General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
EasyJet passengers up around +11% or more every month in 2011 over the same month in 2010
Date added: 9 July, 2011
EasyJet monthly passenger figures show substantial increases in passengers who
bought tickets (EasyJet does not count the actual number who fly, just those who
have paid) for each month this year, over the same month in 2010. June - up 12%.
May - up 11.3%. April (unrepresentative due to 2010 ash cloud) - up 35%. March
- up 11.95. February - up 13.1%. January - up 19.1%. Load factor is virtually
unchanged.
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Ryanair passenger figures so far in 2011 – around 25% up on 2009
Date added: 9 July, 2011
Ryanair produces its monthly passenger figures, which show substantial increases
over the same months last year, and huge increases over the years - growth each
year. Ryanair, like easyJet, count all seats sold rather than actual passengers
who flew. All figures since 2002 at http://www.ryanair.com/en/investor/traffic-figures
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Northern Ireland MPs call for NI air passenger duty to be abolished
Date added: 9 July, 2011
APD should be abolished on all flights from Northern Ireland, the NI Affairs
Committee has said. A report by the group has also suggested services to Northern Ireland from Great
Britain should be exempt. It says this is needed to counter the threat the tax poses to the economy. Continental Airlines warned that the region's only transatlantic route could
be axed if passenger duty was not cut. It adds £60 to every flight to the US - but nothing in Ireland.
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Safety suffers in airline boom, says union
Date added: 8 July, 2011
The civil aviation secretary at the International Transport Workers Federation
(ITF), which represents more than 275 unions in aviation, said that many airlines
now "prioritise cost over safety" and called on authorities to address growing
concern among its members. This follows the grounding of the Singapore-based Tiger Airways' Australian operations on
July 2 after authorities ruled that the budget carrier posed a "serious and imminent
risk to air safety".
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Green groups warn Government over aviation CO2 emissions as major new report launched
Date added: 8 July, 2011
A major new report from AirportWatch entitled “Aviation and Climate Change Policy in the UK” is published today, setting out a sophisticated policy mix of tough measures
to control and reduce UK aviation’s growing carbon footprint that endorses the
seminal December 2009 Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report “Meeting the UK
Aviation Target”. It says Government must retain the current UK aviation CO2 target and adopt the Committee
on Climate Change recommended flight limits in full. “Back door” airport expansion via planning system needs to be stopped right away
until a new UK-wide aviation policy in place. This comes a few days before the
DfT will respond to the CCC on how aviation growth can be compatible with climate
change targets.
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Carbon price crash warning – predicted oversupply of 1.9 bn tonnes of carbon permits by 2020 in ETS
Date added: 6 July, 2011
A predicted oversupply of 1.9 billion tonnes of carbon permits in the EU ETS between
now and 2020 is risking a carbon price slump, according to a report by Sandbag. The group estimates that in Phase 2 of the ETS between 2008-2012, around 672
Mt of carbon will be banked, from an excess of 855 Mt, and carried over into Phase
3. Added to the inflated Phase 3 baseline (totalling 1.2 billion over 2012–2020)
this gives a total of 1.9 billion permits.
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Airline attack on EU emissions trading system meets powerful opposition
Date added: 6 July, 2011
The EU, backed by 6 of its member states, Norway and an international coalition
of environmental organisations robustly defended the law integrating aviation
into the EU ETS at a hearing at the European Court of Justice. EU countries including France, Spain, Sweden, Poland, and Denmark, and led by
the UK strongly rejected the airline’s contention that aviation emissions can
only be addressed by the ICAO and that the system amounts to a unilateral tax.
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Dreamliner delivered across Pacific to Japanese ANA airline after 3 year wait
Date added: 4 July, 2011
The long-awaited 787 Dreamliner made its first trip across the Pacific from Boeing
HQ in Seattle to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to start a week of tests for launch airline
ANA. It was originally supposed to be delivered 3 years ago but a series of developmental
problems hindered its manufacture. It is meant to take off on domestic routes
this autumn. It is lighter than traditional aluminium planes and perhaps 20% more fuel efficient than other
planes its size.
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Flybe confident of developing its UK and European routes – made a loss of £4.3 million last year
Date added: 2 July, 2011
FLYBE, the airline connecting Liverpool John Lennon airport with Belfast and
the Isle of Man, has made a £4.3m pre-tax loss for the year to March 31. That compares with a £24.6m profit the previous year. This was partly due to
its stock market flotation last December,losses on fuel hedging and on foreign
exchange, compared with gains the previous year. Underlying figures showed a pre-tax profit of £22.3m on a turnover of £595.5m
compared with £570.5m in 2010.
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Flybe teams with Finnair to bid for Finnish Commuter Airlines (FCA)
Date added: 1 July, 2011
Flybe has made a joint bid for Finland’s biggest domestic operator. It has teamed up with Finnair to buy Finnish Commuter Airlines (FCA) in a joint venture
that will be 60% owned by Flybe. They will pay €12m and Finnair €13m and the
deal still needs regulatory approval. Flybe will operate 8 of FCA’s 15 aircraft under a contract with Finnair. Jim French said
it is a very important deal for us and "the lowest-risk way of getting into continental
Europe.”
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