General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Airbus A380 wing cracks: Who’s paying? Customers unhappy.
The wing crack issue that has plagued the Airbus A380 over recent months is going to cost millions of dollars to correct, but who is actually responsible for the repair costs? The cost to Airbus for researching the cracks, developing a fix and implementing the modified design for future wings is currently sitting at more than US$315 million. It takes 8 weeks to fix the cracks if the repairs are completed in one go. Alternatively, airlines can add extra time to the end of each major maintenance check until the fix is completed. Airbus and the airlines insist the A380 is safe to fly in the meantime. Airbus will not compensate airlines for the time when their planes are being fixed. But the A380 purchase contracts do not include a clause for this scenario.
Click here to view full story...
600 homes to finally get £1,500 compensation for building of Manchester 2nd runway
Nearly 600 homeowners and 6 schools in Knutsford and Mobberley are to get a pay out for the building of Manchester Airport's 2nd runway. This will come from the airport's owner, the Manchester Airports Group. The householders say claimed their properties were devalued due to the noise from the planes since the runway opened in 2001. The schools will get £1,300 each. This has been brokered by local MP, the Chancellor George Osborne, and Jeff Gazzard. Two years ago 300 Knutsford and Mobberley residents were compensated. This is the final compensation and the end of an 11 year battle. The total payout comes to £1 million. The airport will also pay the council tax precept, £117,702. which is levied to fund Knutsford town council and Mobberley parish council, for one year.
Click here to view full story...
Euro zone crisis dents BAA airport traffic – so Colin Matthews uses that as a reason to push for more flights to China etc
Compared to May 2011, there were 0.1% fewer passengers this May at BAA's airports. Passengers at Heathrow were down - 0.6%. However, May 2011 had the Royal Wedding etc, which makes comparison less valid. And May 2010 was distorted by the volcanic ash issue. But it seems that passenger numbers between Heathrow and Greece dropped 11.3 % in May compared withMay 2011, with numbers to and from Italy falling 9.2%, Portugal 11.4 % and Spain 2.5%. This has, of course, been an opportunity for BAA's Colin Matthews to say this decline "demonstrated why it was vital for Britain to build air links to long-haul destinations whose economies were growing". And "This is why the UK needs to urgently build better links to the countries whose economies are growing such as China, India and Brazil." So BAA's airports can be kept full and its profits can be kept up - nothing to do with what is actually needed by the UK as a whole ....
Click here to view full story...
China to build 70 airports by 2015 – taking the number to 230
The Chinese Aviation Administration says China will build 70 new airports within the next 3 years, even though China faces an economic slowdown, taking the number to 230 airports. They also plan to expand 100 existing airports. They say that Chinese carriers would operate around 4,700 planes by then, compared to 2,888 commercial planes at the end of 2011, growing by 300 planes per year from 2012 to 2015. Aviation in the Asia Pacific region, according to IATA, is due to produce a £1.3 billion profit this year, which is about half the profit in 2011. This is due to the slowdown in the Indian and Chinese economies though China has had booming air passenger growth due to rising demand for air travel by increasingly affluent Chinese people travelling more often.
Click here to view full story...
European airlines could go out of business, warns IATA economist Brian Pearce
With the industry predicting that European carriers will lose £710m between them this year, chief economist of IATA thinks there could be some casualties. There have already been some casualties, like Spanair and Malev, and other the Hungarian national carrier, and weaker flag carriers could be in danger. Due to the Euro crisis IATA forecast for the year has almost doubled the amount it expects European airlines to lose this year, from £385 million at the last forecast. Last year the same airlines were able to make a combined net profit of £321m, and 2011 was the 2nd successive year in which they had made money. However, aviation is maintaining its profitability in other parts of the world and expecting to make a profit of £1.9bn - but less than half the £5.1bn they made in 2011.
Click here to view full story...
Worries that German air traffic control might buy up large share in NATS
Labour has accused the UK Government of yet another policy U-turn after it was suggested George Osborne was getting cold feet over a £1 billion plan to sell off the Coalition's 49% controlling stake in NATS. Industry sources claimed that the Treasury was rethinking the proposal to sell it off as it was fearful the German equivalent to Nats would make a move to take over the UK's air space after it was suggested the 7 British airlines, which form the Airline Group, might sell their collective 42% share to Germany's state-controlled DFS. One industry source said: "It would not be a good idea to hand control of Britain's skies to Berlin.
Click here to view full story...
Berlin campaign against the opening of Berlin Brandenberg airport next year
John Stewart, Chair of AirportWatch and of HACAN, was in Berlin on Sunday 3rd June. He was speaking at a rally of over 1,000 people who demonstrated outside the town hall in Central Berlin against the new Berlin Brandenberg near Berlin, which is due to open next year. The airport was due to open this year, but this has been delayed for many months, due to safety issues. This delay has given the protesters against the airport in Berlin time to mobilise and really oppose the opening of the airport. With active protest taking place in Frankfurt against the noise from the new runway, and active opposition in Munich against a proposed 3rd runway at the airport, it is likely that a German AirportWatch will be set up, bringing together all the campaigns, and making them all more forceful in their concerted action.
Click here to view full story...
Murad Qureshi on how Heathrow is expanding passenger numbers, but BAA don’t want Londoners to know it
In his blog, Murad Qureshi (Chair of the Environment Committee, of the London Assembly) writes that after a week of BAA propaganda last week in the pages of the Evening Standard you would be forgiven for thinking that Heathrow is not expanding – but it is! It may not be by the number of flights coming in and out of Heathrow but it certainly is by passenger numbers. The A380s have around 500 passengers each. At present Heathrow turns over 69 million passengers annually and once the redevelopment and construction of the five terminals are complete, it will be able to cope with 90 million passengers a year. This capacity is not something we hear about often but the fact is that Heathrow will be able to deal an extra 20 million passengers annually! This point is made well by AirportWatch yesterday in a letter to the Financial Times.
Click here to view full story...
The campaign against Munich’s possible 3rd runway, from Young Friends of the Earth, Bavaria
Young Friends of the Earth Bavaria have written about why they are opposing the planned third runway, and why it is not needed - as well as the environmental damage it would do. Their short briefing on what is happening at Munich gives useful detail. The plan for the runway is only to that there will never be delays of more than 4 minutes to flights, even if numbers double, over the next 20 to 30 years. Almost unbelievable to build a runway for that, especially if flight numbers are not growing - and as the airport is losing money and has debts now of €2.7 billion already. Munich airport is already the largest carbon emitter in Bavaria, emitting about 10% of Bavaria's CO2. In Germany all aviation issues are planned and decided at a local and regional level by town halls, not at a national level. So, until this year, there has been a lack of a national debate around aviation. But this has now changed.
Click here to view full story...
OFT fines British Airways a reduced sum of £58.5m for fuel surcharge cartel
The Office of Fair Trading announced on 19 April 2012 that BA would be fined £58.5m for its involvement in a cartel to fix fuel surcharge pricing on long-haul passenger flights to and from the UK between August 2004 and January 2006. During this period, BA co-ordinated fuel surcharge pricing with Virgin Atlantic Airways through the exchange of pricing and other commercially sensitive information in response to rising oil prices. Following the issue of a Statement of Objections in November 2011, the original fine of £121.5m was reassessed in the light of a number of factors including legal developments.