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Latest news stories:
Sir Howard Davies argues for new runway in order to keep air fares low – or get even lower
Sir Howard Davies, Chair of the Airports, writing a comment piece published in the FT, says if "Britain is to keep pace in the global economy", south east England needs an additional runway. But he says this would come at a high price, and the question is where the money is most effectively spent. He says there will be a trend to more low cost long haul point to point traffic, and slightly more fuel efficient planes. And thus: "With additional runway capacity around London, these trends suggest more direct routes will be available to economically significant destinations, and an increase in the frequency of service on existing routes. Passengers and freight operators would benefit from the time saved from taking a more convenient or more direct route. There would be more airline competition, too, which would be likely to reduce costs." He does not mention the impact of a runway on the environment, nor noise or carbon emissions. Merely economics. His piece ends: "If this analysis is correct, removing the capacity constraint should benefit passengers, increasing the choice of routes and carriers, potentially at lower cost." So purely for the benefit of passengers, to give yet lower air fares (no VAT, no fuel tax, from May 2015 only two bands of APD, and minimal coverage by the ETS).
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Paper by Dr Alice Bows Larkin on need for air travel demand management to limit growth in aviation CO2 emissions
In a paper in the journal, Climate Policy, Dr Alice Bows Larkin looks at the problem of rising emissions from the international shipping and aviation sectors, and their special treatment. While all sectors face decarbonization for a 2C temperature increase to be avoided, meaningful policy measures that address rising CO2 from international aviation and shipping remain woefully inadequate. Dr Bows Larkin concludes that the more simply structured aviation sector is misguided in pinning too much hope on emissions trading to deliver CO2 cuts in line with 2C. Instead, the solution to aviation playing its part in achieving the 2C target remains controversial and unpopular. It requires demand management for air travel. Or perhaps biofuel, which seems unlikely. She asks: "Should aviation, which in a global context continues to be dominated by relatively affluent leisure passengers, take priority over other sectors for the use of sustainable biofuels in preference to less popular policies aiming to curb or even cut growth rates? ....The highly constrained carbon budget commensurate with 2 C does not permit any further delay in rolling out mitigation policies for aviation and shipping."
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Newark Airport aircraft noise targeted by New York Port Authority in 3-year, $6.6 million study
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is spending $6.6 million on a 3 year study on how to reduce aircraft noise at Newark Liberty International and Teterboro airports. There have been complaints by local residents for years about the level of aircraft noise. The $6.6 million is being paid to an airport noise consulting firm to prepare maps detailing aircraft noise levels for areas of northern New Jersey around the two airports. The study will begin next month, and last through till November 2017. The study is part of an FAA program that provides federal funds for mitigation projects when airport noise exceeds certain levels. The aim is to make noise tolerable, so there can be an increase in flights. The Port Authority and the FAA are developing new facilities to implement a new air traffic control system intended to meet increasing demand for air travel at Newark, LaGuardia and JFK, which already make up the busiest airport system in the country. A similar study began last month for Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in Queens. The president of a local citizens' group commented: “Will it result in the reduction of noise? Maybe, maybe not. What it will tell us is what people are being subjected to.” It might lead to a more fair dispersal of flights.
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Speech by Major Richard Streatfeild at the Airports Commission day on Gatwick
Major Richard Streatfeild spoke very effectively at the Airports Commission evidence session on Gatwick. He represents some 18,000 people who live in 11 parish councils on the High Weald, and the High Weald Parish Councils Aviation Action Group. Concern was first alerted earlier this year, when Gatwick changed some flight paths and started to concentrate others, causing much more aircraft noise nuisance than there had been previously. Thousands of people who had not been much over-flown in the past woke up to the new noise nuisance, and in particular, the threat of the situation deteriorating dramatically if Gatwick was allowed another runway. Richard spoke of the loss of trust and confidence in the airport, after repeatedly being told half truths, or lies. He also spoke of the torture, akin to sleep deprivation, of night flights - and gave both Sir Howard and Stewart a present of an alarm clock, set to go off once an hour - to try out for two nights .... to experience a taste of sleep deprivation. He said if Gatwick is selected, people know they will be "in a fight for our lives" and the extent of the battle will be unprecedented, through every means available. He ended by saying: "The solution is simple: Disperse the aircraft and make them fly as high as is safe, stop the night flights and do not build an additional runway."
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Speech by Sally Pavey at the Airports Commission evidence day on Gatwick
Sally Pavey set up a local group - CAGNE - in March 2014, to oppose the "ADNID" flight path trial that Gatwick airport had instigated. The new route for the ADNID flight path was concentrated, with some areas - which had never before suffered over flight by planes from Gatwick - getting some of the worst of it. CAGNE stands for Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions, and it has blossomed over the past months, as more and more people objected to being guineapigs, without warning or consultation from Gatwick - to a level of noise that made life hell for thousands. Sally spoke passionately, and effectively and among the many points she raised is the lack of trust by local communities in the airport, from repeated instances of being given wrong or partial information, or being ignored. For many, trust in the airport will never be regained. Gatwick submitted their runway plans to the Commission without even waiting for the end of its consultation with the public. Sally: "We will stand in the way of this off shore owned company. We will show them they have made a bad investment in Gatwick. We will use with every means at our disposal to stop a 2nd runway ... we will not stop opposing a 2nd runway at Gatwick Airport."
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DfT says no stone should be left unturned in a bid to re-open Manston airport
The Department for Transport says no stone should be left unturned in attempts to secure a future for aviation at the Manston airport site. The DfT says it will “explore options to move forward” following a meeting chaired by Transport Minister John Hayes on 11th December. A DfT spokesperson said Mr Hayes agreed to coordinate work across all of Government to explore options to move forward.......wherever appropriate cooperation between Government and Thanet District Council could be achieved every effort should be made to keep it open as an airport. A week earlier Thanet District Council voted not to select American investment firm RiverOak as its indemnity partners for a potential compulsory purchase of the former airport site. The airport closed in May 2014, with the loss of 150 jobs. As the council voted against the compulsory purchase order on 11th December, the extraordinary meeting to debate the wider issues surrounding the Manston airport site took place on December 16th. Thanet council is not keen to spend a lot of taxpayers' money in an unsuccessful attempt to save the airport, even though several hundred people want this.
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Great speech by Crispin Blunt MP at the Airports Commission Gatwick evidence day
The Airports Commission held their second evidence day, this time on Gatwick (the Heathrow day was on 3rd December). The format of the day was to give Stewart Wingate time to set out his runway plans and promote them. There were then speeches by Henry Smith MP and Crisipin Blunt MP, as well as others from Brendon Sewill (GACC), Sally Pavey (CAGNE), and Major Richard Streatfeild (HWPCAAG) for community groups. A range of councillors then spoke, as well as three people from the business organisations. Crispin Blunt spoke very strongly against the runway proposals, and the text of his speech is copied below. Interestingly, to pick out just two comments, he said - on the financing of the project - the claimed need for commercial confidence is in error because redactions in Gatwick published documents on tax, financing, profit and loss, cash flow etc and the assumptions that underlie these figures are critical to enable MPs, the public etc to evaluate the airport's proposal. Also that Gatwick is served only by a single rail and motorway connection. The airport, its passengers and its airlines is already dangerously vulnerable to disruption. It's worth reading the speech.
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EU ruling on air pollution compliance is a ‘major blow’ for Heathrow Airport expansion plans
The levels of air pollution in the Heathrow area already routinely breach EU limits (the Air Quality Directive), for nitrogen dioxide, due to the concentration of road traffic in the area - in addition to the aircraft. The UK has tried to avoid a showdown with the EU by agreeing to reduce air pollution levels in line with the EU directive by 2025, but the date has since slipped to 'post 2030'. The European Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has now rejected this plan and UK ministers will have to prepare new measures for reducing illegal pollution levels 'as soon as possible'. The CJEU has given the UK Supreme Court responsibility for enforcing compliance with air quality law. Judges will examine the case next year. The cross-party 2M group of councils opposing a 3rd Heathrow runway say this is a 'major blow' for the plans. Heathrow hopes that improvement, over coming years, in road vehicle emissions will solve their problem, but this is outside their control. The 2M groups says the Supreme Court will have to be convinced about the unlikely scenario in which air pollution can be reduced -while Heathrow increases flights, road traffic and freight.”
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IATA estimates air fares will fall by 5% in 2015 due to falling oil price
IATA says global air fares are expected to drop next year as falling oil prices and strong worldwide GDP growth help airlines post record profits. The price of oil has fallen by over 40% since June and may fall further, depending on OPEC. IATA anticipate air fares (excluding taxes and surcharges) will fall 5.1% on 2014 levels. IATA said due to the “highly competitive” nature of the airline business, savings made will be passed onto travellers. They expect the profits of the global airline industry will reach $25 million in 2015, which equates to a 3.2% profit margin. On a per passenger basis, airlines will make a net profit of $7.08 in 2015. That is up on the $6.02 earned in 2014 and the $3.83 per passenger in 2013. IATA also increased its profit forecast for 2014 to $19.9 billion, up from its earlier prediction of $18 billion. However, IATA consider a margin of 3.2% is small and doesn’t leave much room for “deterioration in the external environment before profits are hit”. However, as many airlines "hedged" their fuel supplies in advance, many continue to have to pay prices above the current market price for some months, delaying price cuts.
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Complaint to Airports Commission that ££ multi-million Gatwick & Heathrow ads & PR blitz is ‘subverting democracy’
Campaigners against a new runway at Heathrow r Gatwick, have attacked the multi-million ££ advertising and PR campaigns being mounted by both airports for their expansion plans. They say this huge expenditure is “subverting democracy” and drowning out discussion of alternatives - and the basic question of whether a runway should be built at all. A coalition of environmentalists and senior MPs has written to Sir Howard Davies, the head of the Airports Commission, to say the two airports are exerting “unfair influence” because of their marketing power and huge budgets for advertising and PR. There has been a blitz of large adverts in the national press and billboards or posters in prominent places, including Westminster Tube station and also close to the offices of Airports Commission. Heathrow has placed billboards as far afield as Newcastle and Manchester. One media buying agency told The Independent that the cost of both campaigns was likely to have exceeded £7m. Heathrow has also funded an astroturfing campaign called "Back Heathrow", and repeatedly refused to say how much it has spent - and continues to spend - on this.
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NATS criticised after flights seriously disrupted after computer failure at UK control centre
On 12th Decemer, a computer problem at Swanwick, the main NATS air traffic control centre, caused huge disruption to airspace. The problem was sorted out after 45 minutes, but it lead to extensive delays for many hours afterwards. Some 10,000 passengers at Heathrow were affected, with over 128 flights cancelled. NATS is accused of cutting corners to boost profits and management bonuses. They are allegedly still using technology from the 1960s, though the section of the system that failed was designed in the 1990s. NATS commented that “Often the oldest technology is the most reliable. That is why it is still there.” There was also a bad failure in December 2013 which caused a much greater amount of flight disruption. There is to be an inquiry, but as the issues are technical and complex, this will be by the CAA and NATS. Transport committee's chairman Louise Ellman questioned Mr McLoughlin about the inquiry - saying it "did not look very independent". Richard Deakin (NATS CEO) said NATS will be spending £575m over the next five years on systems.
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South African project to produce biojet fuel from “Solaris” tobacco – competing with food for land
Boeing and South African Airways plan to collaborate with SkyNRG and Sunchem SA to produce fuel from the nicotine-free Solaris variety of tobacco plant which South African Airways will test in flight. They are calling this "Project Solaris" and the first 50 hectares of Solaris have been planted in Limpopo province. The test crop will be harvested for the first time in December 2014, and the first test flights could begin next year. The aim is to provide new economic opportunities for small farmers, and fuel security, and much is being made of jobs created with new skills. Though some oil is found in tobacco seeds, the plants few, so oil is derived from the leaves. South African Airways hopes to use 20 million litres of biofuel in 2017, before reaching 400 million litres by 2023. SkyNRG hope to have 250,000 hectares planted with Solaris by 2025. When the oil price was high, there were hopes the tobacco-derived jet fuel would save money, but now the price of oil has tumbled, the scheme finances may be different. If the test farming in Limpopo is successful, the project will be expanded in South Africa and potentially to other countries. However, growing tobacco completes with food - as the crop needs water and fertiliser to grow economically. It is therefore diverting land away from food production
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London Chamber of Commerce & Industry says London should keep £1bn raised in APD from its airports
Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, says the amount of APD (Air Passenger Duty) levied on flights using London airports should be allocated to London. As the largest number of long haul flights are from Heathrow, it generates the most APD, with around £1 billion - around one third - coming from London airports. Mr Stanbridge says: "Now that Edinburgh and Belfast will control APD in their areas surely it must be the case that London will follow suit." The Chamber of Commerce wants there to be no tax at all on flying, and for APD to be abolished. But meanwhile it would be "more appropriate for London’s Mayor to oversee London airport APD..... We would like to see the funds invested in critical infrastructure projects in the capital such as Crossrail 2, Tube upgrades or a much-needed new road bridge for east London to name but a few. ...The devolution of responsibility for this major transport tax would represent another power for London in the ongoing fight for greater fiscal devolution to the capital to help stimulate local growth”. The Treasury estimates full abolition of APD would result in up to £4bn in lost revenue per year - other estimates are higher.
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Text of phone script of Heathrow commissioned Populus poll shows degree of bias
In July to September 2014 Heathrow commissioned yet another telephone poll by Populus, on attitudes to its 3rd runway plans. The poll showed 49% net in favour, 32% net opposed and 19% neither support nor oppose. The figures are broadly similar to polls in March 2014 (48% support, 34% against, 18% unsure), November 2013 or May 2013 and there was 50% support from a Populus poll in 2007. Though Populus publish details of the numbers, they do not publish the script used for the phone interview. An enterprising resident, irritated by the polls, noted the wording when telephoned - which indicates how much bias there is in the way the poll was conducted. There was no mention that the poll was paid for by Heathrow. The most dubious question is number 11 which asks: "Are you more or less inclined to support expansion of HRW (or maybe it was a 3rd runway?) knowing that it will mean: 11.1) An additional 41,000 jobs by 2030 (options more, less, or no difference); 11.2) Doubling youth training schemes from 5,000 to 10,000 places (options more, less, or no difference); 11.3) Reduction in number of people impacted by daytime aircraft noise (options more, less, or no difference); 11.4) Reduction in night time disturbance [not specific] (options more, less, or no difference). Unbiased?
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MAG CEO, Charlie Cornish, says Stansted might press for a 2nd runway by the mid-2020s
Stansted aims to submit plans for a new runway some time in the next decade, according to Charlie Cornish, the CEO of parent company Manchester Airports Group. He says the present expansion rates meant that Stansted would apply to the government for the repeal of existing local council limits and then lobby for a 2nd runway to satisfy demand. Stansted hope its projected rate of growth between now and the mid -2020s will see it pass through its local authority-capped capacity of 35 million passengers per year, and hit its physical capacity on one runway of 45 million by 2030. In October 2008, the Government gave approval for Stansted to increase its permitted passenger numbers from 25 to 35 million per year, and a rise in the permitted number of annual flights from 241,000 to 264,000. Mr Cornish wants better rail connections to London and to the other airports. Having fallen for years, ever since the peak at over 23.7 million in 2007, Stansted's number of passengers is still well down, at 17.8 million in 2013, though the number has risen significantly during 2014.
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Massive expansion of Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania, with Dutch funding – evicting up to 10,000 people
It was announced in 2012 that the Dutch government would provide some $36 million for expanding and upgrading Kilimanjaro airport, in Tanzania. There are many flower growers in the area, and the Netherlands imports flowers by air. The Dutch funding would pay for around 42% of the cost of the airport development, which includes refurbishment of all runways, and taxiways and airport facilities. But the land take would be around 23,000 acres of which about 9,000 are occupied. There are also plans to convert the 110 square kilometre area around the airport into a modern duty-free "shopping city" for tourists that would compete with Dubai. It would include shopping centres, tourist hotels, duty free shops, export processing zones, curio shops, golf courses and a large game ranch. The airport says they own the land and the people are illegal squatters, but the plans involve removing about 10,000 people. There have therefore been huge protests against this compulsory removal and disputes about land ownership. The amount of compensation for those removed was estimated in 2002 to be about $300,000 but the government now says that is too high.
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Heathrow faces “almighty battle” if expansion gets Government approval
At the Airports Commission evidence session on 3rd December, a line-up of MPs from affected areas spoke forcefully of their opposition to a 3rd Heathrow runway. Lord True, leader of Richmond Council, warned that if the Government granted Heathrow permission for a new runway, they would have “the most almighty battle on their hands” with thousands of people in the area. He said: “Both Heathrow proposals are unacceptable. Further expansion cannot and must not go ahead. I urge the Government to put Londoners first and not the interests of the overseas investors behind big Heathrow....The misleading claims from the Back Heathrow campaign are nonsense - it is absurd to say that if the airport doesn’t expand it will decline....More than 100,000 west London residents have already said no to an expanded Heathrow - these are real residents, real people, all impacted by the proposals.” Wandsworth Council leader Councillor Ravi Govindia pressed Heathrow on whether their new noise respite proposal was deliverable - and Heathrow could not give adequate assurances. Ravi said: “All of the Heathrow expansion plans include noise respite systems which are beyond the airport’s ability to control and deliver. That was absolutely clear from the hearing."
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New Moody’s report shows Gatwick vulnerable to either its own, or a Heathrow, runway
The credit ratings agency Moody's, have produced a new report entitled "New runway will have mixed credit implications for London's airports". This indicates that Gatwick would take the biggest hit if a new runway was built in London, while Heathrow stands to gain the most from a new runway. Moody’s has concluded that a new runway either at Gatwick or at Heathrow would be bad for Gatwick. With its own new runway, Gatwick would be forced to levy higher airport charges, in order to pay for it.. Adding a runway at Heathrow would also result in increasing competition for Gatwick, because it would be at risk of losing scheduled airline traffic to Heathrow, where carriers can typically earn more per passenger mile. The Moody's analyst commented: “A runway at Heathrow would allow the airport to benefit from growth in future traffic volumes, and a new runway at Gatwick would not take significant traffic from Heathrow." And they say Gatwick double aeronautical charges would put it at a huge competitive disadvantage to Stansted, which is its main competitor in the low-cost airlines segment.
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Half of Heathrow’s busiest airlines miss landing noise reduction targets
Heathrow's own figures show that 25 of the busiest 50 airlines at Heathrow are missing landing noise targets. John Holland-Kaye said he has written to the airlines, to warn them amid continued problems with noise. Landing noise test scores were revealed by Heathrow in a 'Fly Quiet' table after monitoring between July and September this year. Airlines receive a red, amber or green rating for six noise-related categories, with green indicating the quietest performance and red the noisiest. Among the categories measured is the continuous descent approach (CDA), by which planes maintain a steady angle of approach (3 degrees) when landing, rather than descending in stages. CDA cuts fuel use and reduces noise compared to long periods of level flight because it requires less engine thrust and can keep aircraft higher for longer. But half Heathrow's airlines missed out on green CDA scores between July and September which is 5 less than in the preceding 3 months. Heathrow is hoping to cut noise from approaches a bit, by summer 2015, to try to persuade people a 3rd runway would be tolerable. The report ranks airlines by their noise performance.
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Gatwick “Dear neighbour” letter to all households – inviting support for runway – play “spot the omissions” with it!
Gatwick airport, as part of its PR push for its 2nd runway, has written to thousands of local households in its surrounding area, with virtually everyone for miles around getting the letter. Gatwick is hoping people will respond to the Airports Commission consultation (deadline 3rd February) to back their runway. The letter can be found here. Several residents have already expressed their anger at receiving it, and at the failure of Gatwick to take any real account of the extent of the local opposition. Gatwick does not find it convenient to take much note of the fury about aircraft noise from new flight paths, or of very real and serious concerns about the horrific impact of a new runway on a huge area of Sussex, as well as of Surrey and Kent. You may like to go through the letter, entertaining youself with trying to spot the deliberate omissions, the deliberate partial truths, and the deliberate glossings-over. It is too full of them to list in this summary. But to save time, you might prefer to see the annotated version below, setting out some of the failings and distortions of the letter.
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Holland-Kaye interview – unsurprisingly pushes case for larger hub, which means ‘No’ to Gatwick
In a long, slightly obsequious, interview with John Holland-Kaye in Management Today, there are a couple of useful points. Holland-Kaye gives his usual responses to the typical questions, and thought he glosses over anything that does not suit his case, many are persuaded by him (as long as what he says is not critically challenged). One of the main questions is to what extent there will be a continuing, or even a growing, need for a massive hub airport to provide a greater supply of transfer passengers and fill large long-haul aircraft like the A380. Holland-Kaye is paid to say there is. However, it may be that the future model is the new generation of smaller long-range twin-engined planes such as Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner that fly point to point. In that case, the regional airports don't need to use Heathrow and can have their own direct flights. Management Today wonders, having listened to H-K's stock of good answers, why "If it’s all so simple, why wasn’t the decision taken years ago?" It's not just the politics. The economic justification, rather than just going with the macho "winning the global race" mantra, is fragile.
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Public invited to Gatwick drop-in session with Airports Commission 6 – 8pm on Tues 16th December in Crawley
On Tuesday 16th December, the Airports Commission will be holding its second full public discussion day on airport runway proposals, about Gatwick. The first was about Heathrow, on 3rd December. The Commission has now announced there will be a public drop-in session, available to anyone who wishes to attend, from 6 - 8pm on Tuesday 16th. There is no need to have a ticket. The Commission says the purpose of this drop in session is for Commission staff to hear first-hand from people to be affected locally. Commission staff will be available to answer questions, and help people find the information they need in order to respond to the Airports Commission runway consultation, that closes on 3rd February. The main meeting during the day is by ticket only, as capacity is limited and there has been huge demand. There are no more tickets available. However, the Commission will be publishing a full transcript on their website so those unable to attend can read what was said. But everyone is invited to attend the 6 - 8pm session at the Arora Hotel, Crawley.
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Manchester airport hope its first direct flight to Hong Kong will bring business and tourism boost
There is now a new direct Cathay Pacific flight from Manchester to China (Hong Kong), avoiding the need to hub via Heathrow, or any other European airport. This makes Manchester the first airport outside London to offer a non-stop direct route to China - which may be a boost to the region’s economy. There will be 4 flights per week. The airport hopes rich Chinese visitors - as well as business people - will come direct to Manchester, rather than all going to London. Manchester's "Airport City" has had key investment from the Beijing Construction and Engineering Group. It has taken Charlie Cornish, CEO of Manchester Airports Group, 3 years to secure the link. Mr Cornish has been appealed to the Airports Commission to ensure the country’s future aviation needs are met by a ‘network of regional airports’ - rather than money ploughed solely into Gatwick and Heathrow. The route will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, which can carry 300 passengers. From Hong Kong, passengers can connect to 22 cities in mainland China. As they have done successfully from flights from Heathrow for decades - without more direct city links. The UK has always had good links to Hong Kong, for historical reasons.
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Near miss of drone with plane landing at Heathrow in July – unregulated drones a potential safety hazard
The CAA has released information about a category A (the most serious risk of collision) near miss incident, of an Airbus A320 (which can carry up to 180 people) approaching Heathrow, over London, coming close to an unidentified drone. The incident was on 22nd July 2014 at 1416 GMT. The A320 pilot reported seeing a helicopter-style drone as the jet was 700 feet off the ground. The CAA has not identified the airline. The drone is reported to have been within 20 feet of the plane's wing. The drone had not appeared on air traffic control radar and disappeared after the encounter. In another incident, in May 2014 the pilot of an ATR 72 turbo-prop plane reported seeing a helicopter drone only 80 feet away as he approached Southend at a height of 1,500 feet. Now BALPA has warned that the large number of drones operated by amateur enthusiasts now poses "a real risk" to commercial aircraft. Sales of drones have increased rapidly, with UK sales of 1,000 - 2,000 every month. Costing as little as £35 for a basic one, they will be popular as Christmas presents - more advanced drones costing £3,000 can carry a high definition camera. Buyers have no training, but they are meant to stay below 400ft and avoid areas close to airports. There is no way to enforce these requirements.
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70th anniversary of the Chicago Convention – there is STILL no tax on jet fuel for commercial planes, worldwide
The aviation industry lobby, ATAG and its website "Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders" is celebrating the 70th anniversary (7th December) of the signing of the Chicago Convention. This, shortly after WWII, set up international agreements for how air travel would be managed between countries, with some sensible details of how airspace should be used, standards of competence by the crews and air-worthiness of the planes. But it also had Article 24. This said aircraft flying to, from or across, the territory of a state shall be admitted temporarily free of duty. Fuel, oil, spare parts, regular equipment and aircraft stores retained on board are also exempt custom duty, inspection fees or similar charges. With international aviation in its infancy after WWII, most countries extended this exemption to all aviation fuel and enshrined it in dozens of bilateral aviation treaties between countries. So there remains no fuel duty on fuel, worldwide, for any commercial flights (there can be on private leisure flying). The House of Commons briefing note says: "Contrary to common perception, the 1944 Chicago Convention only precludes taxation of aircraft fuel in transit, a provision which can be seen simply as a safeguard against double taxation."
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Fears of local residents as Fiumicino Rome airport plans to add another two runways
Fiumicino airport is the main airport for Rome, and the largest in Italy. It has around 34 million passenger per year now, and 3 runways (4th not often in use). It plans to build two more runways by 2044 (and four new terminals) and grow its number of passengers to 100 million per year. Fiumicino airport is located near the coast, and the land where runways are planned is close to the state nature reserve for the Roman coast. There is also an important neolithic site, with the first evidence of use of the horse in Europe. The local community group, Comitato Fuoripista, oppose the doubling in size of the airport, with the predictable environmental consequences. It is not clear that doubling the airport's size can be justified economically. Now residents are alarmed that there has been drilling in the area, already prone to subsidence and flooding, and that this is for runway plans. The authorities claim the drilling, done without the proper consents from the local authority, is for normal monitoring. The Benetton family have a 95% stake in Airports of Rome, (ADR) that owns Fiumicino airport.
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NATS drops High Court action to prevent Gatwick awarding DFS its tower services
UK-based air traffic control business NATS has dropped its action in the High Court to block Gatwick from concluding a deal with German rival DFS to provide air traffic services at the airport till 2025. Gatwick will be the largest UK airport to have its immediate airspace up to 4,000 feet controlled by a a foreign provider. It was announced in July that DFS had beaten NATS to get the contract. On 2 October NATS was granted an injunction after a judge supported what the business insisted were legitimate concerns over the way the contract was awarded. NATS said Gatwick had failed to provide full information. But Gatwick has always defended its decision which followed an ‘extensive’ tender process, and that the proposal submitted by DFS was considered superior. NATS now say they have seen details of the tender process that were not previously freely available, and have therefore reached a settlement before trial. DFS will cover air traffic and approach services below 4,000 feet around the airport, currently provided by NATS from October 2015. NATS will retain operations for all air navigation services above 4,000 feet, from its base in Swanwick.
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“Gatwick Obviously Not” asks all Wealden councillors if they back East Sussex County Council’s support for Gatwick runway
On 24th November, Kent County Council withdrew its backing for a 2nd Gatwick runway. At present both West Sussex and East Sussex County Councils support a new Gatwick runway. However, it is now understood that East Sussex County Council (ESCC) is starting to look wobbly on this commitment. Kent withdrew support largely due to the unacceptable noise burden on a large number of its residents, and the same arguments apply for the Sussex councils. Gatwick Obviously Not (GON), representing many areas to the east of Gatwick, do not believe East Sussex District Councils support their County Council. GON has written to all 54 of the councillors in Wealdon District, that is now badly affected by over-flying, to ask their view on ESCC's backing for Gatwick, and their view on the "unilateral stance taken by Cllr Simmons of ESCC to push through support for the 2nd runway under delegated powers" (found out by an FoI request). GON are also asking their membership to email their Wealden councillors, to ask their views on the runway issue, bearing in mind the change of heart at Kent County Council.
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Heathrow gets award as “Green Business of the Year” from a West London group that it sponsors
Awards ceremonies and the process of winning awards is an amazing business. Almost anything can get an award of some sort, especially if you are one of the sponsors of the award. If you want to think of any one place in the UK that is responsible for more air pollution or more carbon emissions, you will find few that beat Heathrow. But no. Heathrow has now won yet another (it has won two before) environmental award. This time it is from West London Business Awards. Heathrow was the winner in the "Green Business of the Year" category. The runner up was another sponsor of the awards, Westfield. As the local paper reports, with a tremendous Freudian slip, the Heathrow schemes were successful in ...."reduced local air quality levels." This has all been too much for a local resident, who has "improved" on the local newspaper story, with a slight twist .... to report on the comedy awards. One of the reasons for their award was "encouraging the use of car sharing", which is slightly spoilt by a photo, by the local writer, of a huge billboard advertising Heathrow's new business car park.
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Manchester Airports Group boss calls for regional perspective in aviation debate
The head of the Manchester airports group, that owns Manchester and Stansted airports, among others, says the government must not forget about its pledge to tackle the North-South divide when setting aviation policy.Speaking at the RunwaysUK event in Manchester on 2nd December, Charlie Cornish said there is more to the debate than just looking at boosting capacity at Heathrow or Gatwick - as is the proposal by the Airports Commission. He said there was a "strong economic case" for regional airports to be "more than spokes" serving a southern hub, as he cited investments by Emirates and Etihad which have created hundreds of jobs in the North West. "There should be a network of competing airports in the UK, especially if you consider the opportunity presented by rail enhancements. With HS2 and HS3 there is an opportunity for regions in the UK to actually start to narrow the North- South divide. The Chancellor's support for the Northern Powerhouse is fundamentally important to rebalancing the UK economy." MAG expects their airports to "grow irrespective of the decisions made on Heathrow or Gatwick"
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Autumn statement 2014: Osborne to introduce ‘Google tax’ for large companies that shift profits abroad to avoid UK tax
In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor proposed a 25% levy on profits "artificially" shifted abroad to avoid tax by multinational companies. This is nicknamed the "Google Tax" to tackle companies like Amazon, Apple and Starbucks. However, the measures also apply to Gatwick which has complicated arrangements to keep its tax burden low - it has not paid UK corporation tax for years. “We will make sure that big multinational businesses pay their fair share,” Osborne said. The tax is intended to raise more than £1bn over the next 5 years by tackling aggressive avoidance. However, experts said the estimated £300m a year in extra revenues was just a fraction of the real profits multinationals are making in Britain. The rules for the Treasury’s “diverted profits tax” will be published in draft legislation on 10th December and introduced in April 2015. They are designed to hit companies that use artificial structures to minimise UK profits and therefore lower their UK tax bills.
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Air Passenger Duty on economy flights for children under 12 cut from May 2015 (under 16s from May 2016)
In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor has announced that APD on children’s flights will be scrapped for all economy class tickets (not first class). From 1st May 2015, APD for children under 12 will be abolished and in May 2016, APD for all children under 16 is to go. This means the Treasury will miss out on £40 million in 2015/16 and £85 million in 2017/18 and £95 million in 2019/20. The air travel industry had called for the change on the basis that it would make an annual holiday more affordable for hard pressed families. But in fact it is most likely to benefit airlines, and those on higher incomes taking several flights a year. The families struggling the most financially might at most take one European flight per year (saving £13 per child). Those able to afford long haul trips will save £71 per child - so more savings for the better off? It airlines, airports and tour operators really wanted to help make an annual visit abroad affordable for more families, they could stop hiking their prices during the school holidays. The annual APD tax take will now be £3.2 billion in 2014/15 and still £3.2 billion in 2016/17 (while the 2011 Autumn statement estimated it would be £3.8 billion).
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Heathrow hopes to overcome community opposition to 3rd runway with more extensive house purchase plans
Heathrow held a consultation on compensation arrangements earlier in the year. Hacan did not take part, believing people should not have to agree to, or comment on, entirely hypothetical proposals. Now Heathrow has felt the need to improve the generosity and scope of its compensation offer, due the manifest unfairness of its previous offer. It will now extend the offer to buy houses, for pre-blight market price plus 25%, and with £7,500 for selling costs and stamp duty. This will now cover all of Harmondsworth, Sipson, Poyle, Colnbrook, Brands Hill, Harlington and Cranford Cross. There will no longer be unfair lines, with those just outside the line missing out. There would be about 3,750 people included in the scheme. The earlier offer was for only 750 properties in Sipson and Harmondsworth that would be subject to compulsory purchase orders if there was a north west runway. Realising that communities die, and their spirit is lost, as soon as many people decide to accept cash and move out, Heathrow says they will "refurbish and sound-insulate any properties it buys before putting them back up for sale" in the forlorn hope that would prevent the community from losing its heart?
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Unknown cost to taxpayer of tunnelling M25 could equal several years total flood defence spending
If Heathrow airport was allowed to build its new north west runway, documents prepared for the Airports Commission by Jacobs indicate the cost of the works to tunnel the M25 (at its widest in that part of its circular route) could cost between £1.35bn to £3.22bn. How much Heathrow would pay is not yet clear. The cost would depend on the length of motorway affected and the cost per kilometre. Recent work to widen the M25 cost £3.4 billion for 35 kilometres. The Commission thinks that figure is too high, though it included 30 years-worth of maintenance (costing 20% of the total). The cost of the work should perhaps be around £50 million per kilometre, or more. The Commission says: "We note that the airport operator has suggested funding 50% of these works, with the remaining 50% borne by the public sector. The Airports Commission has not taken a view as to the split of funding between private and public sources and believes that this would be a matter for negotiation should the scheme be taken forward." By contrast the Government spent £2.3 billion on floor prevention for the 4 years 2011 to 2015.
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Stop Stansted Expansion celebrates 10th anniversary of its wood at Broxted – where BAA wanted 2nd runway
Ten years ago, more than 130 Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) supporters took part in a mass tree planting to create the SSE Wood at Broxted Hill Farm, on the very site where BAA was planning to put down a 2nd runway. This wood was planted as a symbol of SSE's defiant determination that BAA's runway would never be built. The trees, all native species, were sponsored by some 700 supporters. On Sunday, 30 November 2014, to mark the tenth anniversary of the wood, SSE held another working party and also planted a tenth anniversary tree. Peter Sanders, SSE's Chairman, said: "At the time when it was first planted the Government of the day was predicting that a 2nd runway would be operational at Stansted by 2010. It is wonderful to see how the wood has flourished, and how the plans for a 2nd runway have so far been thwarted." Terry Waite commented: "We stand firmly against ruthless commercial exploitation which fails to take into account the wishes of local people and spoils a part of the countryside forever."
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Majority (56%) of Horley residents against 2nd Gatwick runway – only 43% in favour
Horley Town Council commissioned a survey, of over 1,000 people, and has formally opposed a 2nd Gatwick runway. Horley Town Council is required to give an official response to the Airports Commission on the runway plans, and conducted the study to help shape their view. Of the 1,096 respondents, 34% were in favour of a new runway, while 56% were against, and 10% were not sure. The most common reason residents gave against expansion was increased noise, and the next more common reason was concerns about traffic and road congestion. Reasons for the runway to be approved include "enhanced local prosperity, especially for Horley", followed by "new jobs created, plus job security". The 10% who were unsure wanted more details about roads, traffic and parking impact. Despite councillors' pleas for more people between the ages of 15-25 to take part in the Horley survey, only 15 respondents did so. A full council meeting agreed to oppose a runway. But if a Gatwick runway was got Commission approval, the council would strive to get "the best possible outcome for local residents with particular regard to infrastructure".
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Extent to which “Back Heathrow” is funded by Heathrow, and is not a true community campaign, revealed
"Back Heathrow" is an industry funded pressure group, the aim of which is to drum up support for a 3rd Heathrow runway. It was set up with at least £100,000 from Heathrow airport - maybe more. Its website just says that it had money from Heathrow to set up. Matt Gorman from Heathrow admitted at a public meeting in Putney on 27th November than Heathrow continues to fund it, but nobody will give any figures. "Back Heathrow" is a classic astroturfing campaign (ie. making out that it is community led, when it is not). Its co-ordinator is Rob Gray, was previously a director of the Aviation Foundation, another lobbying group established by the industry. Other staff working for Back Heathrow are current or former Heathrow employees. They have recently distributed hundreds of thousands of glossy newspapers to households across west London, with no mention anywhere on these that they are paid for (at least in part) by Heathrow. They try to give the impression of being independent information. Back Heathrow claim to have 50,000 people signed up, but this is largely due to scare tactics, implying Heathrow workers will lose their jobs without a 3rd runway. This has now been revealed by the Sunday Times
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LETTER: Cutting air travel is essential choice – not only advocating more cycling & more use of rail
Writing in the local Sussex press, a local resident shows up the logical inconsistency of local LibDem councillor Frances Haigh backing a 2nd Gatwick runway (against the policy of her party) while backing more cycling and more use of rail. With around 35 million passengers per year, Gatwick already provides far more capacity than everyone living within a reasonable distance of the airport could possibly need per year. The extra passengers with a new runway would need to come by road or rail from long distances away, possibly passing other airports which have spare capacity, like Stansted and Luton. To travel more by bike and by rail is commendable, but the carbon emissions from flying far outweigh the savings than can be made by these more sustainable modes. The travel distances flying permits, in just a few hours, can result in the production of more CO2 per person per day than the average per car in a year. For anyone concerned about their contribution to global warming, cutting back on air travel is an obvious and essential choice.
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Stansted Parish Council’s concerns over airport’s development plan including fears about land grabbing
Stansted's draft "Sustainable Development Plan" says it hopes to increase Stansted's passengers from the current 18 million, up to their legal limit of 35 million, and then up to 40 - 45 million per year, on the existing runway. Stansted Parish Council has now commented, unflatteringly, about the plan. They fear growth will inevitably be to the detriment of their villagers and said: "MAG claim their plan to develop Stansted Airport is sustainable and, seen from their narrow perspective, that may well be the case. However, viewed from the broader standpoint of the local community, it most certainly is not. ... All [the extra 25 - 30 million passengers per year] will be competing with local communities for use of the same finite infrastructure resources; for example, road, rail, water etc. Without substantial investment, these resources will begin to degrade and ultimately fail. ...... it is clear that [MAG] do not consider they have any responsibility for maintaining or investing in such resources." And "As far as [MAG] are concerned these are matters for local and national government and it is for the taxpayer to pick up the bill. " The parish wants a tax on airport operators to pay for the infrastructure, on which they depend.
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Low cost airlines may increasingly challenge older airlines on some long-haul routes
For years there have been plans by the low cost airlines to get into long haul routes. An interesting article in the Economist looks at various aspects, and how this may be starting to become more likely. In the past, the economics did not work. Newer planes using slightly less fuel per passenger, and able to travel longer distances, may make this possible, on busy routes like trans-Atlantic. The low cost airlines need to use their planes for more hours per day than legacy airlines have, and this means time differences and airports’ night curfews can make it harder to turn planes around quickly. If a plane has to stay away from its home base overnight, that means paying for crews’ accommodation costs. The older airlines can partly fill their long haul planes with short haul feeder traffic. But that is becoming less of a benefit as increasingly more passengers “self-connect” by booking each leg of a trip separately online. The full-service airlines are also ordering newer, more fuel efficient planes, but they have the burden, compared to new low cost airlines, of high costs of legacy pension schemes and labour agreements, making their fares inevitable higher. ie. More difficulties in forecasting future UK airport demand.
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Airports Commission consultation shows air quality problems with new runways, but no adequate data yet
The Airports Commission consultation document is aware that air quality is a major obstacle for a new Heathrow runway. It says expanding either Gatwick or Heathrow would have a negative impact on air quality, with all proposed schemes requiring expansions to local road networks to accommodate increased road traffic. For both the Heathrow runway options the Commission says "Both local Air Quality Objectives and EU limit thresholds are at risk of exceedance at a small number of monitoring sites in the local area under this scheme. While in some cases these exceedances are also forecast to occur in the do minimum scenario, there is clearly a substantial negative impact of the scheme on air quality, unless forceful mitigation measures are implemented." But they have not been able to complete full detailed modelling of the air quality impacts of new runways and further work is needed. This unfortunately is not in time for the consultation. The Commission intends to supplement this at a future date with “more detailed dispersion modelling”. That means models to show how wind and weather disperses pollution, and it could be questioned how much faith should be placed on sufficient wind speeds in coming years.
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Air Passenger Duty to be devolved to Scotland, which wants to halve & then scrap it
The Smith Commission, to see how powers including taxation could be devolved to Scotland, says that the Scottish Parliament should be able set income tax rates and bands and Air Passenger Duty should be fully devolved. At present, APD is charged by the Treasury only because air travel is significantly under-taxed, paying no VAT and no fuel duty. There is no logical reason why air travel, which is a luxury product, for discretionary spending, should be exempt from tax. This is particularly the case when the richest sections of society do the most flying, and of the 50% or so who do not fly in any one year, many are less affluent. The Scottish Government wants to halve and then remove APD. For the UK, APD raises about £3 billion per year, and of this about £200 million is raised in Scotland. In theory cutting APD would perhaps increase the number of tourists coming to Scotland. In reality, it is likely that many more Scots travel abroad for their holidays, taking their spending money with them, than foreign tourists flow in. Cutting the tax, and losing the tax revenues from the public finances, may not be wise if it just boosts outward tourism. Airports in the north of England are concerned about losing passengers, who could fly cheaper from Scotland.
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HACAN East’s official response to London City Airport’s flight path consultation
London City Airport has a public consultation on changes to its flight paths, which ends on 27th November. The consultation has been widely regarded as inadequate, as there is insufficient detail, and among those criticising the consultation are several councils. The community group representing people under London City Airport flight paths, HACAN East have published their consultation response. It says concentration of flight paths, without respite, is inequitable and will subject thousands to significantly more noise. They say this concentration without respite is contrary to Government policy, as the CAA itself states: "When seeking opportunities to provide respite for those already affected by aircraft noise it is important that decisions about respite should always be made after considering the specific local circumstances and through engagement with the local community." HACAN East also complains that the quality of the consultation has been poor. The airport did not directly tell local authorities, MPs, GLA or local residents, and refused to hold public meetings in, or leaflet, the affected areas. They are unimpressed at the claims flight path changes would contribute much in savings of carbon emissions.
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“Gatwick Obviously Not” tells Stewart Wingate to come clean publicly on flight path changes
In their recent e-newsletter, the recently formed group, "Gatwick Obviously Not" (GON) representing people over flown by planes in all areas east of Gatwick, set out some complaints to Stewart Wingate. It is widely recognised that Gatwick has not been open and transparent over airspace changes and trials this past year. A key issue causing anger and outrage across areas affected by Gatwick is the claims by the airport that nothing has changed, when it is clear to many thousands of people that it has. GON is now calling upon Mrs Ellman, MP, Chair of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee to call Gatwick in to find out what has really been happening. While Gatwick says there is no "superhighway" in the sky plan, GON repeat the statement from CAA that "We discovered that by removing the shortened approach path as aircraft turned into land, we were able to achieve a 25% reduction in the spacing variation." This is to "maximise throughput". Gatwick wanted to re-establish the trust of its passengers after its disastrous flooding last winter. It needs to stop being economical with the truth on flight path matters too, it is to regain any trust locally.
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Intelligible summary of the Airports Commission consultation documents
The Airports Commission's consultation documents on the three short-listed runway options are numerous and lengthy. But to give people an initial summary of what they say, HACAN has put together a short summary. They look at the economic claims of each (Heathrow 3rd Runway: £112bn – £211bn; Heathrow Hub: £101bn – £214bn; Gatwick: £42bn – £127bn). On jobs, the estimates vary wildly from 47,000 to 112,000. No one can say how many there will be, how well paid they will be, who will fill them and how long these jobs will last. The Commission estimates the cost of Gatwick would be £9.3 bn; cost of Heathrow Hub £13.5bn; cost of Heathrow north west runway £18.6bn. And there are many other costs, that the taxpayer would need to fund. The Commission puts the work the taxpayer would have to fund at £6.3bn for Heathrow Hub; £5.7bn for Heathrow; and £787,000 for Gatwick. The number of homes to be demolished would be at least 783 homes for Heathrow's north west plan; 242 for Heathrow Hub; and 186 at Gatwick. On noise, the Commission expects the number in the 55 Lden contour by 2050 would be 26,000 at Gatwick; 820,000 for Heathrow north-west runway; and 1,035,100 for Heathrow Hub.
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Huge “NORAH” study in Germany finds significant delay in children’s reading due to impact of aircraft noise
One of the largest and most extensive studies on the impact of aircraft noise on health, and on children's education has been done in Germany. The NORAH study (Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition, and Health) has been done by scientists from a range of different disciplines: medicine, psychology, social science, physics and acoustics. The work was done between 2011 and 2014, looking into exposure to aviation, road and rail noise in a large area around Frankfurt Airport and Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart airports. One of the 3 sections of the study looked at noise and children, and this found that aircraft noise affects reading performance. A rise in the flight noise by 10 dB means a delay in reading development of about a month. With a rise in noise of 20dB the delay was 2 months. Also that the overall health and school-related quality of life of children is slightly diminished by aircraft noise. They did not find an impact of aircraft noise on language skills significant for reading. There were problems with noisy classrooms, with over a third in the worst affected classrooms unable to properly understand the teacher.
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Industry lobby “A Fair Tax on Flying” new campaign to try to get APD reduced for children
Another year; another Autumn Statement by the Chancellor. This year's will be on 3rd December. And so another push by the industry lobby "A Fair Tax on Flying" to try to get the rate of tax on air travel cut. In the UK, as in most countries across the world, air travel is under-taxed. For historical reason, air travel pays no tax on jet fuel. In Europe, air travel is zero-rated for VAT. APD is the only tax paid on UK air travel, and that is at the rate of just £13 per return flight per person, for any destination under 2,000 miles from Britain. APD nowhere makes up the deficit of tax lost. The net loss to the Treasury annually may be about £9 billion. The "A Fair Tax on Flying" lobby, whose members are entirely from the aviation and travel industries, now is having a go at getting the Chancellor to cut APD for any child under 12 years old. They claim this is an unfair tax on children, and on what they try to make out is the virtual necessity of foreign holidays by air for everyone. This is a self serving campaign by the lobby, to boost its trade. They gloss over the inconvenient fact that they will raise the price of air travel during school holidays and half terms etc, and charge far, far more per passenger than merely the £13 for a European trip.
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Kent County Council withdraws backing for Gatwick 2nd runway, due to noise burden
Kent County Council (KCC) is intending to oppose plans for a 2nd Gatwick runway, in order to protect residents in west Kent from "intolerable" aircraft noise. A council policy paper sets out the position of the council and gives details of the over-flying problem, and the level of noise which has risen to unacceptable levels. This will be discussed at a cabinet meeting next week. The recommendation states: "The Cabinet agrees that KCC opposes a 2nd runway at Gatwick Airport, opposes the increase in overflights across West Kent as a result of airspace changes, and supports a reduction in the number of night flights." KCC Leader, Paul Carter, said a potential doubling of the noise impacts over west Kent would be intolerable. The number of night flights at Gatwick during the summer period is already three and half times as many as at Heathrow. "Expansion of night flights must not happen.“ KCC said it will call on Gatwick to put in place operational procedures to provide respite for areas experiencing continuing over-flights day and night, to spread out the noise burden.
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Frankfurt airport campaigner finds large plane flap that fell from aircraft into forest under approach path
On 14th October, an airport campaigner from Frankfurt was walking with his dog in the forest near Frankfurt airport, overflown by an arrival flight path. He spotted an object lying near the path, which turned out to be a huge plane landing flap. Summoning colleagues they photographed it thoroughly, and then called the police. The flap was removed by the police and is being investigated by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (BFU). Frankfurt airport was aware that a flap had been lost a week earlier, and police said they had searched for it unsuccessfully. The airport initially tried to say it was lost by another plane some years back, but the flap was obviously clean and recently fallen. From markings on the flap, it is clear it is from a Korean cargo plane, and an observer at the time of the incident reported seeing something fall from a light blue plane. There had been similar incident, involving a Korean cargo plane, in 2009. As the flap is about 3 - 4 metres long and weighs between 30 - 50kg, it is fortunate it only landed in forest. But it was only 300 metres from the busy A661 road.
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All local MPs speak out against Gatwick 2nd runway at packed protest meeting
Five MPs were on the platform, and 3 more sent messages of support, at a mass protest meeting on Saturday 22 November organised by the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC). All of the 8 MPs from around Gatwick attended or sent messages. This helps disprove the assumption in some national newspapers that Gatwick would politically be the easiest option for a new runway. The MPs were united in expressing their concern about new flight paths and about the threat of a 2nd runway. Extracts from their speeches and messages are copied here. Up to 1,000 people crammed into the meeting in Crawley, and were welcomed by 3 racy air hostesses, and by the Mayor of Crawley, Cllr Brenda Smith who later, speaking as the local councillor, expressed her deep-felt opposition to a new runway. Some 20 national and local environmental groups set up stands around the hall and answered questions from anxious members of the public. Questions from the floor were answered by a panel of experts from a range of organisations. The participants unanimously held up large cards saying NO when asked if they were in favour of new flight paths, and held up the NO cards again when asked if they were in favour of a 2nd runway.
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Manchester City chief slams Heathrow’s ‘desperate’ attempt to woo Manchester business leaders
Heathrow has been working hard to try to get support for its 3rd runway from Chambers of Commerce across the country. It has been offering the Chambers in the north west around £3,000 to fund events to pitch their runway case. They want the regions to believe they risk losing their link to Heathrow if there is no new runway. Manchester Chamber of Commerce declined the offer, and Manchester Council leader Sir Richard Leese described Heathrow’s approach as ‘desperate’. He said: “I don’t think we should be supporting the Heathrow expansion plan. I think increasingly, evidence says that we don’t need the hub airport and what we ought to do is make better use of the network airports - including Manchester Airport.... What you see is both Heathrow and Gatwick increasingly losing the argument and getting increasingly desperate - as shown in this case. .... Why do our members want to traipse down to London when they can use the airport round the corner?” 25 Chambers have backed Heathrow, but Sir Richard Leese says of them they are getting an unbalanced view from Heathrow. "Perhaps I ought to write to London Chamber of Commerce to set up a meeting for Manchester Airport.”
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Noise protesters block part of Frankfurt airport for about an hour
Opponents of the noise misery inflicted on them by Frankfurt airport's 4th runway, there has been a fresh protest at the airport. There have been regular large protests at the airport on most Monday evenings, ever since the opening of the 4th runway on 21.10.2011. On Saturday there was a different sort of protest, when people started off in a similar protest to the Monday evenings, but they then blocked the road access to the departures area for around an hour. That caused considerable disruption to the airport, as departures had to be closed. This is the first protest blocking a road. Before the runway was opened, citizens were barely consulted about the flight paths. Only their local authorities were given any information, and all were assured there would be hardly any more noise. The reality was sharply different, and flight paths were changed to accommodate the new runway, meaning thousands are affected by noise, not only on the direct approach path. One protester commented that as the airport aggravates them for 18 hours per day, they were entitled to aggravate the airport for one hour.
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Standing room only at huge Gatwick protest meeting – definite “NO” to new flight paths or 2nd runway
GACC (Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) organised a protest meeting on 22nd November in north Crawley. It was standing room only, with a huge gynmasium with space for up to 1,000 packed. People had come from areas near Gatwick, and up to 25 miles away - to express their intense opposition both to the flight path changes that Gatwick has recently inflicted on them, and to plans for a 2nd runway. The atmosphere at the meeting was up-beat, positive, angry and determined that Gatwick will not ruin their areas and their homes, or reduce their quality of life. Five MPs addressed the meeting (Nicholas Soames, Crispin Blunt, Henry Smith, Charles Hendry and Paul Beresford) with message of support read out from Francis Maude and Sir John Stanley, neither of whom could attend. The meeting was chaired by Helyn Clack (Surrey County Council), and addressed by the Mayor of Crawley, Brenda Smith. Asked by GACC whether people backed a new runway, or backed new flight paths, the response was a loud, unanimous "NO". The meeting ended with cheerful singing of a new song - "What Shall We Do With Gatwick Airport?" (to the tune of the similar "Drunken Sailor."
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Gatwick’s main airline, easyJet, questions Gatwick case for 2nd runway and does not want to pay higher landing charges
Carolyn McCall, CEO of EasyJet, the largest airline at Gatwick, has said passengers want expansion at Heathrow, not at Gatwick. Ms McCall said easyJet is "quite concerned” at the prospect that Gatwick's landing charges would rise to pay for a 2nd runway. They are having confidential talks with the airports on future charges. EasyJet makes on average £8 profit per seat. If Gatwick’s charges doubled from the current £9 to an average of £15 to £18 (or even up to £23) as predicted by the Airports Commission, this would hit EasyJet's economics. Ms McCAll said: “This whole issue of capacity should be about where the demand is. Airlines have to want to go into that airport, and the congestion we have is predominantly around the Heathrow hub. Passengers need to really value what this infrastructure brings, and if they don’t see any benefit it’s going to struggle.” A new runway risked emulating unpopular toll roads. “It will be years and years before [passengers] see any positive effect.” As one of the UK's largest and fastest growing airlines, EasyJet's opinion will need to be given careful consideration by the Commission.
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NATS proposes more low flying Stansted planes over north Essex & SSE will keep fighting changes to departure routes
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) will keep fighting planned changes to the airport’s departure flight paths. NATS first proposed changes to Stansted flight paths in June, but SSE say there must be clear and compelling benefits for local residents before any shift is implemented. NATS plans to route about 50 more outbound planes per day along a flightpath towards Clacton to avoid congestion in the skies over London. NATS received over 400 responses to its recent airspace consultation; about 82% objected to the proposed changes. NATS has now published its Feedback Report claiming that “the package of net operational and environmental benefits presents a compelling case for change”. The changes help NATS meet its targets for flight efficiency, which give more priority to cutting fuel burn and CO2 emissions than cutting noise for those overflown. The planes are unlikely to reach 7,000ft until around Kelvedon, and between 4,000 and 7,000 feet, there has to be a trade-off between cutting noise and cutting fuel burn. Hence consultation. NATS has submitted its Airspace Change Proposal to the CAA and if approved the change would come into effect in December 2015.
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NATS has a new tool ‘FLOSYS’ to help on environmental efficiency of flights – but noise ignored
The CAA requires NATS to meeting "3Di" efficiency targets (3 dimensional inefficiency) to route planes by the shortest and most efficient route, and save fuel. However, one consequence of this is more noise on the ground. The increased 3Di efficiency has a trade-off between emissions and noise, between 4,000 and 7,000 feet. (Below 4,000 feet, routes should be designed with noise as the prime consideration - above 7,000 fuel burn is the main issue). This conflict with NATS targets and noise suffered under flight paths has caused a large degree of upset at many UK airports this summer, as NATS prepares to implement the FAS (Future Airspace Strategy). Now NATS has a new tool that they call the Flight Optimisation System, or ‘FLOSYS’. This enables NATS to assess more accurately each flight trajectory. NATS says they can better identify the opportunities for operational improvements to "save airlines fuel and cut carbon emissions." The focus is definitely on cutting CO2 (ie. saving airlines money) which is laudable. But at the cost of very upset and angry residents under flight paths, who are suffering more noise. NATS is not widely endearing itself.
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Oslo airport, Statoil and SkyNRG attempting to promote “sustainable” jet fuels from wood residues & wastes
Oslo airport is hoping to get regular deliveries of biofuel, so it becomes available much of the time. Avinor, which owns the airport, has signed an agreement with Statoil Aviation. The plan is for Statoil to start delivering biofuel in March 2015, with 2,5 million liters in the first year. Biofuel is only ever used as 50% of the fuel mix in any flight. Currently the only biofuel available comes from used cooking oil. However there are plans to explore the possibility of forest-based large-scale production of aviation bio-fuel. But that is still a long way off, especially for biofuel comparable in price to conventional jet kerosene, the price of which has fallen recently. Aviation biofuel proponents are keen to get both production and use up, to get the price down. Whether biomass comes from forestry work, or wood waste, it is very far from sustainable. The nutrients in wood products need to be returned to the soils in which they grew, to maintain fertility. Biofuels are not carbon neutral, as the presumption that all the carbon emitted on burning is rapidly reabsorbed by vegetation is wrong. Regrowing an equivalent sized tree, and sequestering the carbon, in reality could take decades.
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140 organisations in “Taming Aviation” coalition petitions European Parliament to ban night flights
A coalition of 140 organisations that are signed up to "Taming Aviation" met European Parliament representatives on 18th November to ask for a ban on flights operating at night, over an 8 hour period. And it also called on legislators to stop the tax exemptions the aviation sector currently enjoys. Taming Aviation, and its member organisations, is asking the Parliament to take action. Some of the campaign's members are from communities outside immediate airport areas. Taming Aviation co-founder Susanne Heger said aircraft noise poses serious health threats for people living near airports. According to a study from the University of Bern, the noise increases the risk of dying of a heart attack by 50% and is one of the biggest concerns of those who live under flight paths. At Frankfurt there is already a ban on night flights and this should be extended widely. Citizens' groups have for many years taken these issues up with airports and authorities, with little success. Hence the appeal to the European Parliament to get effective action. There needs to be more action by Europe to ensure that a future aviation emissions system has teeth, and some real effect on aviation CO2.
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Overall fuel efficiency of US airlines fails to improve on domestic routes during 2013, finds ICCT study
An annual performance study by the ICCT shows the fuel efficiency of US carriers on domestic routes failed to improve in 2013. ICCT found little correlation between airline efficiency and profitability, and is concerned that as fuel prices steady or even fall there will even less incentive to make fuel efficiency gains. Even less efficient carriers were also able to make high profits through using older, less fuel efficient aircraft. ICCT’s analysis shows the average annual fuel efficiency between 1990 and 2000 improved by 2.1%, improving to 2.8% between 2000 and 2010 and then fell back to 1.3% between 2010 and 2012. Load factors rose from 60% in 1990 to 82% in 2010, but have flattened out in recent years. The US aircraft fleet is ageing, with fewer new planes. The price of oil has fallen markedly in the past year, and may remain low for some time, due to US oil production. There is concern there will be less incentive, with cheaper fuel, to make energy savings. Or meet the IATA goal of 1.5% energy improvements annually to 2020.
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ClientEarth wins case – EU Court rules UK government must act to clean up deadly air pollution
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has delivered its judgement in ClientEarth’s case, that the UK must act to clean up illegal levels of air pollution "as soon as possible". Under current plans the UK will not meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) until after 2030 - twenty years after the original deadline. NO2 has known harmful health impacts including increasing the risk of heart attacks and asthma. In their case at the ECJ, ClientEarth win on all points. The judgement says the UK's plans should have aimed at compliance by 1 January 2015 at the latest. The UK remains in ongoing breach of EU law, and UK courts must order the government to produce a plan which rapidly achieves NO2 limits. To be successful, a plan to deal with air pollution needs to drastically cut nitrogen oxides from diesel vehicles. Much of the air pollution around airports, like Heathrow, is caused by these diesel vehicles. Around 29,000 people die early in the UK each year as a result of air pollution, making it the biggest public health problem after smoking. ClientEarth’s case will return to the UK Supreme Court for a final ruling next year.
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Taming Aviation: 250,000 demand end to scandal of Europe’s airline subsidies, tax exemptions night flights
A ground-breaking coalition of 140 groups representing 250,000 citizens from 10 European countries has, for the first time, called on the EU to end commercial airlines’ tax exemptions and subsidies - and phase out night flights. The Taming Aviation coalition formally presented its demands in a petition to the European Parliament in Brussels on 18th November. The petition calls for an end to the absurd situation where European governments miss out on €40 billion every year because commercial airlines pay no tax on fuel and are exempt from VAT. Cash-strapped EU governments are missing out on this important revenue source, so European taxpayers must step in to fill the deficit. The subsidies are fuelling air traffic growth, with aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions expected to increase 300% by 2050. The petition also demands action to reduce aircraft noise, which poses serious health risks to people living under flight paths including increasing the risk of dying of a heart attack by up to 50%. 25 national delegates from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK were present at the event.
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New flight paths revealed in Airports Commission documents – a noise double whammy for Horsham
The Airports Commission has put out various documents in its consultation (main consultation document, main Gatwick document, other noise documents) on the issue of noise. GACC (Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) has unearthed a plan showing some possible new flight paths if a 2nd runway was built. The Commission emphasise that the map is only illustrative and does not represent where the routes might actually be. That would only be revealed after the new runway had been given the go-ahead. There is therefore no clear detail on flight paths, with no certainty of any sort for those who fear being overflown in future. This uncertainty generates very real concern and anger. The map indicates a massive increase in noise from take-offs to the west and south-west of Gatwick, over Warnham, north Horsham with perhaps a plane per minute between the two, relatively close, flight paths. Gatwick with two runways is planned to handle 560,000 air traffic movements a year, compared to 250,000 a year now. The impact of these flights would be profound, over an extensive area.
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Launch of SHE – Stop Heathrow Expansion – fighting to save much-loved village of Harmondsworth
More than 80 people attended the inaugural Stop Heathrow Expansion (SHE) meeting to bring together the opposition locally in the Harmondsworth area against Heathrow's plans to destroy their villages. Politicians, campaigners and members of the public came together for the launch of the new action group against a north-west 3rd runway, in the beautiful and historic St Mary's Church in Harmondsworth's High Street. Local MP, John McDonnell called on political parties to 'come clean' about their positions regarding the airport's expansion before the general election in 2015. He also urged those affected by the proposals to 'mobilise' and demonstrate 'people power'. He said: "The one thing we can rely on is our own power – people power – because that's how we won it last time." The meeting heard that a 3rd runway would mean an extra 260,000 Heathrow flights per year as well as around 750 homes being destroyed, and hundreds more made almost uninhabitable - but with minimal compensation. SHE is not opposed to Heathrow as it is, just to its expansion. The meeting ended with heart-felt singing of the No 3rd runway song, with the chorus: "This is our home, and we will stay; No Third Runway."
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Flights over Kent & Sussex countryside set to double if Gatwick builds 2nd runway
The Airports Commission consultation documents show that flights from Gatwick over the countryside and towns in most directions around the airport would more than double the airport was permitted a 2nd runway. The Commission's assessments, and various scenarios for forecasts, show a runway at Gatwick would be cheaper and perhaps simpler than one at Heathrow, but provide less economic benefit. The Chairman of the High Weald Councils' Aviation Action Group, Richard Streatfield said: "I don't think this report is worrying because it shows the benefits of a 2nd runway at Gatwick would be half that of Heathrow." He warned people living below the flight paths would face an "environmental calamity" if there was a new runway, with up to 560,000 aircraft movements per year, compared to 250,0000 now. Dominic Nevill, spokesman for the Crowborough based pressure group, East Sussex Communities for Control of Air Noise (ESCCAN), urged people to make their views on the report known, as the 2nd runway would be a disaster not only for their area, but far more widely.
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Lufthansa retrofitting A320 planes with simple, inexpensive, noise-reducing device to stop the “Airbus whine”
The Airbus 320 series of aircraft, many of which are used by the low cost carriers - easyJet in particular - have been known for many years (by the CAA since 2005) to have a particularly irritating high pitched whine. This is caused by air rushing across the under-surface of the wing, where there are Fuel Over Pressure Protector (FOPP) cavities. This generates noise, in the same way as blowing air over the mouth of a bottle.Every A320 series aircraft emits a signature howling noise while approaching to land. It is heard most when the plane is travelling at around 160 knots, and the frequency is around 500-600Hz, which is close to peak sensitivity of the human ear. There is a relatively simple and inexpensive retrofit, to attach a small aluminium "vortex generator" in front of the cavity. Then can be done at routine aircraft maintenance, though the fuel tanks need to be emptied. Lufthansa is in the process of retrofitting all its A320 series planes. Air France will also do so. EasyJet has been reluctant to do much, as it sees no commercial advantage in doing so.
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Heathrow adverts on the Underground subvertised
It was just too tempting for someone to resist. The Underground is plastered with adverts from Heathrow airport, promoting their new runway. And promoting the idea that their runway is of vital importance to not only the travellers who fly, using their airport, but the whole UK economy. And not just now - one ad proclaims that a small child needs a new Heathrow runway for her future welfare. And now many posters have been subvertised. The exaggerated claims of benefits from Heathrow have been substituted by more realistic text, illustrating that the carbon emissions from an expanded Heathrow would be more than any other carbon source in the UK. Larger even than the emissions of many more moderate countries, less addicted than we are to hypermobility. The advert with the small girl, which can be seen on a huge number of Tube trains, is still being investigated (for the past 2 months or so) by the Advertising Standards Authority, which is assessing the credibilty of the advert's claims.
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Letter from NGOs: “All 3 of the Airports Commission’s shortlisted options would increase CO2 emissions”
Any new runway would increase CO2 emissions and make the UK’s climate change commitments much more difficult to achieve. The Commission has assumed that emissions will be somehow constrained, but has remained silent on what policy measures would achieve this in practice. A new runway would necessitate some combination of new taxes, limits on regional airport growth, and additional burdens on other sectors to cut emissions beyond the very challenging reductions already required. The NGOs are calling on all parties to make manifesto commitments that they would not permit the building of a new runway that will violate climate targets, exacerbate noise or air pollution, or damage wildlife and the British countryside. Whoever leads the next government will need to judge the recommendations of the Airports Commission in this context before deciding whether to build a new runway anywhere in the South East. (From AEF, FoE, Greenpeace, RSPB, WWF)
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Flybe restores Newcastle Airport’s direct flights to Stansted
Passengers will be able to fly direct between Stansted and Newcastle, with Flybe, for the first time in 4 years after the airline announced twice daily flights. They will start at the end of March 2015. The North East has been without a service to Stansted for almost four years, since easyJet stopped flying it in 2011. There are claims about the importance of flights to London, for the region's connectivity. A link to Stansted will make access easier for people from the North East to London, but also to the area around Stansted, parts of Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. Stansted's MD Andrew Harrison said this will help business but also be "very popular additions to the route network for leisure connections.” ie. boost holiday flights from Stansted. But one more reason why extra runway slots are not needed at Gatwick or Heathrow, instead sensibly using space runway capacity at Stansted. There are already direct flights by BA between Newcastle and Heathrow, and by EasyJet between Newcastle and Gatwick. Also flights to Schiphol, Brussels and Paris. Newcastle destination map.
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Gatwick 2nd runway planes would be just 400 yards from Ifield village homes – blighting lives
Villagers in Ifield, the place most at risk if Gatwick was allowed to build a 2nd runway, have vowed to keep fighting. If the runway was built, their lives would be blighted by planes taking off a few hundred yards from their properties. They are already so close to the existing runway that their windows shake when planes take of. Ifield is the most northern part of Crawley. The Airports Commission has now released the papers for its consultation on Gatwick and Heathrow runway plans. The outlook for the Gatwick area would be grim, with up to 18,400 new homes needed up to 2030; (West Sussex and the Gatwick Diamond estimated 30 - 45,000 homes), devastation of countryside, hugely increased noise, more flight paths, and huge pressure on transport and social infrastructure. Campaigners say“one runway is enough” to enable Gatwick’s growth until 2040. Recent public meetings have shown almost blanket opposition to expansion. Expanding Gatwick makes little practical, or economic, sense with airports like Stansted at about half capacity.
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Comment: “How we’ve been conned into believing the UK has an airport crisis”
Great blog by Adam Bienkov, on Politics.co.uk, saying "One of the greatest confidence tricks ever pulled was to convince the public that there is an airport capacity crisis in the UK." He wonders how this has been achieved. He says if you look at the figures, it's clear that we are not even close to having an aviation capacity crisis in the UK. Of the ten busiest airports in the country, just one (Heathrow) is technically full. The rest are massively underused. In 2012, Stansted had 47% of all its runway slots left empty; Luton airport had 51% unused; Gatwick about 12% below capacity. The aviation lobby itself (and the Airports Commission) admits there is no current shortage of runways in the UK, it just may happen in the future. A majority of Heathrow passengers are on short-haul leisure flights, but there are many other airports near London that they could use instead. "There are already more than enough runways in the UK to get every British citizen wherever in the world they would like to go. What we don't have is the public transport network required to get them to those airports quickly and easily."
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Airports Commission estimates new homes needed for new runway – 18,400 at Gatwick; 70,800 at Heathrow (maybe more)
The Airports Commission estimates that a 3rd Heathrow runway could require up to 70,800 homes to be built locally to support the additional jobs created by the development. The Commission estimates a Gatwick 2nd runway could require up to 18,400 homes to be delivered across 14 local authorities, and it said this could be done up to 2030, with "land availability unlikely to be affected by green belt issues". (Estimate of 30,000 - 45,000 homes by W Sussex County Council + Gatwick Diamond). More houses would be needed for Heathrow expansion than Gatwick expansion, due to more additional business activity following a runway at Heathrow than at Gatwick, and more from the airport's north-west runway plan (up to 70,800), than the Heathrow Hub idea of extending the northern runway (up to 60,600). The Commission acknowledges that these upper limits may present challenges for local authorities, outlining that "many… already struggle to meet housing targets". The only relief would be that the homes could be delivered over a number of years, and the pain would be shared between many authorities. However, Green Belt would be seriously threatened - not to mention urban cramming and loss of village character.
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Heathrow runway schemes to cost £3-4 bn more than forecast – benefits over 60 years hard to assess
The Airports Commission figures in their consultation documents show costs of building a runway would actually be considerably higher than any of the 3 scheme proposers have estimated. The Commission anticipates a Gatwick runway would cost £9.3 billion, not £7.4 billion the airport claims. The cost of the Heathrow Hub project (extending the northern runway westwards) would be more like £13.5 billion, not £10.1 billion. The cost of Heathrow's north west runway scheme, destroying Harmondsworth, would be more like £18.6 billion, not Heathrow's estimate of £14.8 billion (excluding £800m of surface access costs). Those sums would be for runway construction, new terminal and "all other required airport facilities." The Commission says the higher cost estimates are due to "optimism bias and differing construction profiles." The possible economic benefits depend on which of 5 scenarios is considered. This could be from £42-127 billion for Gatwick, from £101-214 billion for Heathrow Hub, and from £112-211 for a Heathrow north west runway,depending on the scenario (over 60 years starting in 2026).
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Airports Commission consultation launched – on its assessments of Heathrow and Gatwick runway plans
The Commission launched its consultation on the runway hopes of Heathrow (the airport's north west runway scheme, and the Heathrow Hub extension of the northern runway), and Gatwick. The consultation runs till 3rd February. Apart from one main consultation document, there is a main document on Heathrow, Heathrow Hub and Gatwick. There are also over 50 technical documents giving more detail. A great deal to read through and take in. Sir Howard Davies' introduction says: " It is particularly important for local residents and their representatives to understand more clearly what the proposals entail, and what their consequences might be for the local environment." The Commission wants to know if people have any comments on how it has carried out its appraisals, including methodology, and if are there any relevant factors that have not been fully addressed by the Commission to date. It is also interested in evidence and ideas about how any or all of the short-listed options might be improved, or ideas for mitigation measures to address specific impacts.
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Manchester Airports boss deeply critical of likelihood of large public subsidy aiding Heathrow or Gatwick runway
The CEO of Manchester Airports group, Charlie Cornish, has protested about the likelihood of public funds being used to assist a new south east runway. He says: “Given the private interests at stake, adopting a special set of rules that favours the delivery of new capacity over the use of existing capacity, will have profound adverse consequences for competition and consumers in the long-run.” More public funds for London airports does not help regional airports. The Commission, in its consultation documents on Heathrow and Gatwick runway plans, does not give specific figures on anticipated public subsidy. But it comments there "may be a case" for some funding by the public sector. Equally, if the airport benefits from surface transport paid for by the taxpayer "may mean that a contribution from the scheme promoter to these costs is justified." State aid rules may also require an airport operator to make an appropriate payment, if it benefits from a surface access scheme. "The Government would need to reach its own view on the level of public investment that can be justified."
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Airports Commission assesses Gatwick’s runway would cost about £2 billion more, needing high landing charges
The Airports Commission's consultation on their short-listed runway options contains a lot on the economics. While Gatwick airport has said their runway would cost the taxpayer nothing, and only cost about £7.4 billion, the Commission puts the cost higher. They estimate the work for the 2nd runway, with a 3rd terminal and all associated infrastructure, would cost up to £9.3 billion. The Commission's higher figure reflects "in large part differing views of optimism bias and differing construction profiles." Gatwick already has current debt of about. £1.5 billion made up of Class A bonds. It also has £300 million of revolving credit facilities. The Commission estimates Gatwick would need to raise additional equity of up to about. £3.7 billion and additional debt of up to about. £14.3 billion. "This level of finance is not unprecedented for infrastructure projects and airports. It is, however, significantly larger than the company’s financing to date and may be challenging." Gatwick would also have to substantially raise its landing charges from £9 per passenger to up to £15-18 or up to £23. Like expensive Heathrow.
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Initial comments from GACC on the Airports Commission consultation documents
The Airports Commission has released its consultation. There is a "Business Case and Sustainability Assessment" for Gatwick (137 pages), and there are also some 50 long technical documents. GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) will study all these carefully in due course, but at first sight the documents confirm that a new runway would make Gatwick bigger (more passengers) than Heathrow today. That would be an environmental calamity. The consultation paper shows 30,000 people affected by noise from Gatwick, compared to 10,000 today (54 leq). And 560,000 aircraft a year compared to 250,000 at present. This would mean urbanisation of large chunks of Sussex; new flight paths over many towns and villages across the area, loss of tranquillity to AONB areas, gridlock on roads, and a worsening of the north-south divide. The Commission reckons that Gatwick landing charges would need to rise from £9 to £19, or £23 at peak - more than at Heathrow today. Would such a runway be used, especially with others like Stansted, Luton and Birmingham under capacity?
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Airports Commission consultation launched – acknowledging it lacks the necessary information on carbon constraints
The Airports Commission has published its consultation about the 3 short -listed runway schemes (Heathrow north-west runway, Heathrow "Hub" and Gatwick). The Commission, rather than themselves assessing whether a runway could, or should, be built - adding to UK carbon emissions, leaves that part of policy to others. The CCC (The Committee on Climate Change) has advised that UK aviation emissions should not rise to over 37.5MtCO2 per year, from around 33MtCO2 now. The Commission has had trouble trying to incorporate a new runway at one airport, as well as growth at other UK airports, within the 37.5MtCO2 cap. All sorts of assumptions have to be made. At heart, the Commission has conceded that: "The Commission intends to carry out further work to complete a fuller economic assessment of the case where UK aviation emissions are constrained to the CCC planning assumption of 37.5MtCO2e for its final report in summer 2015." ie. They do not have the necessary information on whether a runway could be viable, with the necessary price of carbon in future.
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Runway plans would be stalled by “inevitable” judicial review – causing long delays
The Airports Commission is expected to publish, this week, its initial appraisal of Heathrow and Gatwick’s runway plans, and their consultation on the three options. The Express reports that: "a source close to the Commission .....expects Gatwick and other opponents of airport expansion in general to launch a judicial review, potentially delaying the project." The source also said: "We spend a lot of money on lawyers but we are surprised that we have only had one judicial review so far." Heathrow wants to build a 3rd runway at the cost of £17 billion. Gatwick wants a 2nd runways, costing £7.8 billion. Gatwick says that its project could be built by 2025, and Heathrow that theirs could be by 2030. However, whichever airport the Commission recommends in summer 2015 will face inevitable judicial review - from the rival airport, and many others. Both plans are facing widespread opposition from residents and local politicians. As the Commission has a limited brief, with vital issues such as carbon emissions, noise measurement, taxation of air travel etc decided by others, their recommendations cannot be comprehensive.
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Brussels’ transport chief demands progress on the “Single European Sky” airspace project
The origin of the pressure to concentrate flight paths from UK airports is the European "Single European Sky" (SES) project. It aims to meet future European airspace capacity and safety needs, and make use of airspace more efficient, with the aim of cutting delays and costs for airlines. It would make it possible to fit in as many aircraft as possible in European skies. It would ensure planes travel the most direct route, and not extra distance because of moving between differently controlled blocks of airspace. SES is supported by the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Programme, which will provide procedures to modernise and optimise the future European ATM network. Part of this process is the increased use of precision navigation, and thus the concentration of flight paths - which has recently proved so controversial in the UK. Now the new European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, has called for countries to show more flexibility in integrating air corridors, to implement the SESAR programme. However, getting agreement has been difficult, and air traffic controllers fear streamlining would mean fewer ATM jobs. They also raise safety fears.
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Aviation Environment Federation asks: “Air Passenger Duty – what is it good for?”
A great analysis of APD, by James Lees of AEF, shows aviation as a whole enjoys significant tax exemptions, including paying no VAT or fuel duty. For an industry with a very significant environmental impact – only car travel comes close as a transport mode in emissions per km – this is an anomaly. If UK aviation paid VAT and fuel duty at the same rate as motorists then around £10 billion could be raised for public finances. APD by comparison raises £3 billion annually. When modelling how future UK passenger demand could be restrained to the level compatible with climate targets if a new runway was built, the Airports Commission assumed the cost of emitting a tonne of CO2 increased from £3 today to £600. This would add £43 on to a shorthaul flight compared to £13 for the basic rate of APD (to anywhere in Europe). The industry likes to claim £13 of APD is 'pricing families out of the skies.’ In reality an average family (of 4) holiday in Europe is over £2,000. Of that APD is under 3%. AEF says: "We are yet to see evidence that indicates the 52% of the UK population who don’t take a flight each year view APD as the main financial hurdle."
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