General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Balaced approach needed on Stansted rail services – not a non-stop line excluding local commuter use
Stansted Airport, now owned by MAG, has been lobbying for better rail links from London. It has said this in its submission to the Airports Commission on making better use of airport capacity in the south east. The airport wants faster rail journeys to the airport (30 minutes down from current 47 minutes), and needs to able to show that a high proportion (40% in its interim master plan) arrive by public transport. It wants these better rail links to be paid for by the public purse. Stop Stansted Expansion say that the faster rail journeys between London and Stansted would be achieved by non-stop trains leaving out intermediate stops (Bishop's Stortford or Harlow Town). This current stopping trains provides a vitally important service for local commuters. SSE has written to the Secretary of State for Transport saying unless Stansted Airport wants to build a dedicated rail line to serve the airport then all well and good but, if it wants to continue sharing the West Anglia Main Line with local users, there needs to be a balanced approach. In reality the number of passengers travelling by train to/from Stansted Airport has fallen by a third in recent years, from 5.5 million 2007/08 to 3.7 million in 2011/12, despite the introduction of a brand new fleet of trains in 2011.
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Travelodge says rising number of UK “Staycations” will boost economy by £12 billion this year
A recent survey by Travelodge (of 3000 people) shows that some 65% of Britons will take a summer holiday in the UK this year – up from 41% in 2012 and 35% in 2011. The UK city break takes top position from a traditional seaside holiday as the nation’s favourite type of Staycation. London steals the top Staycation destination position from Cornwall for the first time in 5 years. The average trip costs Brits about £400 this year, (about £34.19 less than last year) and so this will boost the UK tourism industry by £12 billion (up £3.3bn from last year). Of the Brits planning a UK staycation, about 15% will have 2 weeks; about 42% one week; and about 33% will have 3 short domestic breaks to visit more locations. Some 33% said it is cheaper to holiday in the UK than abroad and better value for money. The average foreign holiday cost quoted in the report was £1,010. About 35% said it is important to holiday in the UK in order to preserve our heritage and support British tourism. 32% of respondents will use their Staycation break to bring together more than one generation of their family. For 27% a holiday is something they refuse to cut back on.
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Heathrow confirms it is not seriously considering new 4 runway airport at Haddenham (or White Waltham)
In early May there was speculation that Heathrow was considering various options for its submission to the Airports Commission. One of these - that had been seen as outline proposals by Aviation Week - was for a 4 runway airport at Haddenham (which is east of Oxford). Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd has now confirmed that this option is no longer being considered. Local MPs and residents had been furious to learn of the plans. Colin Matthews, CEO of Heathrow, wrote to local MP John Howell and said "I can confirm that we will not be proposing plans for a new airport as part of our submission". The MP said "this should come as welcome relief to Thame and to the surrounding villages as far south as Henley who would be affected by noise from take-offs and landings.”
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German research finds fine particle air pollution and noise pollution both increase cardiovascular risk
Both fine-particle air pollution and noise pollution may increase a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to German researchers who have conducted a large population study, in which both factors were considered simultaneously. Other studies have looked at fine particle air pollution, while others have looked at noise pollution but this one looked at both at the same time. It found each form of pollution was independently associated with subclinical atherosclerosis. In the past some air pollution studies have been dismissed because critics said it was probably the noise pollution that caused the harm, and vice versa. The German study looked at 4,238 study participants (mean age 60 years). To determine the association of the two variables with cardiovascular risk, the researchers looked at thoracic aortic calcification (TAC), a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis. The researchers also found that nighttime traffic noise pollution increased subclinical atherosclerosis burden slightly
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Plans for a 3rd runway at Melbourne Airport, which would mean noise for suburbs, opposed by residents
A 3rd runway planned for Melbourne Airport, parallel to its east-west runway but some 2km to the south. This will give Melbourne Airport the highest capacity in Australia - but put more homes under the flight path and affect more people with noise. Its flight paths will affect three suburbs that are currently little affected. There are the usual claims about employment, driving the economy and getting in more tourists etc. There is local opposition from residents already affected by noise and other airport impacts; they do not want a new runway and have a petition against it, and against night flights. However, the opponents are less bothered about the flights going to other airports in the area. There is also a bitter local battle over a 2nd Sydney Airport and Sydney and Melbourne compete. Passenger movements at Sydney are predicted to grow 3.6% per year for the next 20 years on average, below the recent growth rate. Melbourne Airport is expected to grow slightly faster at 3.9% per year. Melbourne Airport hopes to have 64 million people flying in and out by 2033, more than double the current figure.
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High Speed Rail 2 business case ridiculed by National Audit Office
The National Audit Office, which monitors Government spending on behalf of MPs, has raised doubts over the viability of High Speed 2. This comes within months of the High Court ordering the DfT to re-run its consultation over its compensation arrangements for up to 300,000 households which have been blighted by the plans. The report ridicules many of the key economic arguments put forward by supporters of the scheme. Margaret Hodge said: "The Department has produced a business case that is clearly not up to scratch. Some of their assumptions are just ludicrous.” The NAO says the HS2 analysis does not estimate how many jobs are additional and how many would have been created without HS2 - and it does not provide good supporting evidence that HS2 would rebalance the economy by supporting regional growth. Another failing is in simplistic assumptions that time spent travelling by train is unproductive. “Research commissioned by the department suggests that business travellers do work on trains for at least part of their journeys, and a proportion of the time saved from faster journeys may be used for leisure purposes.”
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Airports Commission publishes its 4th discussion paper – “Airport Operational Models”
The Airports Commission has today published the 4th of its discussion papers. This on is "Airport Operational Models" which looks at what are the distinguishing features of a hub or ‘focal’ airport. The paper is looking for information on what enables an airport to assume the role of a hub airport, alongside other possible models for structuring airport capacity. It discusses current trends in the global aviation sector, how they might develop in the future. Sir Howard Davies, Chair of the Commission, said that the way the aviation industry will change in the coming decades is important, but uncertain. The paper explores some of the possible future scenarios, which carry different implications for airport shape and capacity and considers the potential implications for aviation capacity and connectivity in the UK. It looks at whether the UK needs one huge hub or if a more dispersed system of airports competing with each other potentially offers the best deal to passengers. The deadline for comments is 11 July 2013.
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ONS data shows about 12.3% of trips abroad by Brits in 2012 were on business + about 18% of worldwide visitors to the UK were on business
The ONS data from the Office for National Statistics, released on 19th April, shows that there were some 56 million visits by UK residents abroad during the year. There were some 31 million visits by overseas residents to the UK. Some 44 million Brits went to Europe during 2012, and those European visits made up about 78% of the visits by UK residents. Around 22.8 million Europeans visited the UK during 2012 and Europeans make up about 74% of visitors to the UK. Around 12.2% of all UK residents travelling to Europe were on business (and about 26% of Europeans visiting the UK were on business). Of total visits abroad worldwide made by UK residents, about 12.3% were on business, (and about 18% of worldwide visitors to the UK were on business). As well as the 12.2% of Brits on business worldwide in 2012, 21% were visiting friends and family, and 64% were on holidays. About 74% UK of business trips to Europe were by plane, and about 69% of European business trip to the UK were by plane. The rest were by sea or Channel Tunnel. 76% of holiday trips to Europe were by plane and about 10.5% were by the Channel Tunnel.
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easyJet to give its business passengers fast track through security
EasyJet is hoping to attract increasing numbers of business travellers. They had slightly over 10 million business travellers during 2012, up from around 9 million in 2011 and some 8 million in 2010. The total number of easyJet passengers is around 50 million per year, so business is some 18% or so. EasyJet is now planning to offer free fast track through security for business passengers, to attract yet more. EasyJet claims that what business passengers want is low fares, and flexible fares, punctuality, quick boarding, friendly flexible fares, easy booking, allocated seating and fast security. From May 2013 fast track security will be provided to flexi fare passengers at 27 airports amounting to 54% of the airline’s business network and over the coming months will be expanded to more airports across easyJet’s network. Last year the number of business passengers travelling on Eurostar stayed level.
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Flybe in talks to sell its 25 Gatwick landing slots for up to £20 million
Flybe is in talks about selling its 25 Gatwick landing slots to raise money, as it is expected to announce a large financial loss - about £14 million - for last year. The slots could raise up to £20 million. Easyjet is one of the companies Flybe is believed to be in discussions with to sell to. Flybe was floated on the stock market at the end of 2010. Since then it has faced soaring fuel costs, falling passenger numbers and higher airport duty. It is currently axing about 10% of its 3,000-strong UK workforce to cut costs by at least £35m. It is also reviewing its network of 13 UK bases of Aberdeen, Belfast City, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Guernsey, Glasgow, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton. Last week, BALPA confirmed Flybe's pilots had agreed to a 5% pay cut to avoid compulsory redundancies. If Flybe sells all its Gatwick slots, that only leaves it a few London slots, at Luton.