General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
“Emissions Cost Assessment” consultation
The Department for Transport launched its consultation on the ECA on 7th August. It says: "The emissions cost assessment ...will allow the social cost of aviation’s climate change emissions to be considered against the extent to which the sector covers that cost. It will pull together data, knowledge and analysis in a new way, acting as a strategic assessment that will inform future decision making." Consultation deadline is 30th October 2007.
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“TRICKERY, DECEIT AND MANIPULATION” – says Stop Stansted Expansion
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has welcomed the exposure this week of BAA's PR agency PPS by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme and the London Evening Standard. "Trickery, Deceit and Manipulation" was the headline used by the Evening Standard to describe PPS's activities, including infiltrating local residents protest groups, obtaining tapes of private meetings, impersonation and undercover operations and forging letters of support from local people.
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Battle of Heathrow: Opposition to BAA’s injunction grows
Heathrow airport's owner BAA was isolated and assailed from all sides yesterday as it headed for a legal and physical showdown with protesters over an attempt to ban a mass demonstration against climate change that has enraged civil rights groups. Within hours of its disclosure, politicians, lawyers and protesters condemned an injunction that would prevent five million members of the public from attending the Camp for Climate Action as "ludicrous," "absurd" and "unenforceable".
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Another draconian attempt to curb Britain’s civil liberties
The attempt to prevent demonstrators from reaching Heathrow airport is the latest in a long line of erosion of civil liberties which started during Tony Blair's reign. Their anger centres on the use of Section 44 of the 2000 Terrorism Act, which gives police the power to stop and search anyone in an area considered a likely terrorist target
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Oil and gas may run short by 2015, say industry experts
Humanity is approaching an unprecedented crisis when not enough oil and gas will be produced to keep industrial civilisation running, the world's top oilmen warned. The warning – which is being hailed as a "tipping point" on both sides of the Atlantic – marks the first time that the industry has accepted that it may soon no longer be able to meet demand for its products.
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Inuit leader to give evidence against airport expansion at Stansted Public Inquiry
The Leader of Greenland's indigenous human rights organisation the Inuit Circumpolar Council and expert member of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Aqqaluk Lynge, will give evidence this week (on Friday 27 July) to the Public Inquiry into the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport.
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High Speed 1 makes Paris and Brussels commutable
Eurostar has published its debut timetable for services from St Pancras International using High Speed 1 – the UK’s first full-length 186mph line. For the first time, business travellers from Britain will be able to reach the centres of both Paris and Brussels before 0900 local time, enabling people to do a full day’s work without travelling the night before.
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Ryanair’s green claims criticised by ASA
Ryanair has been ordered not to repeat an advertisement that played down the impact of aviation on the environment. In a press campaign the airline claimed the airline industry "accounts for just 2% of CO2 emissions". The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) ruled it breached rules on truthfulness by not explaining the figure was based on global rather than UK emissions.
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Government invests £40m in developing ‘green’ aviation
The government has awarded £40m to the British aerospace industry to research and develop "green" aviation engines with the aim of reducing the impact of flying on the environment. The project, Environmentally Friendly Engine, is a £95m industrial collaboration, led by aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce, to design and test technologies for more fuel efficient engines with reduced noise, carbon and nitrogen emissions.
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Grassroots rebellion could halt growth in flights – Jeff Gazzard
The climate change impacts of flying have generated many column inches in recent months and quite rightly so. Our addiction to flying around the world for those oh-so-vital three-hour business meetings or that irresistible 99p fare plus taxes and charges to get drunk in Prague without a care in the world has come under severe pressure.