General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Heathrow airport passes 70m passenger per year milestone – its most ever
Due to a surge of passengers going away for Easter, Heathrow has had its highest ever number of passengers in the rolling year. This March, its passengers were up 6.9% above March 2011. (BAA's passengers overall were up 4% above March 2011). This has been achieved partly by getting planes fuller (load factor) and by larger planes with more passengers. Some of the traffic has come from Stansted. Emirates and Singapore Airlines are using more of the largest planes, the A380, in order to get more passengers using each take off and landing slot. Singaport Airlines now operates 2 A380s per day to Heathrow, and will increase that to 3 in June - increasing capacity by 17%.
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Chinese plane business – China Commercial Aircraft – gets wings
China has launched a new commercial plane maker which it hopes will one day compete with the likes of Boeing and Airbus, state media have reported. China Commercial Aircraft will aim to develop regional aircraft able to carry more than 150 passengers. The Shanghai firm is backed by state and regional governments. Beijing is keen to develop its own large-scale aviation capacity to reduce its reliance on Airbus and Boeing, as domestic demand soars. (BBC)
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Protest over change in air routes (Luton)
A protest has been held in the village of Caddington, near Luton, over plans to change aircraft routes in and out of Luton airport. The residents Caddington and Slip End in Bedfordshire say they will have to put up with more flights and noise and aircraft flying over their homes every four minutes. NATS says the changes will benefit people across the region. (BBC)
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BAA shareholders contribute £400m to refinancing
BAA'S three shareholders have been forced to inject £400m of fresh funds to get the much-delayed £10bn refinancing of the airport operator off the ground. The cash injection is the price demanded by the lending banks and credit agencies to ensure that the new debt structure achieves a utility-style investment grade rating, spanning single A to BBB.
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EasyJet to raise fares after fuel costs lead to £57m first-half loss
EasyJet sounded the death knell for the era of low-cost air travel as it revealed that first-half losses quadrupled due to the record price of oil. EasyJet said that they would raise its one-way fares – currently averaging about £50 – by nearly 10%, or about £4, if the price of oil remained buoyant. This would be in addition to an array of optional charges, for luggage or priority boarding etc, introduced to offset its fuel bill. (Independent)
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EXTENSION TO NATS FLIGHT PATHS CONSULTATION POINTLESS UNLESS QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED
In welcoming the decision by NATS to extend the consultation period for the proposed new flight paths by 4 weeks SSE has warned that the extension will be pointless unless vital gaps in the information so far provided by are rapidly remedied by NATS. In particular, SSE is concerned that the consultation fails to offer any explanation for NATS preferred options or to provide any substantive information on the other options considered. (SSE)
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NATS Terminal Control North Airspace consultation extended by 4 weeks – to 19th June
The consultation by NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management company, on proposals to redraw the aircraft route map across a large area of south-east England has been extended by four weeks. The consultation had been due to end on May 22, but will now close on June 19, giving primary stakeholders and members of the public an extra month to consider their views and submit them. (NATS)
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Archbishop is backing Heathrow demo and risking wrath of PM
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is backing the mass demonstration against a third runway at Heathrow, on 31st May, putting him on a collision course with Gordon Brown and risking the wrath of Downning Street. Dr Williams, who has almost given up taking flights, will write a letter of support to be read out at the march. He will not attend because of other commitments. (Evening Standard)
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Wales air link is good value say Welsh Assembly Government
Taxpayers have paid more than £80 in subsidy for every passenger who used the new air link between Anglesey and the Vale of Glamorgan in its first year. The subsidy is double the average fare on the service. Flight operator Highland Airways receives £800,000 a year from the Welsh Assembly. FoE said the subsidy per passenger is excessive and they want to see subsidy going to the north-south rail service, where improvements are needed. (Western Mail)
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EU to allow sale of airport slots
The European Commission has adopted a document that opens the door for airlines to trade take-off and landing slots among themselves for the first time, in a bid to overcome growing capacity constraints in Europe's crowded airports. Previous legislation only allows for slots to be exchanged "one for one between air carriers," "without monetary compensation". (Euractiv)