Japan, zinc oxide from Thailand, sulphur from South Korea and rubber from Malaysia to Bataan (Philippines) where the rubber is vulcanized. Slazenger shut down its factory in Barnsley in the early 2000s and moved the equipment to Bataan in the Philippines. They still get the felt from Stroud, as it requires a bit more technical expertise but that adds a lot of air miles. Dr Johnson said: “It is one of the longest journeys I have seen for a product." Presumably because air transport is cheap.
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Munich conference – airport residents’ campaigns across Europe connect their fight against the aviation lobby
Over 250 people from across Europe attended the European Aviation Campaigners Conference in Munich at the weekend, where they heard accounts of campaigners against expansion in many different countries. The conference produced a manifesto which included a call for an end to night flights and an end to tax-breaks for the aviation industry. The conference also had sessions on effective campaigning, including direct action. Those who attended the conference came away inspired. They were in no doubt that the conference will stimulate collective across Europe to campaign for change. The united call is to ‘tame the aviation industry’. There is an English version of the Manifesto.
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Six local airport campaigns issue unanimous message to Airports Commission – no new south east runways are needed
Sir Howard Davies and two fellow Commissioners (Vivienne Cox and Geoff Muirhead) have had a meeting with 6 representatives of local campaign groups from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, the Thames Estuary and Birmingham. The campaign groups are all opposed to new runways or radical expansion plans within their areas and issued a unanimous message to the Airports Commission explaining that there is sufficient capacity within the existing airports to meet UK demand to 2050, possibly longer; therefore there should be no new runways in the south east. They also say demand for air travel can and should be constrained by fairer taxation of aviation, and it is unrealistic to assume future demand will be disproportionately concentrated in the south east. Due to future use of larger aircraft, capacity requirements can be met, even with a larger number of passengers. The groups urged the Airports Commission to set out the case for ‘no new runway’ and to publish that option alongside the short-list of new runway plans that they are due to publish in December.
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Robert Peston on the CAA and airport charges: Heathrow warns of investment threat
Robert Peston explains the rows about Heathrow's charges. The CAA has calculated how much Heathrow should charge airlines, based on how much profit it should be allowed to make over the next 5 years. Heathrow wants high charges, and predictably, the airlines want low charges. Heathrow has invested £11bn in improving its airport terminals and facilities over the past decade and is telling the CAA that not allowing an increase in its fees would make its future plans to invest £3bn "economically irrational". Heathrow says its shareholders won't put up the money for future necessary investment if the charges are too low - their owners would have no interest in financing new runways on the proposed level of allowable return. Robert Peston says the dispute is not likely to be settled quickly and there may be an appeal to the competition authorities. At the heart of the dispute between Heathrow and the CAA is the extent to which Heathrow is subject to risk and competition. In recent years, Heathrow's owners, led by Ferrovial, have made no money at all, largely because of regulatory intervention.
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Gatwick proposes revised offer to the CAA with lower fee increase on airline charges
Gatwick has proposed cutting the increases in the charges that airlines pay to use the airport, in the hope that the CAA (the regulator) will not cap the charges. The airport says this is the best deal for passengers and airlines. The CAA has proposed capping charges to just 1% above inflation. In April Gatwick initially proposed an increase of 4% above the rate of inflation for its charges. Now they are proposing an increase of 1.5% above inflation, for 4 years from 2014 to 2021. Gatwick airport earns some £274 million per year from these landing charges, and as they make so much money from them, the airport wants there to be no cap on what they can charge. They say then could then compete more effectively with Heathrow. EasyJet has said it does not support Gatwick's proposal for a 1.5% increase, as it wants even lower charges and says the capital spending the airport is planning is not on things that their customers value.
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MPs spend £500,000 on business class flights – largely between London and their constituencies
The Telegraph has investigated the number of premium flights taken by MPs at taxpayers' expense. They found the number of business class flights taken by MPs has nearly doubled in one year. Also that 10 MPs have claimed for more than 100 premium air fares each, with some of the flights worth as much as £850. Over the past three years MPs have spent nearly £500,000 of public money on such tickets. New rules introduced after the 2009 expenses scandal usually oblige MPs to buy economy class tickets. But 55 MPs have used a loophole to purchase business class fares that can be twice as expensive as standard class. Eric Joyce seems to have had the most business class flights (208) and Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary (188). An aide said it was difficult to work discreetly on secret documents relating to his shadow defence role while travelling in economy class. Most of the MPs' air fares were purchased for travel between Westminster and their constituency. However, politicians occasionally buy business class flights to attend conferences and other events overseas.
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British Airways and other airlines attacks 40% Heathrow price rises to airlines
Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group, the owners of British Airways, has attacked Heathrow for applying to the CAA to be allowed to charge airlines 40% more to use the airport over the next 5 years. The CAA is expected soon to announce the new regulated costs of using the UK’s airports for the next 5 years. Heathrow has said it needs the large increases to pay for more capital investment and improving the facilities for passengers. Willie Walsh is complaining about this and making out that BA cares about lower fares for its passengers: “In the interests of air travellers, we believe it is high time these charges started to come down." British Airways has its hub at Heathrow and has the largest number of flights and passengers there. Mr Walsh said the airport had failed to get to grips with costs and that as the only hub airport in the UK it was acting as a monopoly provider. Virgin and IATA have also complained about the increase in charges. How will Heathrow manage to build another runway, or even two, when its airlines don't want to pay for it?