General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
NATS eligible for funding of up to £92 million to maintain services
The DfT has announced that there is to be a £1.1 billion support package for air navigation service providers across Europe affected by COVID-19 events. This is because the pandemic has caused a massive fall in air traffic and hence in their incomes. It was announced earlier that airlines would be able to temporarily defer payments for route charges for February to May 2020, for up to 14 months, due to the virus. That would amount to £1.1 billion. The UK and other European states have supported the intergovernmental organisation, Eurocontrol, which manages charging for air navigation services across Europe, in securing the loan of £1.1 billion (where from?). The UK’s "en-route" air navigation service provider, NATS would be eligible to receive up to £92 million in support, enabling it to continue providing services. The only flights at present are for cargo and repatriation. The money is partly to ensure NATS and Eurocontrol can return to full operations at the appropriate time, "to help the recovery of the aviation sector." The UK government holds a 10% share in the vote for any such action passed by Eurocontrol, and voted in favour of pursuing the loan.
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EasyJet says it might leave the middle seat of 3 empty, to give the impression of correct “social distancing”
Airlines are keen to persuade the public that they can provide the recommended level of "social distancing" to avoid spread of Covid-19, while being stuck in a metal tube for several hours, with many other people. EasyJet has now said it plans to keep the middle seat, of sets of three seats, on its planes empty once the Covid-19 lockdown has been lifted. However, plane seats are about 17-18 inches wide. The distance between rows of seats on planes is about 31-33 inches, called the "seat pitch". Six feet is the distance recommended by governments for "social distancing". So just removing one seat leaves people closer than 6 feet apart, and also if there are people in the row infront or behind. Even removing one seat (inadequate for necessary distancing) would mean an increase in air fares, or less profit for EasyJet. And they say it would only be a temporary measure, while Covid lockdown is lifted. The airline wants people to think they are "taking this very seriously...." Not about profit or turnover at all then? As airlines were unwilling to refund passengers tickets, cancelled due to Covid, and instead gave them vouchers for future travel, they have a problem.
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Will demand for air travel, and our attitude to it, ever be the same post-pandemic?
Nobody knows what the future of the airline industry will look like, post-pandemic. Some of the factors are: will many airlines survive, even if given generous help from governments? how can future pandemics be prevented from being spread rapidly by air travel? how can airlines know if people are harbouring virus even if they do not show symptoms? can airlines operate if they have to maintain "social distancing" of 6ft between people at all times, without air fares having to rise hugely? how can they maintain social distancing at airports, and once passengers leave an airport? how much fear of contracting an illness will remain? will people ever fly again without a lingering nervousness about getting ill? if the price of air travel has to rise, will the poor be able to fly? will destinations want an influx of potentially infected people from other countries? if families can now keep in touch adequately by video conferencing like Zoom, will demand for family/ friends contact flights be cut? will business flights be cut by use of Zoom etc? as the business flights make the most money for airlines, how will that affect airlines' bottom lines? will our enthusiasm for globalisation wane? And many more issues ....
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Coronavirus: Areas reliant on aviation industry ‘to suffer worst’ – especially Crawley, too dependent on Gatwick
The Think Tank, the Centre of Cities, believes jobs in cities and towns which depend on the aviation industry will be most under threat by the coronavirus crisis. They estimate about 20% of jobs in these areas are vulnerable to the economic impacts of Covid-19. The economy of Crawley is likely to be hardest hit, as it is too dependent on Gatwick. More than 53,000 jobs are classed as vulnerable and very vulnerable in Crawley, of about 94,000 in the area. About 18% of jobs in Crawley are in aviation, compared with 1% on average across other big towns and cities. There are a lot of taxi drivers, whose work depends on the airport. People have warned for years about the dangers of areas "having all their eggs in one basket" on jobs, with too high a dependence on one industry. As much of the UK airline sector has almost closed down, with at least a 75% cut in flights at Heathrow, and over 90% cut at Gatwick, almost no flights using Luton, and so on. Luton is another town that is overly dependent on the airport, and now suffering. Also Derby and Aberdeen. The areas worse affected by job losses due to Covid-19 will be asking for government help, once the lockdowns are lifted.
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Coronavirus: plane-free skies spur research into non-CO2 warming impact of aviation eg. contrails
As the Covid-19 pandemic response decimates air traffic, it provides a unique opportunity for scientists to study how planes’ contrails trap heat in the atmosphere. It is the chance to study how much aviation increases global warming. The dramatic fall in air traffic is the largest since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Scientists with Nasa and European research groups hope to use clear skies to narrow down massive uncertainties about the warming effect of condensation trails. The science of how much added warming is caused by the contrails (and other non-CO2 impacts of aviation) is complex and more research is needed. But it is likely that the overall impact of aviation on climate is about double that of the CO2 alone. It is perhaps 4-5% of the global total of human climate impact. Researchers will use satellites and measurements by planes to study how clouds form naturally when thousands of flights are grounded in the absence of aircraft. Would clouds have formed anyway, in the absence of planes? However, there are problems with Covid-19 social distancing, in assembling teams of technicians to install sensors on planes and find pilots to fly them.
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Covid-19: No more “normal” for aviation in future, after the world experiences the pandemic
The airlines have suffered, as have many other sectors of the economy, a dramatic decline due to Covid-19. They are hoping to be given generous loans and finance through governments, to help them deal with the crisis - though they are no more deserving than others. (It was the airlines that spread, inadvertently, the disease so fast, across the world). The airline sector used to be seen as special, glamorous and something praiseworthy. It seems that nowadays flying has become so commonplace, and such an unpleasant experience, that it no longer sits on that pedestal of public warmth and admiration. There is little public support for bailing out an industry that does not much environmental harm, especially when it has given large pay-outs to its financial backers over the years. The industry is facing a very uncertain future. The crisis is not just a temporary one, that might resolve in a few months. Covid-19 has seen an astounding rise in video-conferencing, (Zoom etc) that is likely to change for ever our perception of the need for air travel. And it may have caused long term anxieties about the global spread of disease. Many airlines are likely to collapse. Flying may look very different, and be more expensive, in a few years time.
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Haji-Ioannou says EasyJet £600m government loan is ‘biggest scandal in British corporate history’
EasyJet has secured a £600m loan from the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Finance Facility, as the airline’s founder and biggest shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, claimed it would run out of cash by the year end regardless. The loan scheme allows UK businesses to apply for loans at pre-crisis commercial rates. EasyJet said it would also borrow another £407m from commercial creditors to ensure its liquidity. Its planes are now all grounded. Haji-Ioannou said even if the airline resumes flying fairly soon, hopes it would be solvent by August were probably “wildly optimistic” because it is wasting money on buying new planes. He said it is a scandal for EasyJet to be getting government funds, as if it cancelled the plane order, the loan would not be needed. The £600m will be to pay Airbus. He said when international travel eventually restarts, the airline would “feel more like a startup trying to find a few profitable routes for a few aircraft”. EasyJet is meant to be buying order for 107 planes from Airbus, costing some £4.5bn, which it now cannot afford. EasyJet has now reached agreements with unions to furlough about 4,000 UK-based pilots and crew during April and May, out of a total of about 9,000. Haji-Ioannou's family received a near £60m share of £171m paid in dividends last month.
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Covid-19: IATA emails reveal airline industry plan for tax breaks, subsidies & voucher refunds
Lobbyists around the world are coordinating a massive effort on behalf of airlines to push governments to remove environmental taxes and set up bailout funds - due to Covid-19. An email from IATA to its members shows how the airline industry is lobbying for public money to be poured into funds to restart or maintain air travel - and for any planned tax increases to be delayed for up to a year. The email describes “an aggressive global campaign” to ensure that airlines can offer passengers vouchers rather than cash refunds if flights are cancelled. This saves airlines money now, and also means CO2 emissions will increase as passengers re-book at a later date, instead of not travelling. Campaigners are concerned that the aid to airlines may last longer than the Covid crisis, even when things are back to (near) normal, and would allow the airline industry to receive public support without any undertakings to governments to reduce future carbon emissions. Governments can’t afford to be bailing out polluting sectors without strict green conditions. IATA also wants the baseline of carbon emissions for CORSIA to be based only on 2019 emissions, not 2019 and 2020 as intended, due to the pandemic this year.
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Natural England objects to proposed jet fuel from waste plant, backed by BA, Shell and Velocys
BA has been trying to get some jet fuel made from domestic waste that would otherwise go to landfill, so it can claim it is using "low carbon" fuels. There were plans for a plant in east London, by Solena, back in 2014 but that never got off the ground; Solena went bust in October 2015. Now BA and Shell and Velocys are hoping for a plant on an 80-acre site on Humberside, to convert waste that would go to landfill, into jet fuel. However, Natural England are worried it could harm local wildlife and have filed an objection. Velocys says the plant would turn household waste into 60 million litres of "low-carbon" jet fuel every year. The project is backed by £4.5m of investment from Shell and British Airways, alongside a £434,000 grant from the Department of Transport. In a letter dated 20 February 2020 Natural England said it objects to the development because trucks ferrying waste to the site could increase nitrogen oxide levels - which can cause serious health impacts for humans and wildlife. It is also concerned construction and waste from the site could disturb nearby habitats for rare birds. It is now for North East Lincolnshire Council to decide whether to approve the scheme.
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GMB call on Heathrow to reverse “kick in the teeth” reneging on paying London Living wage from April 2020
Historically the GMB union, which has the most members at Heathrow, have lobbied strongly all along the way for Heathrow expansion. They hope for more jobs. Even better paid ones. But Heathrow has often not done much to help its workers. With a struggle, in 2018, the GMB managed to get Heathrow to agree that contracted workers would be guaranteed London Living Wage of £10.55 per hour by April 2020. Now the GMB says workers are devastated to learn that "Heathrow Ltd have informed contract companies within its direct supply chain that is reneging on its agreement to fund implementation of the London Living Wage to its employees that was promised to workers from April 2020 onwards." GMB says this is unfair. Heathrow is currently only working (from 6th April) with one runway due to the dramatic decline in air travel due to Covid-19. The GMB says Heathrow much honour its agreement, to ensure workers (security, cleaning) etc still working at the airport - employed by outsourced contractors - get the Living Wage from April 2020. Workers were expecting this rise in their wage packets this April.