General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Designer art, Sommeliers: Airlines take luxury to a new altitude on (wasteful) A380
Date added: 18 January, 2011
Airbus A380 planes are alleged to have lower carbon emissions per passenger,
as the plane is huge and could fit in up to 850 passengers, if in single class
economy configuration. But airlines are instead decking them out for luxury, with
cabins even with their own sliding doors, showers (Emirates employs shower attendants
scrubbing the A380s' showers after each use), bars, flat beds, even double beds etc.
A massive CO2 footprint per passenger
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2010 passengers at UK airports down 3.5% and number of flights down 5.6% on 2009
Date added: 15 January, 2011
The CAA has released its provisional statistics for December 2010, including
rolling year figures for the whole year for all its reporting airports. Terminal
passengers fell by 3.5% to 207.43 million. Air transport movements fell by 5.6%
to 2.04 million. Very few airports had more passengers than in 2009. These were
Belfast City Airport (up 4.5%); Leeds Bradford (up 6.7%); Doncaster Sheffield
(up 5%); and some tiny ones like Scatsta (3.6%).
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AirportWatch briefing sheets January 2011
Date added: 14 January, 2011
Three new AirportWatch briefing documents, with a fourth on climate and technology
coming shortly
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European space tourism jet work continues – in addition to Branson’s
Date added: 14 January, 2011
Though the Virgin Galactic project is much further advanced, and has had a drop
test already, the European project to develop a space jet for fare-paying passengers
is still alive, says EADS Astrium. The plane, which would make short hops above
the atmosphere, was announced in 2007 and then put on hold because of the global
downturn. It will spend a further 10m euros on the concept in 2011, but lacks
a partner that would move the project from concept to production.
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Ferrovial in move to cut its stake in BAA by 10%
Date added: 14 January, 2011
Ferrovial is in talks with investors to offload 10% of BAA in a move to slash
€20.5 billion of debt. Ferrovial owns 55.9% of BAA, and by dropping its holding below 50%, the Spanish
firm will no longer need to consolidate BAA's debt of about €14bn on its balance
sheet. Ferrovial will seek offers for the stake - estimated last year to be worth
about €200 million - during the final week of January, with the aim of clinching
a deal by June. (Scotsman)
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Cost of air travel could rise by a fifth under European VAT proposal
Date added: 14 January, 2011
VAT could be imposed on all flights from British and EU airports under proposals
being considered by the European Commission. A recent EU green paper recommends
that VAT be levied on all air and sea transport, so the cost of flights, ferry
tickets and cruises could increase by up to 20%. Currently all air and sea travel
is exempt from VAT within the EU. Treasury figures show the notional benefit aviation
receives by paying no fuel tax and no VAT is up to £10 billion a year.
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Around 5,000 attend Southampton Airport careers fair with 100 jobs available
Date added: 14 January, 2011
MORE than 5,000 hopefuls turned up for just 100 jobs advertised at Southampton
Airport in its first careers fair. The posts which included baggage handling and check-in staff,
catering, cleaning, IT, security, engineering, retail and customer service. Some of the roles were permanent but others were seasonal during the coming year.
30 different companies at the airport, including BAA, Servisair, Flybe and NATS as well as Hampshire Police.
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AEA warns of fragile recovery in the European airline industry in 2010
Date added: 14 January, 2011
The Association of European Airlines, which represents Europe’s main carriers,
has revealed a preliminary traffic estimate for 2010 of 335 million passengers
boarded by its members, 10 million more than in 2009 - +2.5% increase over 2009.
However, factors such as the Icelandic volcano eruption, the heavy December snow
falls and industrial action at British Airways led the AEA to estimate an underlying
growth rate of 5 - 6%. Recovery is still "weak". (AEA)
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Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management wants an end to cheap flights
Date added: 13 January, 2011
The CIWEM - an independent, chartered professional body - has produced an excellent
position paper on aviation, and says that in recent years, air travel has become
cheaper but the real costs are masked. CIWEM believes there needs to be a wider
debate in the UK about the role of aviation in achieving a low carbon global economy.
There must be an end to misleading advertising of air fares that encourage air
travel, and aviation fuel should pay VAT.
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Freezing December cost BAA £24 million with passengers down – 10.9%
Date added: 12 January, 2011
BAA's UK airports handled 7.2 million passengers in Dec 2010, a decrease of -
10.9% on Dec 2009. The drop in passenger traffic was mainly due to weather. Without
the snow, underlying performance was broadly flat. Compared with December 2009,
Heathrow’s passenger total fell - 9.5%; they fell - 10.9% at Stansted; by - 22%
at Southampton; by - 18.4% at Edinburgh; by - 15.3% at Glasgow; - 8.35 at Aberdeen.
Air cargo was down - 8.3%..
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