General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
BBC: Could hypersonic flight become a reality?
The European Space Agency's goal is to create a hypersonic passenger plane, one that flies more than 5 times faster than the speed of sound and six times faster than a standard airliner. There are many technical problems including heating of surfaces at such high temperatures. Even if these planes are eventually produced, it will be decades away. And there is not much demand for such fast travel - not enough to make it economic. If the high-paying first class passengers don't fly on conventional airliners, the airlines would lost traditionally subsidises economy seats get from them.
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IATA – global air passengers up 4.3% in November compared to a year earlier
IATA data for November show 4.3% more passengers globally than November 2010, about 2% more than in January 2011, though 0.2% less than in October 2011. Tony Tyler said continuing economic uncertainty is likely to mean market shortcomings deepening in 2012. Globally, passenger load factors fell to 76.3% from 78.5% in October. This shows that the weakness in passenger demand is outpacing airlines’ ability to adjust capacity accordingly. In Europe demand grew 4.9% compared to the previous November while capacity increased by 5.3%.
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British travellers made 7% more bookings for trips in the UK than in 2010
An Expedia survey found Spain and Turkey gained more UK visitors, but fewer went to some north African countries, Bookings for Thailand were down, due to the floods. Expedia forecast that British destinations would again prove popular in 2012. The south of England and London were the most popular choices within the UK. The Bank […]
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Flight times to longhaul destinations to be slashed thanks to Santa’s shortcut
Proposals to allow twin-engined civilian passenger jets to fly over the Arctic will reduce flight times and make destinations on the other side of the globe a one-flight hop. Until now, regulators have insisted the planes must always be within 3 hours of a suitable place to land. The US has now increased this to 5 and a half hours, and the EU may follow. The last time planes flew regularly over the North Pole was during the Cold War to avoid USSR airspace. Some fuel may be saved from some shorter flights.
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24 travel companies collapsed in 2011
Research by Kelkoo travel found 24 holiday companies failed in 2011, and 29 failed in 2010. Most failures occurred at peak season times. The key reasons are the recession, and more bookings direct on the internet. Thomas Cook has launched an advertising campaign with up to £400 off its holidays. 2012 will see other holiday companies go to the wall. Figures indicate that in 2006 69.4 m British citizens took trips abroad, and in 2010 it was 55.6 million.
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EU airline carbon tax (Emissions Trading System) backed by European Court
EU plans to levy an emissions tax on airlines are valid, according to the European Court of Justice. The decision means all airlines flying to and from the 27 states of the EU will face a tax on emissions from 1 January. US, Canadian and other carriers argue the charges violate climate change and aviation pacts but the ECJ ruled that the ETS does not infringe the principles of customary international law at issue or the Open Skies Agreement. Airlines can choose whether to fly to EU countries, or not. The US House of Representatives passed a measure two months ago directing the US transport secretary to prohibit US carriers from participating in the scheme if it were to come into force.
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ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS HAIL HISTORIC COURT DECISION UPHOLDING EUROPEAN LAW TO CURB AIRPLANE POLLUTION, ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
A transatlantic coalition of environmental groups today applauded the decision of Europe’s highest court to uphold the EU law to reduce carbon pollution from airplanes. The decision, from the Court of Justice of the European Union, affirms that the EU law is fully compliant with international law. This is their final ruling. The EU Aviation Directive, the world's only mandatory program to address emissions from aviation, will take effect in January 2012. The Court’s decision makes clear that existing law bars precisely the discriminatory treatment of airlines that the United States and others are calling for.
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Europe fights to save cap-and-trade as price of carbon continues far too low to be effective
Aviation joins the EU Emissions Trading System on 1st January. Due to the recession, the price of a tonne of carbon was €14 in January 2011, but now it has been down to €6 or so, making it much cheaper to pollute and slashing the financial incentives for companies to invest in low-carbon technologies. With the prospect of recession and the problems for the €, the price could fall to €2 soon, making the system ineffective. There are far too many permits in the system, and there always have been since the scheme's launch in 2005. Technologies like carbon capture and storage are not economically viable unless the price is at least €25. Now the environment committee of the European Parliament voted to withdraw some 1.4 billion allowances, about 15% of the total, from the carbon market between 2013 and 2020.
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Reports that Indian airlines may not submit their carbon data for ETS
Climate sceptic groups are promoting a story about India asking its national carriers not to submit data on their fuel consumption to the EU ETS. The data is needed for working out how much an airline needs to pay to the ETS. The source says India has led the opposition to the move with support from more than two dozen countries including the US and China.
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US demands data from European and US airlines as it fires off first retaliatory salvo in growing dispute with EU over ETS
On 21st December. the European Court of Justice will rule on the case brought by major US airlines against their inclusion in the EU ETS. Now the US Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued an order against 9 European carriers (Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Deutsche Lufthansa, Iberia, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic) requiring them to submit traffic and carbon allowance data to it by specified dates. An order has also been served on 7 US airlines requesting similar data and additional financial information on allowance costs and income.