General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Scottish Climate Assembly – many recommendations to cut aviation carbon emissions
The Scottish Climate Assembly reported its recommendations for action on 23rd June. The Assembly included over 100 ordinary members of society, and met from November 2020 to March 2021, online for 7 weekends. Their recommendations relating to aviation include that Scotland should: "Lead the way in minimising the carbon emissions caused by necessary travel and transport by investing in the exploration and early adoption of alternative fuel sources across all travel modes." 93% agreed. And "Commit to working to decarbonise all internal flights within Scotland by 2025." 87% agreed. And "...requiring transport providers to declare the carbon impact of flights and train journeys in a clear and meaningful way at the time of booking." 94% agreed. And "Reduce the incentives to fly by introducing tax on high carbon aviation fuels and making it mandatory that this cost is passed on to the customer in their ticket price." And "Discourage air travel by introducing a frequent flyer tax or levy." 78% agreed. And "Eliminate frequent flyer and air mile bonuses to reduce the number of flights taken for business, encouraging the use of alternatives like video conferencing for meetings." 92% agreed.
Click here to view full story...
Legality of £27bn roads building programme in question due to climate targets
The legality of the government’s second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) is to be determined by the High Court. Campaigners from Transport Action Network (TAN) say transport secretary Grant Shapps broke the law when approving the £27.4bn road strategy, by failing to consider its effects on the environment. The RIS2 is for road upgrades between 2020 and […]
Click here to view full story...
Climate Change Committee progress report to UK Government – aviation carbon policies sadly lacking
The Climate Change Committee has published its 2021 Progress Report to parliament, on the UK's actions on climate change. It says "The Prime Minister’s Ten-Point Plan was an important statement of ambition, but it has yet to be backed with firm policies." The report says the government has still not produced its Decarbonisation Strategy, which had been due in 2020. The CCC says government should "Commit to a Net Zero goal and pathway for UK aviation as part of the forthcoming Aviation Decarbonisation Strategy, with UK international aviation reaching Net Zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, and domestic aviation potentially earlier." It says government should assess its "airport capacity strategy in the context of Net Zero and any lasting impacts on demand from COVID-19, as part of the aviation strategy. There should be no net expansion of UK airport capacity unless the sector is on track to sufficiently outperform its net emissions trajectory and can accommodate the additional demand. A demand management framework will need to be developed (by 2022) and be in place by the mid-2020s to annually assess and, if required, control sector GHG emissions and non-CO2 effects." Lack of demand management would mean the sector missing its targets. And more ...
Click here to view full story...
European airports want to be able to charge airlines more, due to Covid financial losses
European airports association, ACI Europe, says airports face financial problems that will curtail efforts to decarbonise for a decade - unless governments and regulators help them financially. ACI Europe director general, Olivier Jankovec, called for changes to airport charges and a review of EU rules on state aid. Airports want to be able to charge airlines more. He said Europe’s airports took on over €20 billion in additional debt last year which is now financing them. He thought “Recovery this summer will be cash-intensive and revenue-weak.” Analysis for ACI Europe by consultancy firm AlixPartners suggests airport revenues will be below their capital spending requirements for 10 years to 2032, leaving airports no choice but “to slash” investment plans. ACI complains that airlines have had financial support, but airports have not. And they claim efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be slowed down [though having fewer flights and passengers would help anyway ...]
Click here to view full story...
CE Delft study shows alleged economic benefits of London City airport greatly exaggerated
In December 2020, London City Airport published its Master Plan, after various consultations. This claims: "Taking all benefits into consideration, the proposed growth could add £586 million [annual benefit in 2035] to the UK economy. Adding this impact to the £1.5bn impact that LCY is currently expected to reach under CADP, the airport could reach a £2bn annual contribution to the UK economy by 2035." This was based on figures produced by a report for the airport by Ove Arup in April 2019. All that was in the heady days before the impact of Covid on air travel ... A report by the consultancy, CE Delft, looked carefully at the figures of supposed future economic impact, and found name exaggerations and errors. CE Delft consider that the £586 million in economic impact in 2035 is an overestimate. Our study suggests the economic impact is likely to be smaller than £ 353 million + PM (plus or minus things that is impossible to calculate). This disparity in estimates is partly as local impacts are not additional at the national level, according to the UK’s transport analysis guidance WebTAG. Also that trade impacts should not be taken into account, according to WebTAG.
Click here to view full story...
Airport expansion plans looking less likely due to Covid and climate awareness
UK airports continue to do badly, due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, and it is anticipated that they could lose £2.6bn between April and September, if Covid continues to limit travel. The industry is also, unwillingly, having to consider their role in worsening climate breakdown, and whether it is acceptable for the sector to be expanding. “Many investors and fund managers could question in future whether airports sit well within their portfolios". Only Gatwick, which is 50.01% per cent owned by Vinci, has made use of the Bank of England’s Covid corporate financing facility, for temporary grants and loans. Most airport owners have pared down their operations, staffing and costs, and cut dividends, to save money. Lenders are appreciating that the airports have huge financial problems, that they cannot solve while Covid continues to limit air travel. But the FT says there will be limits to the goodwill by lenders, as it is no longer certain that airports will remain a safe investment, generating predictable and high income streams - or be acceptable ethically. Now ACI warned of a “severe airport investment crunch” in Europe as it had to take on more than €20 billion of additional debt last year. That makes expansion plans look doubtful.
Click here to view full story...
British Airways might abandon Gatwick, for Heathrow, if 80% slot use rules are reinstated
British Airways has revived plans to abandon Gatwick and concentrate operations at Heathrow, according to industry sources. This is due to fears by BA's owner, IAG, that it could lose lucrative take-off and landing slots at Heathrow. BA first considered leaving Gatwick more than a year ago in anticipation that demand for air travel will remain depressed for a number of years. The landing slots at Heathrow are very much sought-after and expensive, each costing tens of millions of pounds. Usually airlines have to make use of 80% of their slots, or risk losing them. This was suspended due to Covid, and this waiver was initially due to end in late March. Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, then extended it, with no given end date. If the waiver is finally ended, then British Airways would want to be sure of keeping its lucrative Heathrow slots, by moving more of its activities there, from Gatwick - where the slots are less valuable.
Click here to view full story...
Treasury Aviation Taxation consultation – some responses
The Treasury recently held a consultation on aviation tax reform. It closed on 15th June. The consultation proposed reducing or removing Air Passenger Duty (APD) on domestic flights. It is currently £26 on a return domestic flight, £13 for each part departing from a UK airport (it is only £13 for a return flight to Europe). It also asked about changing the APD on longer flights. Currently any flight to a destination over 2,000 miles away pays £82 APD. The consultation has options for making more long haul bands. The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) has responded in detail, as have Hacan, Stansted Airport Watch (SAW) and the Aviation Communities Forum (ACF). AEF said it "expresses opposition to any reduction in taxes for an already under-taxed industry. For an industry which pays no fuel duty or VAT on tickets, APD is already too low to ensure that airlines make a fair contribution to public finances. Government should be looking at tax increases, not decreases, we argue, particularly given that flights are disproportionately taken by people on higher incomes." There are arguments both ways, but most environmental organisations think there should be more long-distance bands, with higher rates for longer distances.
Click here to view full story...
New report details big polluters’ next Big Con – exposé of “net-zero” pledges
The aviation sector, along with many other sectors, governments and organisations are keen to make pledges about how they are working towards "net zero". This gives the impression that they are working hard to cut their carbon emissions, and by some future date (conveniently far into the future) they will be causing almost no extra CO2 to enter the atmosphere. However, the realisation is now dawning that these pledges to be "zero carbon" actually mean either that the sector will buy carbon permits from others that actually cut carbon; or they depend on the unlikely scenario by which vast amount of carbon will be sucked out the air, either by vegetation or technologies that do not yet exist. Over dependence on hoping carbon will be cancelled out by offsets or carbon removal have the effect of letting an industry continue pretty much with "business as usual" for the time being. Somehow, the next generation will sort out the problem and get the carbon removed. A new report from Friends of the Earth International, “The Big Con: How Big Polluters are advancing a “net zero” climate agenda to delay, deceive, and deny,” casts light on some of the carbon pledges, finding grossly ineffective plans.
Click here to view full story...
Southampton legal challenge against airport decision by Eastleigh Borough Council
The local campaign against the expansion of Southampton airport, AXO, has now decided to make a legal challenge against Eastleigh Borough Council, and their decision to allow extension of the runway. That extension would have the effect of increasing the number of flights using the airport, and allow flights to more distant destinations - increasing the overall carbon emissions. Decisions such as these, resulting in more climate heating, need full scrutiny and that can now only happen by Judicial Review. The opponents of Southampton Airport expansion have instructed a legal team led by Leigh Day and David Wolfe QC to pursue the case, and are launching a public appeal for money to help finance the action. AXO believe strongly that the council’s decision was wrong both in the way it was taken and the arguments to justify it. The airport has greatly overstated the economic benefits of expansion, which will adversely affect the quality of lives of around 46,000 residents, whilst hugely underplaying the environmental impact. Hence they are calling for the decision to undergo independent scrutiny. There is a crowdfunder, to raise £10,000, to help pay the legal costs.