General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner completes its first flight
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UK Gets Tough On Open Skies Talks
British transport minister Ruth Kelly told the United States on Thursday that Europe would press for further liberalization of transatlantic air traffic. "It is neither in America's nor Europe's interests for the restrictions to continue," she said. In March, EU transport ministers gave unanimous support to an "open skies" deal which will allow EU airlines to fly from any city in the 27-nation bloc to any city in the United States and vice versa, replacing restrictive bilateral arrangements that date back to World War Two.
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Dilemma – If you need to fly, is it possible to go green?
The green airline is an oxymoron; air travel will be the fastest-growing source of carbon emissions by 2050. By 2020 we in the UK will take half a billion flights annually (up from 189m in 2002). Aviation does far more damage than its carbon emissions alone would suggest. Despite this it has a rather charmed life: no VAT, no fuel duty and is exempt from the climate-change levy.
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BA under fire as it raises long-haul fuel surcharge
British Airways was yesterday accused of a "rip-off" by its bitter rival Ryanair as it raised its controversial long-haul fuel surcharge for the second time in 5 weeks. BA blamed rising fuel costs for charging long-haul passengers on journeys under 9 hours £38 extra for a single journey and £76 return, up from £33 and £66 respectively.
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Planning Disaster – and the Planning White Paper consultation
The Government's Planning White Paper is out for consultation till 17th August. It will fast-track massive and damaging new developments, increase UK CO2 emissions, and reduce the right of local people to object to schemes that threaten their communities.
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Ryanair Likely To Give Conservative Outlook
Ryanair expects to give "very conservative" guidance when it publishes full-year results next month due to falling ticket prices. "There's no doubt in our minds that yields are going to be softer," O'Leary said of average ticket prices during a news conference in Milan.
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Binge-flying culture is just beginning. The only way to stop it is a severe tax (Max Hastings)
Almost all of us are hypocrites on climate change. We will not quit our aviation habit until it really hurts our pockets. Mark Ellingham now declares that "binge flying" constitutes a huge threat to the global environment. "If the travel industry rosily goes ahead as it is doing, ignoring the effect that carbon emissions from flying are having on climate change, we are putting ourselves in a very similar position to the tobacco industry."
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Redhill Aerodrome
Air France is considering launching a rival service to Eurostar on the London-to-Paris high-speed route. From 2010, foreign train operators will be entitled to operate international services within Europe and the French airline has signalled already that it may seek to recoup some of the traffic lost through the Channel Tunnel.
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Plans to change airspace over East Anglia revealed
Airspace above East Anglia could see significant changes to allow for expansion at Stansted and Luton airports, BBC Look East has discovered. New holding stacks are proposed close to the airports and over built-up areas although National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has said no plans are finalised.
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Swedish airport runway seized by climate activists
On 14 April, activists broke into Bromma Airport in Stockholm to occupy the runway for half an hour. A scheduled flight to Gothenburg was delayed, and some planes had to divert their landing. The 10 activists, linked by chains and carrying a huge banner which read "Stop domestic flights", managed to enter the airport and runway without being detected.