General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
MPs warn against Heathrow Airport expansion: ‘Put the planet first’
Fleur Anderson, the Labour MP for Putney, led a parliamentary debate on 24th May, in which she said plans to expand Heathrow would subject Londoners to unacceptable levels of noise and air pollution. That would be “a serious health issue” for her constituents. She called for the Government to block the project. Fleur said to the incoming Heathrow CEO: “There is no version of an expanded Heathrow which is compatible with climate targets. There is no version of an expanded Heathrow that does not reduce the quality of the lives of 650,000 people in my constituency and beyond, who live under the flight path. And there is no version of an expanded Heathrow that does not make the air our children breathe even more polluted. I implore you, put the quality of life and the planet first, and the profits of your shareholders second.” A coalition of MPs came together for the debate, to protest against any expansion of Heathrow. They included former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington; Munira Wilson; Fleur Anderson; Ruth Cadbury; Andy Slaughter; Rupa Huq and John Randall.
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French ban on some domestic flights comes into effect, if short rail alternative exists
France has banned domestic short-haul flights where train alternatives taking under two and a half hours exist, in a bid to cut carbon emissions. Connecting flights are unaffected. Services, linking Paris Orly airport with Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyons, had already been stopped by Air France under a 2020 agreement. However, they are allowed to continue to use Charles de Gaulle airport. Unfortunately, this will only have a small effect on overall French aviation CO2 emissions, the bulk of which come from international flights. The French government had faced calls to introduce even stricter rules, with the 2019 Citizens' Convention on Climate asking for bans when the train alternative would be under 4 hours. But this was reduced to two-and-a-half hours after objections from some regions, as well as the airline Air France-KLM. A consumer group has called for "safeguards that [French national railway] SNCF will not seize the opportunity to artificially inflate its prices or degrade the quality of rail service". It is hoped the short flight ban, though having little impact, could set a precedent to be followed by other countries.
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100 climate activists block private jets at biggest business aviation sales event in Europe
In Geneva, 100 climate activists supporting Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and other climate movement groups from 17 countries have disrupted Europe’s biggest private jet sales fair, the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), demanding a ban on private jets. The action follows a series of protests against private jets, including at Amsterdam Schiphol airport and actions as part of the Make Them Pay campaign, in the past months. Activists chained themselves to aircraft gangways and the exhibition entrance in order to keep prospective buyers from entering. The protestors stuck giant tobacco-style health warning labels on the jets marking them as toxic objects and warning that ‘private jets burn our future’, ‘kill our planet’, and ‘fuel inequality’. Sales of private jets are expected to reach their highest ever level this year, and the global fleet of private jets has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Private flights produce about 10 times the CO2 of a commercial flight per passenger kilometre. This sort of CO2 emissions are inequitable, and unjustified environmental damage by the very rich.
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Head of Boeing not optimistic that SAF will be cheap enough any time soon
The head of Boeing has warned that biofuels will “never achieve the price of jet fuel”, expecting that this central pillar of the aviation sector’s strategy to slash emissions is not likely to be successful. Airlines say that so-called "sustainable aviation fuels" (SAF) — made from food wastes, agricultural and forestry waste, and domestic rubbish, could enable lower CO2 from the sector, by replacing the kerosene-type fuels, such as Jet A, used in aircraft today. But SAF currently accounts for less than 1% of global aviation consumption and its price is at least x2 or x3 that of kerosene fuel. If the fuel could be made in anything approaching the scale the aviation industry wants, and without other serious unintended agricultural and environmental impacts, it would still be expensive. The extra cost would have to mean more expensive flying, and thus fewer people flying - less future growth for the sector. “There are no cheap ways to do SAF — if there were, we would already be doing them.” Governments want to mandate use of SAF by airports, even though it is not available in large amounts.
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Appeal Court rejects application by BAAN to appeal against Bristol Airport expansion decision
In January the High Court ruled that the airport's major expansion plans could go ahead following a lengthy legal battle, but local group Bristol Airport Action Network appealed against the decision. Now that appeal has been "refused on all grounds". by the Court of Appeal. A ruling found that there was not "real prospect of success" of the challenge and no other compelling reason for to allow it. The airport plans to expand its maximum capacity from 10m to 12m passengers a year, had initially been refused planning permission by North Somerset Council in January 2020. The airport's owner Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan later appealed to the Government, and the decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate in February 2022. BAAN has been fighting ever since, and commented that “The airport can now expand by an extra 2 million passengers a year, build a multi-storey car park on Greenbelt land, massively increase the number of summer night flights and congest the local roads with an extra 10,000 cars a day." As well as hugely increase its carbon emissions. BAAN says "the planning system concerning airport expansion has been rigged by the government to ignore the climate crisis."
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EU Parliament votes to clamp down on carbon-neutral claims backed by offsetting
The European Parliament voted late last week to support new rules to improve product durability and combat greenwashing. The proposal for a new directive on empowering consumers for the green transition was voted in plenary by an overwhelming majority of 544 votes in favour, 18 against and 17 abstentions, opening the way for talks with EU member states to finalise the law. Tabled in March last year, the directive aims to help consumers make environmentally friendly choices and encourage companies to offer them more durable products. “This proposal aims to strengthen the fight against greenwashing by banning practices that mislead consumers on the actual sustainability of products,” EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told MEPs. Lawmakers introduced a ban on environmental claims based on carbon offsetting schemes, such as ‘CO2 neutral’ or ‘carbon neutral’, which are criticised by environmental groups for misleading consumers. Campaigners hailed the Parliament’s move, which was not included in the European Commission’s draft proposal tabled last year.
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Liverpool Airport post-pandemic recovery helped by delaying repayment of £30 million council loan
Liverpool John Lennon Airport has increased turnover and reduced losses in the year to March 31, 2022, its latest accounts at Companies House reveal. Turnover in the year to March 31, 2022, rose to £15.126m, compared with £8.012m the previous year. A pre-tax loss of £4.874m was an improvement on the pre-tax loss of £12.060m a year ago, again, linked to the increase in passenger numbers as part of the ongoing recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic. The company has net assets of £5m, compared with £9.9m the previous year. In the the summer of 2020 the airport group was offered a £34m loan from the combined authority to help it through the pandemic. It said £30m was due to have been repaid on March 31 this year, but that deadline has now been extended for a further year. That is money from taxpayers, and the delay means the council is not getting its loan back soon. The figures reveal LJLA’s biggest source of revenue in the latest financial year was its car parking operation, which generated £5.251m. Aeronautical earned £4.489m, while concessions, or retail, provided £4.028m in turnover.
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Heathrow vs airlines – dispute continues as parties given permission to appeal price cap
Heathrow Airport and separately 3 major airlines (Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Delta Air Lines) have been granted permission to appeal the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)’s decision on the Heathrow price cap. The airlines have been locked in a fierce dispute with Heathrow over the amount the airport can charge per passenger. Both sides launched rival appeals in April against the CAA’s decision to lower the cap; the appeal process was then passed to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The appeals followed the CAA’s confirmation in March that the levy would remain fixed at the same rate as set out earlier in the year - not allowing Heathrow to charge a higher rate. The CAA had announced in January that the 2023 cap would be raised to £31.57 per passenger, up from £30.19. It will then fall about 20% to £25.43 per passenger in 2024 and will remain there until 2026. The airlines argue that Heathrow has played down its recovery from Covid, and used “knowingly undercooked and self-serving passenger forecasts,” to attempt to keep the cap, which is set based on passenger numbers, higher. Heathrow argue that the rate should be greater, to boost investment in the airport.
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Government consultation about cutting AIRPORT CO2 emissions, but ignored AIRCRAFT emissions
The Government is currently consulting on proposals to introduce a target for airports to achieve zero emissions without offsetting by 2040. But the target doesn’t include the emissions from flights, despite these being responsible – according to the Government’s own consultants – for 95% of airports’ emissions. The government's target would actually require a massive reduction, or complete cessation, of flights if it included the CO2 emissions from planes too. While it is possible to decarbonise (largely by use of electricity) airport operations on the ground, there are no technologies that can do this, on a large scale, for aircraft. The only plan for flights, other than so-called "sustainable aviation fuels" would be speculative future CO2 removal from the atmosphere. The consultation document says that “The zero-emissions airport target is not intended to hamper economic growth at airports, but to provide a social licence for growth.” ie. making it look as if the aviation industry is working hard to cut its emissions. It would be necessary, for the airport CO2 targets, to include full reporting of the emissions from flights using the airport.
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Friends of the Earth threaten legal challenge to Government about inadequate net zero strategy
Ministers may have to rethink their plans for meeting net zero for a second time after green campaigners took the first step towards a legal challenge over inadequate action on climate change. Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, was forced last month to publish a revised version of the government’s net-zero strategy, after the High Court ruled the original was unlawful. The new plan included a mandate to ensure that 28% of car sales were electric by 2025, an extension of grants for heat pumps and a Great British Insulation Scheme. Shapps could now have to revisit the plan again. Friends of the Earth, which brought last year’s court case along with the Good Law Project and ClientEarth, has given him until Friday 28th April to respond to a pre-action letter. It is the first step towards applying for a judicial review. The group’s focus is the lack of detail on the risk of policies failing to deliver the emissions cuts needed for Britain’s legally binding “sixth carbon budget” by 2037. There is no realistic plan to cut the emissions from aviation, other than hopes of so-called "sustainable aviation fuels" (SAF) which is highly unlikely to be available in large amounts.