General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Brighter skies for BMI after restructuring
A sweeping restructuring programme has put BMI on track to halve its losses this year. It involves 800 redundancies, cutting the aircraft fleet by 10 and eliminating unprofitable routes. There are currently no plans to break up BMI. There has been speculation about BMI after its auditors cast doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern. BMI has around 10% of the Heathrow slots, but has sold some recently to other airlines in the Lufthansa group.
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European airlines: passenger numbers down 5.8% in 2009 – back to growth in 2010
The Assoc of European Airlines say passenger numbers fell -5.8% in 2009, compared to 2008. Revenue passenger kilometres (distance flown by the passengers) fell by -4.5% showing each fly slightly further. Available seat kilometres fell -4.2%, and load factor fell -0.3%. During the second half of 2009 the traffic declines were not as great and by December passenger numbers were up once more on a year-over-year comparison. Details airline by airline.
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Environmental policies the green NGOs want in the next government
The main green organisations have put together their key policy demands. A 40% CO2 cut onb 1990 by 2020 is a key shared demand. Greenpeace says we need policy to limit climate changing pollution from aviation growth. Also the UK needs a commitment to reverse the decision to build a 3rd runway at Heathrow within the first 100 days in office and to freeze regional airport expansion, which would show that the Climate Change Act will be taken seriously and enforced properly.
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Labour party manifesto backs Heathrow 3rd runway but no other new runways
Labour's manifesto is out. It says: Heathrow is Britain’s international hub airport, already operating at full capacity, and supporting millions of jobs, businesses and citizens who depend upon it. We support a third runway at Heathrow, subject to strict conditions on environmental impact and flight numbers, but we will not allow additional runways to proceed at any other airport in the next Parliament.
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2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash kills 97 including Polish President
A Tupolev plane carrying the Polish President and 89 leading Poles crashed on approach to Smolensk, in Russia, in fog with no survirors. The accident's cause is till being established, but may be human error. The plane crashed into trees, around 0.9 miles from the airport and unconfirmed reports say flight control at Smolensk advised the plane to land at another airport due to fog. The crash happened on the 4th approach, after the first 3 attempts failed. (BBC)
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Policies of the main parties on transport, including aviation
The main parties have set out their policies on transport, which include mentions of aviation. None mentions growth of aviation, or the expansion of regional airports. See the text from their policy documents.
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CO2 ruling may halt new airport runways
Campaigners will seek to block airport expansion across Britain following a High Court judgment which criticised the government’s decision to build a 3rd runway at Heathrow. Environmental groups linked to Stansted, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and many other airports hope to use the ruling to launch fresh challenges against plans for mass growth in flights and passenger numbers. The judgment found ministers had not taken account of new, legally binding targets to reduce CO2 emissions when they approved the expansion of Heathrow. It comes after a two-year campaign by The Sunday Times revealed how BAA, the owner of Heathrow, colluded with the government to build the case for passenger growth.
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Ruling on Heathrow’s 3rd runway will ground big projects
Geoffrey Lean writes that the High Court judgment that ministers must reconsider Heathrow's 3rd runway may prove to be one of the most far-reaching rulings for decades. It almost certainly ensures that the runway will never be built, but it also undermines the Government's entire programme for expanding airports around the country, and other carbon-intensive infrastructure. The precedent could be enormously significant for other new developments too.
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Telegraph continues its campaign against APD
The Daily Telegraph started a campaign against Air Passenger Duty, back in mid 2009, and have been encouraging their readers to protest about it ever since. Now coming up to the election, they hope this will be a voting issue. The Budget yesterday did not mention APD. However, the Telegraph complain about the iniquity of it all, and the unfairness of taxing someone flying return to Australia paying an extra £85, or £12 for a short haul flight.
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BA flies empty jets as strike action bites
BA has been forced to fly empty jumbo jets to cities around the world as it grapples with the strike. The airline re-instated flights to more than 20 destinations in Europe, the US, Asia and elsewhere after it said extra crew were working despite the strike. However, Unite said at least 37 of the flights on Sunday had no passengers and were only being operated to get aircraft to abroad so people could be brought back to London on scheduled flights. (FT)