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Latest news stories:
Crisis for ETS as EU Parliament rejects ‘backloading’ which would have improved carbon trading
In the European Parliament, MEPs have voted narrowly to reject plans to bolster the price of carbon in the EU ETS by delaying or 'backloading' the sale of 900 million carbon allowances, prompting accusations that they have badly dented the bloc's reputation as a global leader in the fight against climate change. The proposals were defeated in by 334-315, forcing the plan to return to the committee stage. It is now expected that the price of carbon allowances will hit record lows in the next few days as the market responds to confirmation that short to medium-term action is unlikely to be taken to address the chronic oversupply of carbon allowances in the market. Trading after the vote saw the price of EU allowances (EUAs) fall to a new record low of €2.63 a tonne. The EC proposals to remove the 900 million allowances, in order to boost the price, were defeated by a coalition of mainly centre-right MEPs (saying it would be interference with the market-based mechanism and could lead to higher energy bills in some markets) and also climate sceptic MEPs (some UK Conservatives), who have rejected any steps to try and tackle climate change.
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Fear that ‘Heathrow noise reduces pupil learning by third’ – as Hounslow opens its Heathrow consultation
The head teacher of an infant and nursery school directly under a Heathrow flight path, close to the airport in Hounslow, has been speaking of the impact of the planes on the learning of children at her school. Kathryn Harper-Quinn, who runs Hounslow Heath Infant & Nursery School said a recent study had highlighted the dramatic impact planes thundering 600-feet overhead have on children's learning. Asked to recall factual details from an outdoor lesson, she said, a class of 7-year-olds could remember about a third less than those hearing the same lesson in a specially built noise-insulated hut. When the study was repeated with a fictional story, there was no noticeable difference in performance - a result Ms Harper-Quinn put down to pupils being able to fill in the gaps more easily. Speaking at the official launch of Hounslow Council's consultation on Heathrow, she claimed a 3rd runway would blight thousands more children's education. The consultation questionnaire contain 11 questions, and the deadline for responses is May 16th.
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Lydd airport expansion: planning advice is ignored over building near nuclear sites
Writing in the Observer, Jamie Doward points out that Ministers have chosen to ignore warnings that residential and commercial property should not be built too close to the UK's nuclear power plants. Documents released under FoI show that the government rejected advice from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), regarding the lessons to be learned following the Fukushima disaster. The ONR recommended restricting development near nuclear plants, advice that was overridden last week when the government approved the expansion of Lydd. A legal challenge is already underway against this decision. Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG) did not wait for the decision by Ministers, as they had anticipated the worst and worked on a case last year. The European Commission accepted the case and has already started infringement proceedings under the pilot mechanism. Environmental NGOs have condemned the government decision to expand Lydd saying any benefits from the airport would be far outweighed by the environmental damage to the area, and expansion would irreversibly damage specially protected areas nearby.
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Farnborough Airport: Airport safety zones come under fire
A forum group for Farnborough Airport - the Farnborough Airport Consultative Committee (FACC) - has expressed concerns over how new public safety zones (PSZs) at the airport were decided. New PSZs were proposed by the CAA and are expected to come into force soon. The changes mean the PSZs will decrease in size and include 50 fewer homes. but the FACC has suggested there was a lack of information given about how the new PSZs were calculated. For reasons of commercial confidentiality the changes in modelling assumptions cannot be made public – and are therefore unavailable for expert scrutiny. Critics, including Geoff Marks who has worked on the issue for many years, say the PSZs, are ‘oversimplified’ and suggesting they should be wider. Other criticism included arguments that ‘narrow triangles’ are the wrong shape for PSZs, as an aircraft in distress might not follow this line if coming down to crash.
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Cabinet minister (Defence Secretary) Philip Hammond calls for 2nd Gatwick runway
Philip Hammond (the Defence Secretary) has become the first Cabinet minister to call publicly for expansion at Gatwick - writing in the Surrey Herald. He is opposed to expansion at Heathrow, opposes a Thames Estuary hub, and also opposes the idea of a large hub airport at Stansted, as it would do economic damage to the Heathrow area. Last year he was enthusiastic about the Heathwick idea - a joint hub with Heathrow and Gatwick linked by high speed rail (an idea rejected by both airports). Now he has publicly said he wants a 2nd runway at Gatwick, followed later by a 2nd runway at Stansted. Mr Hammond is MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, an area affected by planes from Heathrow. Mr Hammond's comment has been criticised by Brendon Sewill, chairman of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC), who said: “I doubt if he has walked around the area — if so he would see there is no room for a 2nd runway.” Mr Sewill said expanding Gatwick would be another example of the “short-term solutions” that had blighted British aviation policy for 60 years.
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London Assembly says Heathrow night flights ‘disturb sleep and should stop’
London Assembly Health & Environment Committee has submitted its response to the government consultation on night flights. The Committee, chaired by Murad Qureshi, says they would wish to see night flights stopped altogether, or reduced to an absolute minimum. At the margins "quieter" aircraft cut the disturbance for residents at the edges of the noise footprint so their introduction is of benefit. But modern ‘quieter’ aircraft are still loud enough to wake people & do so regularly after 4.30am, so their number should be reduced. The Committee says Heathrow should adopt a 59 dB Lden threshold for determining areas eligible for insulation, not the current 69 dB Leq or proposed 63 dB Lden. If night flights do continue, an easterly preference at night would help achieve more of a 50/50 split between directions, as at present more come into land from the east over London. Some night flights are because planes are delayed etc so the Committee suggests a reduction in Heathrow daytime number of ATMs would help, so flights do not have to be accommodated at night. They want Heathrow to work towards WHO guidelines; the objective should be to reduce the area within Heathrow’s 40dB night noise contour.
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Blog by John Stewart: Can a Four Runway Heathrow Really be Quieter?
In an interesting and detailed blog, John Stewart (Chair of HACAN) sets out what the effect will be of having a 4 runway Heathrow, as proposed by the Policy Exchange last year. Their plan is for 4 runways parallel, some 3.9 kilometres further west than the current runways, all of which could work at once. And they claim this will cause less aircraft noise for Londoners. John assesses this claim, and finds that the plan envisages up to 960,000 planes per year (cf. 480,000 now) and there would be no rest periods for Londoners during the day. Though the plan is for there to be no night flights, and for smaller planes to come in to land over London at higher altitudes due to a steeper glideslope, there is not likely to be an improvement in the noise experienced. Though smaller planes may be able to come in at a 5 degree glideslope, the noisier planes will have to continue on a 3 degree approach. What thousands of Londoners want is runway alternation and respite periods. They will not get these from the Policy Exchange proposal.
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Lydd Airport expansion plans given government approval
Plans to expand Lydd airport have been approved by the government following a pubic inquiry. This tiny airport, on Dungeness and close to a nuclear power station, has ambitions to handle half a million passengers per year, and wants an extended runway and a new airport terminal. Shepway District Council gave permission for the expansion in 2010 but the application was called for a public inquiry. Now both Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government (Pickles) and for Transport (McLoughlin) have approved the development - subject to environmental, noise and traffic conditions. The safety issue of an airport so close to a nuclear facility have not been examined fully or properly at the inquiry. The main opposition group, the Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG) has fought tenaciously on the nuclear issue for years, and the European Commission has already started infringement proceedings under the pilot mechanism relating to the Nuclear Safety Directive. The government is also liable to legal challenge due to infringements of the EU Habitats Directive.
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Dialogue Commission on Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport reports: project delayed but confirmed
The dialogue commission looking into the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project at Nantes has produced its report. There were also two reports on the impact on water and wetland and impact on local agriculture. The commission has said that substantial adjustments are needed to the original draft of new airport designed to replace the existing Nantes Atlantique airport. This means there is an indefinite postponement. It had been planned to open in 2017. The dialogue commission has had to decide on the usefulness of the project , and also on changes and improvements needed to the project, to which is strongly opposed locally - and also by many across France. There now needs to be a new assessment of redevelopment costs of the existing Nantes Atlantique airport, and whether it could be adapted to take larger planes. Also the impact of a new airport on other airports nearby. The commission has questionned the way in which wetland would be dealt with, and the impact of loss of farms and farmland. Opponents now believe their concerns and opposition has been vindicated, but they will continue to occupy the land and fight the plans.
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Isles of Scilly transport group wants government to pay £1.5 million for hard runway at Land’s End
A transport group on the Isles of Scilly is calling on the government to help pay for a hard runway at Land's End Airport. The airport has just opened a new £1m passenger terminal at the airport. The Friends of the Isles of Scilly Transport say islanders suffered badly when Land's End was waterlogged for 2 months and they need a hard runway which would cost about £1.5 million. They also say it would be "an awful lot of expenditure for the company to take on" and so want government money. The DfT said it could not yet comment "as no request for help in funding has been received." Earlier in the year, plastic mats were put down to strengthen the grass runway and flights were diverted to Newquay.
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Catalogue of delays and problems for the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (Willy-Brandt)
Brandenburg (Willy Brandt) airport has become a symbol of how, even for the remarkably technologically successful Germans, things can go horribly wrong. There is currently no opening date set. It has a range of problems, many caused by such complicated and advanced computer systems and technologies, that engineers cannot work out how to fix them. Thousands of light bulbs illuminate the gigantic main terminal and the car park 24 hours per day, which is a massive cost and waste of energy; officials cannot work out how to turn them off as the computer system that's so sophisticated it's almost impossible to operate. Every day, an empty commuter train rolls to the unfinished airport over an 8 km stretch to keep the newly-laid tracks from getting rusty - more waste. Several escalators need to be rebuilt because they were too short; and dozen of tiles were already broken before a single airport passenger ever stepped on them. Then there are the fire system problems - with some technology that is so advanced that technicians can't work out what's wrong with it.
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Virgin starts its domestic services from Heathrow, to Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen
At the end of March, Virgin Atlantic has started its first UK domestic services with 4 flights per day flights between Manchester and Heathrow. The routes in the UK are being known as Little Red. Starting on 8th April there will also be 6 return flights daily from Edinburgh to Heathrow, and 3 from Aberdeen. Branson says Little Red will compete with BA, which also runs several domestic services. However, Virgin has losses that are expected to exceed £125m this year, which is worse than last year's £80m deficit. Its new domestic routes are designed to feed more connecting British passengers into its long-haul network from Heathrow. Seat sales for the first week of Manchester flights were said to be low but in line with expectations. Virgin is now hoping to form a deal with Delta, which will build on codesharing and reciprocal customer loyalty programmes, to try and get more of the profitable passengers between New York and London, that BA currently has. Virgin and Delta need to wait for approval from the European competition authorities and the US department of justice.
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Short haul flights clogging Heathrow runways with some 25% to short haul destinations
A new study HACAN of flights using Heathrow has revealed that out of the top 10 destinations, by number of flights, only one, New York, is long haul. The rest are European or British destinations. Based on number of daily flights, New York, with 61 flights a day, tops the table. It is followed by Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and Edinburgh. Overall around 20 - 25% of flights from Heathrow are to short haul destinations. That is around 100,000 flights (out of a total now of nearly 480,000 annual flights). Although the mix is slightly different in 2013 from earlier research in 2006, the proportion is about the same. Of the European flights, some 45% are over distances of less than 500km, which could be made by rail. Many of these journeys have the potential to transfer to high-speed rail. Due to the rise of Eurostar, flights from Heathrow to Paris have fallen from 60 per day in 2006 to 35 now. And Brussels flights have decreased from 30 to 19 in that time. It makes much more sense to use Heathrow for long haul flights, especially to the new "growth" economies.
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Critical week for the “Ayraultport” at Nantes – with report by dialogue commission
The dialogue commission looking into the proposed new Nantes airport is due to give its report on Tuesday 9th April, to Jean-Marc Ayrault - the Prime Minister and ex-Mayor of Nantes. There have been about a hundred evidence sessions to the commission over the past 4 months. The commission's chairman remains of the opinion that an airport is needed in due course, though there are some doubts about some or the arguments in favour of it. Opponents know of the apparent bias, but hope that at the least, the recommendations will be for more studies, for example on future air traffic. Two other reports are expected in the next few days. One is on the validity of the method of compensation for environmental damage proposed by the developer of the airport, Vinci. The other is to analyse its agricultural impact. On 15th April the French government will meet the EU about breaches of EU directives on water and environmental assessment.
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AEF comment on Airports Commission climate paper: forecast demand rise remains incompatible with UK climate targets
AEF (the Aviation Environment Federation) has commented on the discussion paper published by the Airports Commission, on aviation and climate change. AEF notes that the paper appears keen for the UK to avoid disadvantaging itself economically through constraints on airport capacity. The paper also acknowledges that there have also been problems with the effectiveness of EU ETS in recent years due to over-supply of credits and that the ETS is currently partly suspended. The paper also appreciates that if UK aviation expands above its 2005 level, this would require "more challenging reductions" in other sectors of the UK economy. AEF comments that even with constraints on aviation growth from capacity constraints, taxes and inclusion in the ETS, "forecast demand growth remains significantly higher than the level compatible with climate targets. In other words, if we want to meet these targets, new measures should be considered for constraining emissions, and unconstrained aviation growth with new runways should be out of the question."
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Airlines that have grown rapidly since 2004/6 need to buy more ETS carbon allowances
Airlines in Europe such as EasyJet and Ryanair, which almost entirely fly within Europe, continue to need to buy carbon permits through the EU Emissions Trading System. The ETS has been temporarily suspended this year ("stopping the clock") for flights to and from Europe. For intra-EU flights, the ETS means airlines need to buy 15% of the carbon permits they need, and the cap for 2012 was for 97% of their average emissions between 2004 - 2006. This falls to 95% for 2013 and future years. Therefore airlines that have grown significantly since 2004 -6 such as Ryanair and EasyJet have to pay more than airlines that have barely grown, or shrunk their emissions since then (the older legacy airlines). It seem Ryanair emitted about 34% more carbon in 2012 and so has a shortfall of 1.9 million tons CO2 which would cost it €8.4 million based on a price of €4.44 a metric ton. Easyjet's emissions were 25% above, so their shortage last year would amount to about 910,000 tons (costing about €4 million).
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Concern in boroughs near Heathrow about aircraft noise threat from new runways
The flight paths, and areas to be affected by aircraft noise if Heathrow was allowed to build a 3rd and even a 4th runway were revealed earlier this week by the 2M group. People in Richmond are very concerned about the even greater noise intrusion into their lives that would be caused. A Richmond Cabinet member said Heathrow expansion would make cause blight to spread to parts of the borough that are currently less affected whilst increasing the disruption for those who already suffer the burden of continual aircraft noise. Residents in Surbiton are also very concerned that their area may suffer from a large degree of noise. One resident said it would probably force her to move out of the area, and "It is greed, it is capitalism. I care greatly about the environment and we are already wrecking what we have got.” Another said the plane noise puts him off living in the area. Richmond are holding a referendum in May, as are Hillingdon and Hounslow councils, to show the Airports Commission and the industry that Heathrow is not an acceptable location for expansion.
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Airports Commission publishes discussion document on Aviation and Climate Change
The Airports Commission has published its 3rd discussion paper, on Aviation and Climate Change, through which it will assemble advice and opinion on which to base its airport decisions. The consultation period lasts till 17th May. In a thoughtful document, covering a wide range of issues in relation to aviation and climate change, it sets out the usual range of issues (carbon emissions, role of international negotiations though the EU ETS and ICAO, the role of biofuels in future, role of operational improvements, impact of aviation's non-CO2 impacts) but it also looks at the effect of both carbon constraints on future aviation growth and the effect of UK airport capacity constraints on overall emissions. It looks at the likely consequences of more long haul flights from the UK being taken from European hub airports, and the CO2 and climate effects of this happening more ("carbon leakage"). The Airports Commission has the problem of attempting to decide on CO2 issues at a time when the future of the ETS is uncertain, and effective progress by ICAO is not likely to be swift. Therefore UK policy on aviation carbon emissions is also on hold, with even agreement on non-CO2 impacts undecided.
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Ian Jopson, of NATS, explains their new technology to reduce aircraft emissions at landing and take off
NATS, the body that deals with UK air traffic control, has been attempting to reduce aircraft fuel consumption and carbon emissions by getting planes to take more direct routes, and land and take off at a continuous rate. They have devised a programme they call Flight Profile Monitor, which helps them achieve this. It uses radar data to monitor the 3 dimensional flight profiles of individual aircraft and to then record which of those were achieving smooth, continuous climbs and descents. Ian Jopson from NATS claims that from a 12 month trial last year between NATS, BMi, BMi Regional, Loganair, easyJet, Ryanair and Edinburgh Airport they achieved a saving of "at least 800 tonnes of CO2 and 250 tonnes of fuel" (tiny in comparison with the UK total). This was done by analysing each flight to see where savings could be made. They got a 20% increase in continuous descent landings, to around 55%. They also got around 95% with a continuous climb rate. NATS hopes to get more savings in future.
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Southend residents urged to respond to the JAAP consultation that encourages expansion of the airport
Southend and Rochford Councils are currently conducting a JAAP (Joint Area Action Plan) public consultation on Southend airport and its environs. The consultation has now been extended to 26th April. The JAAP refers to a range of policies that support further expansion at the airport. It is important that local people living in the vicinity of the airport respond, as they will be affected by proposed changes. The JAAP, once adopted, will form part of the Development Plan for Rochford District and Southend-on-Sea Borough. The council documents and process are not very clear, so local group SAEN (Stop Airport Expansion and Noise) are advising residents how to respond. Some of the issues in the JAAP are that Southend Airport is surrounded on all sides by large numbers of houses, and local councils have done nothing to limit or reduce the number of people who suffer from aircraft noise. Safety issues associated with the public safety zones have also been identified. The claim that expansion at the airport is creating jobs is also challenged. The job creation claims are not credible and have been exposed as such. SAEN is undertaking a mass leaflet campaign to ensure that everyone entitled to claim compensation for loss of value of property does so.
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World Bank chief says global warming threatens the planet and the poorest
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said climate change was a “fundamental threat” to global economic development as he called for a major new push to reduce extreme poverty over the next 17 years. At the same time, the impact of climate change disproportionately threatens the African and Asian nations that would find it hardest to cope. Finding ways to avoid or lessen potential climate effects, he said, are central to that effort.“If we do not act to curb climate change immediately, we will leave our children and grandchildren an unrecognizable planet,” Kim said. “It is the poor, those least responsible for climate change and least able to afford adaptation, who would suffer the most.” His comments are part of an emerging push by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to focus on climate change — something that IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has said puts global financial stability “clearly at stake.” Nicholas Stern says that both emissions of greenhouse gas and the effects of climate change were taking place faster than he forecast seven years ago
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Why China doesn’t need more airports – interesting insights by a Chinese academic
IIn a fascinating piece for the Guardian a Chinese academic sets out reasons why China does not need to build more airports. The country has a large and rapidly growing high speed rail network, which enables lower carbon travel - and electricity can be generated without imported oil needed for planes. Already some three-quarters of Chinese airports are running at a deficit, and rail is cheaper than air travel. Existing airports already struggle to compete. China already had (2011) 43 airports handling more than 2 million passengers per year, compared to 62 in America (with a poorly developed rail network) against which it compares itself. In the USA many smaller US airports have been running increasing deficits since 2002. Part of the reason for local government pushing for more Chinese airports is that local officials like to maintain their political profile through investing in building projects like airports to stimulate short-term local economic growth - so they can claim credit but not be accountable for paying back the debt afterwards when the airport is not profitable.
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New flight path maps from 2M, for 3rd and 4th Heathrow runways, show huge areas and up to 3 million people affected by noise
The 2M group, which represents some 24 local councils and between them some 3 million people, have released likely flight path maps for 3rd and 4th Heathrow runways. 2M estimate that while some 1 million people are affected by Heathrow noise at present, with 2 more runways, that would rise to 3 million people. Their indicative flight paths for arrivals and departures show the large areas which would be affected by aircraft noise if a northern and a southern runway were to be built . The approach across London to a northern runway would cover Mayfair, Belgravia, Sloane Square, South Kensington, Earl’s Court, West Kensington, Hammersmith, Chiswick and Brent. That would include all these parks (which cannot be soundproofed): Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens. The areas which would be affected by approaches to a southern runway would be Streatham, Balham, Tooting, Wandsworth Common, Earlsfield, Southfields, Putney Heath, Roehampton, Richmond Park, Richmond town centre, Isleworth, Hounslow Heath and Bedfont. The leader of Wandsworth Council commenting on blighting the lives of 3 million people and spoiling the quiet enjoyment of huge parts of London: "The price is far too high and the benefits far from certain.” This will definitely be a key political issue at the next election.
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Hale releases damning analysis of Luton Airport noise track record
Opponents of expansion at Luton (HALE) have released a damning analysis of the noise track record at Luton Airport over the past 5 years. The airport has just produced a 5 page Noise Fact Sheet, which claims that though it had a 23% increase in aircraft movements between 2011 and 2012 there was a huge reduction in the very noisiest planes. This is distorting reality, as the Fact Sheet does not properly deal with noise from other flights. HALE highlights that the Airport’s claims are entirely misleading because they are not based on a statistically representative sample of the data. It has found that in reality on average flights are getting noisier over time, not quieter, with 60% of daytime departures now registering at or above the 73dB annoyance level when they reach the noise monitors 4 miles from the airport, compared to 45% in 2007. Night flights are louder too. The airport is planning to add 60% more flights, taking the average daily total from 270 to 430; many of these would be clustered in the peak early morning and late evening periods, resulting in a doubling of flights between 10pm and midnight.
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Britain’s cheap travel boom left it with too many non-viable regional airports, says Birmingham’s Kehoe
Paul Kehoe, keen to boost the fortunes of Birmingham airport, has said that Britain has twice as many airports as it needs. He said that airports such as Norwich, Blackpool, Doncaster and Durham Tees Valley will struggle to justify their existence. There are too many small airports competing for the same passengers, and since the travel boom caused by artificially cheap air travel - which pays no fuel duty and no VAT - the demand is no longer great enough to justify so many airports. Airports always claim that they boost the local economy, though that can be disputed. They certainly suck Brits out of the country on cheap foreign trips, to spend their money abroad. Paul Kehoe said there are 20 airports between Leeds and Southampton providing commercial flights, and passenger numbers are still far below their 2007 peak. Talking about the purchase by the Welsh government, at a high price, of Cardiff airport, Paul Kehoe said we "have a choice about whether we should go on holiday. Why should the taxpayer subsidise it?” Too true.
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Notre-Dame-des-Landes: Court authorizes the expulsion of some opponents from Bellevue farm
At Notre-Dame-des-Landes, the site of the proposed new airport for Nantes, the opposition goes on. Each week more people from across France come to take turns in occupying the proposed airport site, living in mud and discomfort in shacks. Bellevue farm had been empty, but has been reoccupied and the protesters have worked hard to set up a farm there, with animals and real farm work. They are determined to stay. The court in Saint-Nazaire has ruled that the people on the farm must leave now. However, a report from a commission of dialogue is awaited next month, so it is not likely the farm occupants will actually be evicted before then. After the judgment, nearly 150 opponents gathered at Bellevue farm to show their determination. "We expected this decision. We've been here two months and we're staying." Work on the airport had been expected to start before now. The legal processes are causing long delays for the airport company.
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Heathrow noise ‘hinders pupils’ reading progress’
Children living under the Heathrow flight path are suffering two-month lags in their reading development as a result of aircraft noise. Hounslow council says pupils in the borough have to put up with “continual disruption”, and warned the problem will worsen if the airport expands to three or more runways. Around 40 schools are directly under the Heathrow flight paths with planes landing every 90 seconds or so much of the day. The council cites an international study by London University into aircraft noise which found it led to a “significant impairment” in reading development, as well as affecting long-term memory and motivation. As well as a 2-month delay in reading, the children's education is suffering from the continual disruption from low-flying jets. If schools don't have triple glazing the interruptions to lessons can be relentless. One school near the airport has had shelters installed in the playground so children can escape the noise. A 2010 ECRD study suggested that chronic aircraft noise has a deleterious effect on memory, sustained attention, reading comprehension and reading ability.
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European Parliament approves stop-the-clock proposal for ETS
The European Parliament has approved a proposal to suspend the inclusion of third-country flights (the 'stop-the-clock' proposal) from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Parliament had reached an agreement with Council beforehand. The decision was unanimous in Council and agreed on by over 90% of MEPs. The EU reaffirms again its position on this agreement. Rapporteur Peter Liese said "The EU will consider any further legal action only on the basis of a substantial outcome at the ICAO Assembly. This either means that ICAO finds a solution or we will continue to cover intercontinental flights in our scheme as foreseen".
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Will a Thames estuary airport ever get off the ground?
With the array of proposals for a Thames Estuary airport now being put to Sir Howard Davies and his Airports Commission, Kent residents worry about the huge environmental damage that any of them would do. Despite the problems with the concept of a massive new hub airport, dependent on tens of billions of pounds of public money, it seems that Boris remains intent on leaving the area with a vanity project – the legacy of which could devastate parts of Kent. Not only are there bird reserves of incomparable importance along the estuary, there are also marine ecology in the estuary. Each of the four current main contenders as an estuary airport would bring their separate problems and devastate different areas. The people of Kent need to pull together on opposing all of the plans, and avoid the temptation of passing the buck on to an unlucky neighbour. The people of Kent can only hope that common sense (and economic sense) will prevail and they will be spared.
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Cardiff Airport is bought by the Welsh government for £52m (over-priced?)
The current owner of Cardiff Airport, Abertis, which bought the airport from local councils in 2005, has now managed to sell it to the Welsh Government for £52 million. That price is well above market value when compared to recent transactions involving UK airports. The airport was valued at about £34 million in 2010. It has been making large losses and losing passengers for many years. The Government is desperate that it gets more passengers and gets back to making a profit. Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones said it would not be operated by the government and would be managed "at arm's length" and "on a commercial basis". Cardiff's passengers have declined from around 2 million in 2007 to just over 1 million in 2012, as many have chosen Bristol airport instead. Bristol airport is now concerned that Cardiff would now unfairly benefit from state support. Cardiff was hit by the loss of bmibaby in 2011. The airport's board will try and get in a commercial operator and hopes to attract long haul and transatlantic flights. Only recently there was news that Swiss airline Helvetic will pull out of Cardiff, 2 years after the Welsh government spent £500,000 marketing Wales in Switzerland.
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London Chamber of Commerce & Industry wants Heathrow to be allowed more night flights
The London Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has been lobbying, yet again, for a 3rd Heathrow runway. This time they are lobbying the Airports Commission, and saying that Heathrow should be allowed more night flights, because that makes the airport more efficient and there might be some economic gain for the UK. The Airports Commission is working, this year, on what can be done to improve the capacity and efficiency of UK airports in the short term. The LCCI is saying that for some not entirely clear reason, having more flights at night (and so damaging the quality of life, and the quality of sleep for several hundred thousand Londoners) will help the UK do business with BRIC countries. There is already concerted opposition to night flights, and aims to get them banned, not only in the UK but at other key European airports. The LCCI also want Heathrow to be allowed to end runway alternation, and introduce mixed mode - again hitting the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Londoners who would lose their half day of respite from the noise.
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Pakistan International Airlines has still not switched to less noisy planes for Leeds Bradford night flights
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have repeatedly broken noise limits at Leeds Bradford airport, and it is meant to have changed to less noisy planes. However, the introduction of these planes has been postponed. PIA is meant to have switched to Boeing 777s on its services to Islamabad from earlier in March. There have been 8 breaches of night time rules over the previous 12 months. Two years earlier the council had served a breach of condition notice on the airport. Improvements were made but after a further eight breaches councillors said they wanted a commitment on timescale. Earlier councillors had agreed to support the approach of continued dialogue rather than formal action.
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Update by Annie Petsonk of the US Environmental Defense Fund on the slow grinding of ICAO on aviation CO2
ICAO continues to try and find a way to find an agreed way in which to deal with international aviation emissions. The ICAO high level group was formed last November, to provide guidance on an international approach to the problem . At ICAO’s next triennial assembly in September, governments will try to agree on the outlines of such an approach. If they do not, then the EU ETS - which has had its clock "stopped" for one year - will resume for flights into and out of Europe. Aviation accounts for so much carbon pollution that it would rank seventh in the world if it were a country, and its emissions are projected to quadruple in coming years. Something needs to be agreed urgently for the sector. However, there are continuing disagreements between countries - on whether portions of flights over oceans are counted; whether countries could charge for over-flying; how to fairly deal with emissions from countries with rapidly growing airline industries, compared to those with mature and stagnant aviation sectors; and how to create effective but low cost solutions. There is some hope of a lead from President Obama and John Kerry, the new US Secretary of State.
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Carbon trading businesses want ICAO to get airlines to offset their carbon emissions
Three lobby groups representing businesses in favour of using markets to tackle climate change (the International Emissions Trading Association, the Climate Markets and Investment Association and the Project Developers Forum) want the UN to force airlines to offset their carbon emissions. They want this as a first step reducing their carbon footprint, and to help towards resolving the disputes at ICAO on getting some global framework on international aviation emissions. The lobby groups say getting airlines to buy and cancel carbon offsets would provide an easy and effective short term fix while a longer term plan is agreed. An ICAO panel is meeting this week to try and agree on proposals to deal with aviation carbon. It is under pressure to get an agreement at its annual meeting in September after the EU agreed to "stop the clock" on its ETS last year, for flights into and out of Europe. At present the price of carbon has collapsed and is a very cheap way for airlines to offset their emissions.
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London City Airport starts consultation on infrastructure to accommodate yet more flights
London City Airport is starting a second round of public consultation on proposals to increase the number and size of planes using the airport. The airport already has permission for up to 120,000 flights per year using the airport. It now wants permission for 7 additional aircraft parking stands, with an extended terminal building and a new eastern passenger pier. These will be to accommodate more flights and more passengers. The airport, as usual, says this will create and secure jobs etc etc and says it is important in regenerating East London etc etc. There will be three 4-hour consultation sessions on the plans, for local residents. The plans do not appear to be visible online. The airport wants to be able to handle aircraft the size of the Bombardier C-Series, [110 to 130 seats] so it can have flights to medium haul destinations like the Middle East and the east coast of the US by 2016. It has ambitions of having 10 million passengers per year. The airport is very close to housing (Map ) and causes a great deal of local noise disturbance.
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UK government risks infringing nuclear safety legislation over Lydd Airport
Lydd Airport submitted a planning application in December 2006 for a 444 metre extension to its runway and a new terminal to increase its passenger numbers from below 3,000 in 2005 to 500,000 passengers per annum. It ultimately wants the number to rise to 2 million per year. The planning application was taken to public inquiry in 2011, and since then, a decision has been awaited, from Eric Pickles, Minister at DCLG. However, the issue of the proximity of Lydd airport to the Dungeness nuclear power station has always been a serious problem. The Lydd Area Action Group (LAAG) has challenged the manner in which the nuclear issue has been handled by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Now LAAG say that should the government approve the development of Lydd Airport without holding the ONR to account on a range of matters and satisfactorily answering the questions put to it by the European Commission, it ultimately faces the possibility of the case being referred to the European Court of Justice.
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Airlines like Emirates keen to fly from regional airports – reducing future demand at Heathrow and Gatwick
Heathrow Airport has been saying recently that, though it is desperate to get a third runway, even they realise that there is not the demand for a 4th runway. The DfT has consistently over-estimated the amount of passenger demand over the last decade. In reality, passengers from parts of the UK other than the south east can get long haul flights from regional airports. The UK Vice President of Emirates says he wants to expand flights from UK's regional airports, rather than Heathrow or Gatwick, and has a direct flight from Newcastle to Dubai, for transfers on from there. With that happening more and more in future, the south east airports' dreams for expansion in the south east, requiring a massive hub airport, look less and less probable. Forecasts more than a few years ahead are based on so many uncertainties and unknowns as to be almost without value. Making best use of existing airports is more efficient than grandiose new infrastructure projects which run the risk of being white elephants. Had a second Stansted runway been built by 2012, it would now be standing idle.
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Comments on the Government’s new Aviation Policy Framework from GACC, SSE, HACAN and others (they are not impressed)
Comments from NGOs and airport groups to publication of the government's new Aviation Policy Framework document on Friday have not been complimentary. GACC at Gatwick said it was "turgid, vapid and verbose" and is so wordy because "it contains a paean of praise for the aviation industry which reads as if written by a PR agency, and most of which could be applied equally to any other industry." Also GACC is disappointed that "several measures to make life better for local residents have been dropped." SSE at Stansted said "the new framework is noticeably lacking in any meaningful measures to control noise, air pollution or climate change, adding to condemnation by airport community campaign groups and national environmental organisations across the UK. Top of the list of failures is the framework's adherence to discredited methods for measuring aircraft noise disturbance - not least in rural areas with low background noise". There are more comments from HACAN, WWF, FoE and AEF.
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WWF France says Nantes airport at NDDL should not proceed without many more environmental studies
After several months of study of the various arguments about a new "projet d’aéroport du Grand Ouest"airport plan for Nantes at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, WWF France has now made public its position. They say the project should not go ahead without a lot of further studies being done. They are urging the French government to implement a number of additional studies to quantify the actual project impacts on ecosystems and people. Studies already show the importance of the biodiversity of the site but still contain many gaps (flora, birds, insects, reptiles ...). Further studies are also needed on the airport's wider environmental impacts. WWF also considers that flood risk has been underestimated and more work is needed to investigate this. There are also important issues about hydrological impacts on drainage, water supply, and catchment areas on which work is needed as the airport may have negative impacts. Natural areas provide valuable "ecosystem services" at no cost, and these should not be put at risk, just for an airport.
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Heathrow lobbying hard for a third runway again – several possible options for location
Heathrow Airport (BAA as was) is now lobbying hard for a 3rd runway, in a new campaign. It is adamant that there is a lot of unmet need, that the UK must retain the largest hub airport, that having a huge hub is vital and so on. Heathrow states that: "More hub capacity is urgently needed and whilst longer term demand forecasts are inherently uncertain, the more immediate demand case for a 3 runway hub is very clear. The longer term forecasts also show that any potential demand case for a 4th runway is highly uncertain and may not materialise." They are working on a range of plans for a 3rd runway, rather than just the northern option, include putting the M25 in a tunnel under a runway, keeping the existing terminals and filling in reservoirs to build runways to the west of the airport, or almost doubling the length of the current 2 runways to in effect create 4. They are likely to submit plans for these to the Airports Commission. However, DfT forecasts of future passenger demand have fallen continuously over the past decade and are likely to still be over-estimates for the period between now and 2030 as capacity constraints mean passengers are shifting to other European hub airports and the focus shifts further east, to the Middle East.
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Lydd Airport: Wind turbines, a new airport and an atomic plant threaten historic wetlands
A decision on whether to allow major expansion of Lydd airport, less than three miles from the Dungeness nuclear power station, may be imminent. It has been delayed for years. The decision will be made by the Sec of State, Eric Pickles. However, there are many issues that make allowing Lydd airport, which is owned by an Arab sheikh, to expand very problematic. First there is the issue of the nuclear power station at Dungeness B, the operators of which (EDF) opposed the application. Many local residents are also opposed to more local wind farms. The battle over the future of Romney Marsh offers a snapshot of the dilemmas facing a government struggling to reconcile job-friendly "grand projects" with commitments to reduce carbon emissions and preserve the integrity of the countryside.
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Roof of house in Old Windsor damaged by vortex from plane landing at Heathrow
Damage to roofs of homes under flight paths is not uncommon and many incidents happen each year. This time a house in Old Windsor was affected, by a vortex created by a plane using Heathrow, with a number of tiles sucked off the roof leaving holes, open to the elements. The damage is done by a vortex of air, which is churned up by the plane passing overhead, and then descends to ground level. Heathrow Airport said "Only one in 10,000 flights results in a vortex" (well, they mean results in a vortex that causes damage to property). Heathrow sent out a team to fix it promptly - airports are always keen to do this, to limit negative publicity from the incident. This house is the home of a grandmother, who naturally was very alarmed and frightened by the incident, which the first though was a large explosion. Luckily nobody was hurt this time by falling tiles or debris. Some living under flight paths, where there is often vortex damage, fear that in due course there will be injuries.
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Government publishes its Aviation Policy Framework; disappointingly weak and vague on noise, climate change, air pollution …
The government has published its Aviation Policy Framework, which takes the place of the Air Transport White Paper of 2003. There is not much to celebrate in it. It remains curiously uncritical of the alleged economic benefits of air travel to the UK. It is lamentably weak on climate change, weak on noise, weak on air pollution and more of a discussion document than a policy document. Friends of the Earth commented that it "could have been written by the aviation industry - it encourages more flying, while only requiring 'cost-effective' action to tackle climate change." The Framework sets out only general aspirations for aviation to make a "significant contribution to tackling" its climate change challenge, without indicating any national policy measures that might achieve this aim. On noise the Framework acknowledges some of the shortcomings of the current system for monitoring community annoyance from aircraft noise and the 57Leq threshold choice, yet makes no specific proposals for revising it or recognising that annoyance is caused at lower noise levels. The Framework provides scant and inadequate policy guidance on environmental impacts of aviation for the Airports Commission, which needs this information to inform its decisions this year on airport capacity.
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European Court of Justice rules on Salzburg airport case needing EIA due to environmental effect
In 2003 the operators of Salzburg Airport, Salzburger Flughafen, applied for apermission to build an additional terminal. Its application was granted and that project was completed without any environmental assessment. In 2004, the airport applied to further expand the airport area.This has been referred to the European Court of Justice, which has now ruled that both the construction of a new terminal and the expansion of the airport should have undergone an environmental impact assessment since they were likely to have significant effects on the environment. The ECJ ruled that not having the EIAs contravenes EU rules. In contrast, the Austrian legislation requires EIAs on proposed a modification to airports only if it will increase traffic by at least 20,000 flights per year. The ruling will have major ramifications for projects across the EU. Member states will no longer be able to place a quantitative size threshold to decide which projects need an EIA. Instead, the threshold must be based on the potential effect on the environment.
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NRDC says if airlines use biofuels they must commit only to those certified to internationally recognised standards
The Americal NRDC (the National Resources Defense Council) has produced a survey on the biofuel use of airlines so far. The NRDC argues that the aviation industry has a responsibility to use biofuels that are certified as sustainable (because the sector’s buying power has the potential to reshape the supply chain) and avoid the use of poorly sourced biofuels that drive deforestation and food insecurity. NRDC asked 22 airlines to respond to its questionnaire and got responses from just 12, which the group describes in a report on its findings as “discouraging”. Of those 12, only two airlines have committed to using Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuel (RSB) certification in their sourcing efforts. Of the perhaps 1 million gallons of biofuel used, or more, research estimated that fewer than 30,000 gallons were deemed sustainable. ie. perhaps 3%. NRDC calls on airlines to publicly commit to source only 100% certified sustainable biofuel by 2015.
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UK aerospace industry receives £1 billion investment from Government over 7 year period
On 18th March the Government's Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) announced that the aerospace industry will be given £2 billion over 7 years. The aim is to secure jobs, and to set up a UK Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), allowing industry and academic researchers to develop the next generation of quieter, more energy efficient aircraft. There is realisation that aviation has to find ways to produce planes that use less fuel. Vince Cable said: Vince Cable says: "A step change in technology is needed if these aircraft are going to deliver the improvements in efficiency and environmental performance needed to make air travel sustainable." Half the money will come from Government and half from the industry. BIS has produced its Aerospace Strategy, which has been developed jointly with business through the Aerospace Growth Partnership. The Strategy builds on the Strategic Vision for UK Aerospace published at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2012. As part of the Government's Industrial Strategy, the UK government will also put £500 million towards other sectors such as the automobile industry and agriculture technology.
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Airports using a biotech high alkaloid endophytic form of grass to deter insects and birds
A form of grass - with the trade name Avanex - has been developed by a firm in New Zealand, Grasslanz Technology and commercialised by PGG Wrightson Turf. It has been designed to be endophytic, which means it incorporates a form of fungus that produces a high amount of alkaloids. This makes the grass distasteful to insects, and so the areas sown with this grass have no or few insects, and consequently few birds. The grass can be toxic to animals and comes with health warnings about livestock eating it. However, airports are enthusiastic to use the grass in order to deter birds and hence the risk of bird strike. The grass has so far been trialled in New Zealand airports since 2010 and found to cut bird numbers by large amounts, making airports very sterile areas, which is what the airport operators want. However, the blurb says "The grass could also be used at sports stadiums, golf courses and even domestic lawns," so the company wants to use its biodiversity-destroying product even more widely.
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Ryanair to expand fleet by 30% with Boeing order for 175 planes
Ryanair is planning to increase its aircraft fleet by 175 planes. That is adding about a third to the 305 planes it owns, bringing the total to around 380. The order with Boeing is worth some £10.3bn and is Ryanair’s biggest and the biggest by any European airline. It will allow some of the older planes to be retired. Ryanair, which flew some 79 million passengers in 2012 link, says it wants to increase its passenger numbers to 100 million a year. The order is for the current generation 737s, whose 737-800 model list price is around $89m each. Some 75 aircraft will replace Ryanair's existing fleet of 737s. Ryanair has only Boeing planes. Ryanair says "These 175 new planes will enable us to lower cost and airfares further." Michael O'Leary said “They provide Ryanair with the additional capacity to exploit substantial growth opportunities that currently exist as many of Europe’s flag carrier and smaller airlines are restructuring and reducing their short-haul operations.”
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CAA data shows 2012 air passenger numbers at UK airports up very slightly on 2011 and still 8% below 2007 peak
The CAA has released data for all the UK's airports for 2012. There were 0.6% more air passengers in 2012 than in 2011, but the 2012 figure was still about 8% lower than the peak in 2007. The number of UK air passengers was up by 1.3 million for the London airports, but only up by 0.1 million for the regional airports. UK airports handled almost 221 million passengers during 2012. Heathrow had slightly more passengers, due to use of larger planes. Gatwick grew faster than Heathrow (passengers up by 1.7% and 0.9% respectively) while Stansted had a fall of -3.2%. Provisional data from the CAA’s 2012 Passenger Survey (covering 5 main airports) shows that business passenger numbers fell by 4%, holiday passengers grew by 4% and passengers travelling to visit friends and relatives (VFR) were flat compared to 2011. Most UK air passengers go to Europe - 59.7%. About 9.2% go to North America; about 9% are on domestic flights, and about 13.9% are to long haul destinations other than North America. During 2012, air transport movements at UK airports declined by -1.3% on 2011 and down 15% on the 2007 peak of 2.5 million.
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Fewer premium class airline seats being bought across Europe
The rate of increase in demand for premium air travel (any seats that are not in economy class) is not growing as much as economy. Globally there around 8% of seats are in premium classes, though this was 9 - 9.5% in 2008. The demand for premium seats is not rising in Europe, and also not rising on transatlantic routes. However, in the rest of the world, especially in Asia, there is more growth in premium sales. The North Atlantic market between Europe and North America is the most lucrative premium airline market in the world – accounting for around 15% of all passengers and 22.9% of airlines’ total premium revenue. Premium demand within the Far East rose by about 9% in 2012 and now accounts for about 12% of the global premium air travel market. It appears more business flights within Europe are being made on economy flights, eg on easyJet, as European companies cut back on spending.
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New report from the Oakland Institute sounds alarm on aviation’s biofuel ambitions
A new report from the Oakland Institute, in California, cautions against the aviation industry's goal to reduce its emissions by using biofuels in future. The report warns that this would bring an unprecedented expansion into biofuel production, more than likely in poorer countries, and involve the acceleration of land acquisitions already threatening the lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries. The report finds that both the potential environmental impact and toll on human lives has not been adequately factored into assessments and could cause new environmental and human disasters. This must not be allowed to happen though lack of foresight. Currently, biofuel is too scarce and expensive for serious commercial use in planes. To meet current aviation needs--let alone future increases in demand -- it would take 270 million hectares of jatropha, produced on an area roughly the equivalent of one-third of Australia. The new report also looks at the drawbacks of used cooking as a source of commercial aviation fuel, and finds that even diverting all the used cooking oil in the US would keep American planes in the air for less than three days. It is not a serious future option.
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Budget coming up this week – so it’s time for the habitual bash at APD by the airlines…
With the budget coming up on the 20th March, the airlines do their usual predictable attack on Air Passenger Duty, in the vain hope that the Chancellor will be persuaded to let flying be a bit cheaper, and agree to the Treasury forgoing an important source of revenue for the UK economy. The last attempt the airlines had was a report that they had written by PWC, with a range of claims about APD. The FT reported in February that a Treasury spokesperson said APD, which is forecast to bring in £2.9bn this year, makes an “essential contribution” towards helping meet the government’s deficit reduction plans. “We do not recognise the figures in this [PWC] report or agree with the assumptions behind it” Air Passenger Duty is charged because there is no VAT on aviation, and the industry is zero-rated. There is also no fuel tax on jet fuel. So APD is charged, because of these tax breaks the industry receives. The aviation PR spin is that aviation is vital to the UK economy. In reality, around 80% of trips made by air from the UK are for leisure purposes, the majority taking Brits to spend their money on trips abroad. Cutting APD would only be beneficial to the aviation industry. It would not benefit the UK as a whole.
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Boeing unveils B787 Dreamliner battery enhancements to try and get it back into service
Boeing has unveiled a series of enhancements to the lithium-ion batteries used onboard its B787 aircraft, as it tries to return the Dreamliner to service. All 50 Dreamliners currently in operation were grounded in January, following concerns surrounding the safety of onboard batteries. The US FAA has approved a plan to redesign the 787 lithium-ion batteries but have given no indication of when the planes might be allowed to carry passengers again. Boeing has now set out a “a comprehensive set of improvements that will add several layers of additional safety features to the lithium-ion batteries”, and said that these enhancements are in production and “could be ready for initial installation within the next few weeks”. The question is, bearing in mind that these improvements are only made because of the acknowledged higher risk of fire from these batteries, whether customers are going to want to fly in these planes, knowing there are batteries with a un-proven track record on fire situated below the passenger cabin.
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Fantastic demonstration in Luton against night flights
Dozens of campaigners concerned about the proposed doubling of night flights at Luton airport rallied at Luton Town Hall and handed in a 1,000-signature petition calling for planning controls to limit any further increase in night noise and disturbance to people’s sleep. The event was a huge success and shows just what people power can do. To the chant of “What do we want? No More Night Flights! How do we get it? Planning Controls!” the protestors made the point that Luton Borough Council needs to act responsibly in order to limit the continued growth of an airport which campaigners claim is in the wrong place for any further expansion. The airport wants to almost double the number of passengers, up to 18 million per year, and has set such a high night noise quote and noise cap that it could double its night flights to 16,000 per year and still be within its so-called limits.
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Nobel prize-winning economists urge President Obama to address CO2 emissions from aviation
A group of 32 leading economists, including 8 Nobel Prize winners and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) board member, is urging President Obama to adopt a global market-based measure to reduce carbon emissions from aviation. Unregulated carbon emissions from the aviation sector currently are a large and growing source of the greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to global climate change. The open letter states that: “Pricing carbon in the aviation sector will incentivize appropriate investments and changes in operations that would reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. If climate change is to be slowed appreciably at tolerable cost, it is wise to use the market to provide incentives for individuals and firms to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.” And: "We urge you to immediately advance a US proposal for a global market based measure for aviation. In the long run it will be in aviation's interest, as well as that of all society, to use the price mechanism to efficiently allocate over time the uncertain remaining capacity of the atmosphere to safely absorb emissions."
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Mayor of London reveals set of criteria that his panel will use to assess airport options
In early February Boris appointed what he modestly described as his "mighty team of experts" to look at possible options to build a huge hub airport for the south east of England. There was a GLA consultation on the criteria between 21 Dec 2012 and 8 Feb 2013. Boris has now announced the criteria he is setting out for a new airport - the Airports Commission under Sir Howard Davies are also consulting on their "sifting criteria" for the same thing (their consultation closes on 15th March). The GLA (Greater London Authority) says the Mayor’s recently appointed team "will work with TfL to carry out detailed feasibility studies on that shortlist, to inform the Mayor’s submission to the Davies Commission later this year." Concerns have been raised that the panel is very much biased towards those pro-expansion or aviation industry and lacks environmental or community members.
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KLM to make one flight per week New York to Amsterdam for 6 months using 25% used cooking oil
KLM has announced that one of its weekly Boeing 777 flights from New York to Amsterdam - for 6 months - will now be made using 25% biofuel made from old cooking oil. [Not clear if that is in one engine or both]. The first such flight was last Thursday on Flight KL642 flight from JFK to Schiphol. The fuel is provided by SkyNRG and the project has been supported by (what does that mean?) a raft of KLM partners, including Schiphol Group, Delta Air Lines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the companies in the KLM's Corporate BioFuel Program. KLM has started marketing its new biofuel flights to corporate customers, so companies like Accenture, Heineken, Nike, and Philips who use the KLM biofuel flights can say they have lower reported carbon emissions. There are only very limited supplies of used cooking oil, which is the only form of biofuel that can so far be regarded as environmentally sustainable. The industry's hopes that it may be able to obtain huge amounts of so called "sustainable" fuels from algae are still years away.
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Retired pilot Jock Lowe devises £7.5bn plan to double length of Heathrow runways (and lose runway alternation)
A retired Concorde pilot called William "Jock" Lowe has been promoting his £7.5bn plan to extend both Heathrow runways from 3,900 and 3,700 metres, up to 7,500 metres - approximately doubling them. He has submitted his scheme to the Airports Commission (all expressions on intend on such projects had to be delivered to the Commission by 28th February). In the Lowe scheme (if it was to be allowed) the number of flights could be doubled, from the current cap of 480,000 per year up to about a million. This scheme is cheaper than the Leunig scheme, proposed in October, for 4 Heathrow runways, a bit further west. The rise in flight numbers could only be done by "mixed mode", which means having planes both landing, and taking off, all day on both runways. So a plane would be landing on the eastern part of a runway, while another takes off on the west portion of it. This would mean London residents over flown would get twice as many flights as they do now, and they would lose their half a day of peace, which they get from the current runway alternation. It would be deeply and passionately opposed by thousands of Londoners.
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Boris Johnson’s ‘Floating Village’ plans for homes slammed as a titanic mistake
Boris Johnson has announced that he is launching an international competition to find developers to design and deliver a scheme for a "floating village" at Royal Docks, Newham, close to London City Airport. Homes there would be in, or very close to, the Public Safety Zone (PSZ) for the airport, and would be subject to enormous amounts of aircraft noise. It would not be a desirable place to live for anyone bothered by noise - or indeed the risk of wake turbulence. Stop London City Masterplan, the local campaign group, have accused Boris of gross negligence because of these plans for housing close to the PSZ. The floating village would be under and close to Boris's economically unsuccessful Cable Car. Safety concerns were raised during the building of the Cable Car which is in the Crash Zone with the Mayor of London being forced to launch a safety probe. A planning application will soon be submitted by London City Airport to increase the size of it’s stands so bigger jets can be used at the site.
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Revised Public Safety Zone at Leeds Bradford airport – public consultation
In the UK there are 31 airports with Public Safety Zones. These are triagular shaped areas at the ends of runways, which show the areas where the risk of an aircraft crash is significant, and the risk contours. The area of a PSZ corresponds to the 1 in 100,000 individual risk contour, with additional lower risk contours. The CAA is now in charge of these PSZs, and reviews them every 7 years to take into account anticipated changes in air traffic over the next 15 years. The PSZ gets larger if there are more planes flown. There is a general presumption against new development within PSZs due to the safety risk, though existing activities are allowed to continue within a PSZ. The PSZ for Leeds Bradford is now being reviewed and was out for public consultation until 4th April 2013. In the new revised PSZ 60 properties have been included in the new proposed PSZ area and a further 32 houses have been removed. The PSZ areas each end of the runway now cover a slightly larger area. Some residents have been shocked to find they are in the PSZ without being aware of it.
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More Northern Ireland residents using Dublin Airport
New figures from the Dublin Airport Authority show more than 500,000 Northern Ireland residents used Dublin Airport last year, a 15% increase on 2011. The number of Northern Ireland-based passengers using Dublin Airport has almost doubled since 2010 - the vast majority (70%) for holidays or leisure trips - and only 20% for business. The effect of Air Passenger Duty is not mentioned, as it is only £13 for short haul journeys, and has been removed from longer journeys from Northern Ireland. The Irish flight tax is only €3 per flight (it was higher till 2011). Dublin airport says the new road network has made travelling from Northern Ireland to Dublin faster and easier. In 2011 Dublin airport had around 18.7 million passengers, Belfast International had about 4.1 million and Belfast City airport around 2.4 million.
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Heathrow airport passengers up 1% in February (cf. last February) due to larger planes
In February, Heathrow had 1% more passengers than it had in February 2012. For all the airports that Heathrow Ltd owns, the increase in passengers for February was only 0.6% above their level in Feb 2012. Heathrow Ltd said the rise in passengers at Heathrow was due to the use of larger planes, after British Airways' take over of BMI, and higher load factors. The average number of seats per aircraft rose to 198.4 seats, and the load factor rose by 2.4% to 69.6%. That still means most flights are still almost a third empty. For the 1% increase in passengers, there was a - 4.2% reduction in air transport movements at Heathrow, and a fall of -5% for all its UK airports, which now no longer include Stansted or Edinburgh. The amount of traffic to and from Europe was 4.4% higher, but Heathrow says the amount of traffic with China was up 29.8% in February.
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Airports Commission publish their second discussion paper on “Aviation connectivity and the economy”
The Airports Commission (= Davies Commission) has published ‘Aviation connectivity and the economy’, the second in a series of discussion papers through which it hopes to invite submissions and build the evidence base from which to assess the UK’s airport capacity needs. The paper looks at how the aviation connectivity of the UK contributes to the UK economy. It examines the drivers of connectivity and how well connected the UK is to the world and how it performs in comparison to other European countries (or if the UK is falling behind its neighbours). It considers whether aviation connectivity supports economic growth by facilitating trade, investment and innovation and it looks at options for measuring connectivity. The deadline for consultation is the 19th April.
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Important economic information on Redhill aerodrome hard runway application kept secret
Redhill Aerodrome has been trying to get a hard surfaced runway to replace its current three grass runways for many years. It submitted an application in July 2011, which was refused by Tandridge District Council (TDC) and Reigate & Banstead Council (R&B). Redhill Aerodrome then submitted a very slightly changed application in June 2012. The concrete runway would enable the aerodrome to increase flights from 60,000 to 85,000 a year including larger planes. There are problems with the application in relation to drainage and a local brook, as well as traffic impacts. But the aerodrome was asked by the councils to supply more detailed information on future activities of the aerodrome. This information is being used to back up the aerodrome's claim for special grounds for building in the Green Belt. The aerodrome asked both councils to sign a confidentiality agreement so that the economic information supplied (eg. employment) would not be published. R&B signed the agreement, but after taking legal advice Tandridge refused to do so. Local campaigners say the application cannot be assessed without access to the financial details including employment and impact on the economy.
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Possibility of more night flights to Heathrow over Windsor rather than West London
Plans drawn up by the DfT could see hundreds of night flights diverted away from the homes of 110,000 residents of the west London areas like Richmond, Kew and Hounslow, over the Windsor area. There could be an extra 1,500 - 1,700 night flights per year over Windsor, starting at 4am. About 90% of the flights at night are between 4.30am and 6.00am, waking people up and making it difficult to many to get back to sleep. The local MP for Windsor, Adam Afriyie, is concerned on the negative impact the change would have on the quality of life of his constituents. The Queen often spends weekends at Windsor, and also many weeks during the year. Under existing rules Heathrow is allowed 5,256 incoming scheduled night flights a year, so Londoners have to put up with around 16 planes overhead every night. Due to the wind direction, about 72% of the time they come from the east over London. The DfT is now considering ordering pilots to approach from the west unless a tailwind of five knots or more makes this impractical. This is part of the current night flights consultation, which closes on 22nd April.
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Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport decision delayed by at least several months
It is now certain that the construction of the new Nantes airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes - if it starts at all - will at least several months delayed. It should have started this spring. A Committee on dialogue has been set up, and has been taking evidence from proponents and opponents of the airport scheme. The Chairman of the commission is careful not to take sides, but has said that after going on for so many years since first proposed, the arguments for the airport have changed and other arguments now have greater priority. More information is needed on the alleged economic and employment benefit of the scheme, and on the transport network. He says."Our report will present the advantages and disadvantages of the new airport, and the government will decide." A prominent member of the National Assembly said it is necessary to continue dialogue but before starting any construction work a national plan of airport infrastructure.should be developed.
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Many MPs want Sir Howard Davies to name his favoured airport site by the end of 2013, rather than in 2015
The Sunday Telegraph reports that the Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, is due to produce its interim report by December. He is considering ways to improve the capacity at Heathrow, in the short term, and taking evidence on whether there is a need for more airport capacity, and if so, which schemes should be taken forward. MP Zac Goldsmith now says ministers are now considering asking Sir Howard to choose one airport option, when he makes his report at the end of the year, rather than deciding this two months after the 2015 election. Zac (who bitterly opposes Heathrow expansion) says this would enable Sir Howard and his Commission to spend the time in 2014 and 2015 in working out how to deliver the preferred option. Zac said: "I cannot think of a single MP who supports waiting until after the election before forming a policy.” Any suggestion that a decision on airport expansion was being brought forward would anger the Lib Dems, who oppose any increase in runway capacity. There are so many complex arguments and so much detail to be digested that a measured and fully considered decision on a new runway/runways cannot sensibly be taken so fast.
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Heathrow night flights are “inhumane” and the airport is urged to stop them
There is pressure on the management of Heathrow to justify the use of night flights. This has been discussed at the London Assembly's environment committee. There are some 15 flights that land at Heathrow between 11.30pm and 6am every day and which activists say have an impact on 100,000 West Londoners. For many people the first plane coming in at 4.30am is their alarm clock. As well as campaigners against Heathrow's expansion, senior local council executives say the flights are “inhuman” and there is an economic cost to sleep deprivation. Colin Ellar, deputy leader of Hounslow Council, said "even a quiet airplane is very noisy. It will wake you up when it’s still dark, you might get back to sleep, you might not.” “I’d say it’s the equivalent of a lorry coming and revving its engine just outside your bedroom window several times a night,” Heathrow say night flights boost the economy by £340m a year and by 6,600 jobs (evidence for that?)
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British Airways announces first A380 routes to Los Angeles (October) and Hong Kong (November)
BA's first A380 is to be delivered in July 2013, with the 2nd in September and the 3rd in November. BA will start using its first A380 for flights to Los Angeles, starting in October and then on its Hong Kong route from November. BA has ordered 12 A380s, and has options on 7 more, meaning it can buy them at an agreed price in future. The A380 is meant to be a very fuel efficient plane per passenger kilometre, and it would be if it had more than 800 passengers, which it could carry if there was all one class. However, airlines like to have as many First class, and business class (or equivalent) seats as possible, so none has more than 550 or so passengers. BA's A380s will only have 469 seats. Of these, 14 are First class, 97 are business class, and only 303 are Economy class, which take up the least space each. While Airbus makes extravagant claims about how fuel efficient the plane is, these never given details of how they are calculated - the number of passengers on the plane, and the length of flight are important, but not stated. It is not likely that with a load factor of some 80% and 469 seats, that the BA A380s will be particularly fuel efficient, per passenger kilometre.
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Rolls-Royce paid no UK corporation tax in 2012
International engine builder Rolls-Royce did not pay any corporation tax in the UK in 2012. It reported a record year for profits ( £1.4bn in pre-tax profit in 2012, an increase of 24% on 2011) but paid nothing to the Treasury and received £3m in credit. It paid no UK corporation tax in 2011 either. Rolls Royce said most of its sales were abroad and its tax liability was reduced because of its investment in research and development. However, MPs said companies had an obligation to pay tax if they were making a profit. Their accounts show Rolls-Royce paid £218m in taxes abroad where it said it conducts 85% of its business. Director of campaign group Tax Research UK said: "Legality is not the question. The big question is, is it right, is it fair and have we got the proper tax system?" Chris Williamson, Derby North MP said successful companies in the UK are successful partly because of the investment that's made in public services, in education, in infrastructure to enable them to flourish. And they should pay tax. So much for government boasts about how profitable the aerospace industry - combined with civil aviaiton - is for the UK.
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Sleep deprivation causes adverse effects on health due to disruption of gene activity
Sleep scientists at the University of Surrey have found that sleep deprivation affects hundreds of genes involved with inflammation, immunity and cells' response to stress. This might help explain why some people who do not get enough sleep have an increased risk for obesity, heart disease and cognitive impairment. Researchers took whole-blood RNA samples from 26 participants after they had spent a week sleeping 8.5 hours a night, and the same participants after a week of sleeping for just 5.7 hours. That amount of sleep is not unusual for many people, and an estimate from the USA is that perhaps 30% of American adults sleep for under 6 hours. (The study did not look at sleep disturbance, as is the case for aircraft noise). The study found genes related to circadian rhythms, metabolism, inflammation, immune response and stress were all affected by the experiment. Some were more active, and some less, during sleep deprivation. Other studies have found lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity and type II diabetes. It can affect blood sugar levels, and hormones that control appetite. There are also effects on hypertension, elevated risk of stroke and of heart disease.
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Observer article on how Middle Eastern airlines and airports compete with Europe
In an interesting article in the Observer, Gwyn Topham explores the current competition between Middle Eastern airlines (Emirates, Etihad) from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, (with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha airports), and Heathrow and European hub airports. They sit at the crossroads from Europe to the east and between Africa and Asia, which are young and vibrant markets, and have lots of money and no capacity constraints. Intriguingly, Heathrow boss Colin Matthews – who now counts Qatar's sovereign wealth fund as a major shareholder with a 20% stake and has Al-Baker on his board – has started to make a virtue of the growth of the Gulf hubs, as well as Istanbul. He twice suggested that projections of growing passenger demand in the UK might have to be downplayed. Can the vast oil wells in the desert successfully nurture not just one but three burgeoning aviation hubs, two within an hour's drive of each other? With growing demand from India and China, perhaps they can.
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New study shows that global emissions trading is essential to close aviation’s emissions gap in 2050
A new authoritative study shows that only adoption of a global ‘market-based measure’ (MBM) can bring the ICAO goal, and aviation industry’s shared goal of 2020 ‘carbon neutral growth’ by 2050 within reach. The total impact of all other CO2 reduction measures currently on the table (improved technology and fuel efficiency of aircraft, improved operational efficiency and some use of biofuels) is shown to be insufficient. The report comes just before the March meetings of ICAO’s Council and its High Level Advisory Group, charged with advising on a resolution to address global emissions for ICAO’s triennial Assembly next September. Projections of future aviation emissions show by 2050 the cuts ICAO and IATA aspire to will not be met, without MBM, such as the ETS. The study demonstrates that claims from industry, ICAO and some governments that current measures being discussed will be sufficient to tame aviation emissions are false. It shows definitively that pricing carbon via a global MBM is the only way to arrest aviation’s climate impact – already at 5% of the global total, with traffic growing at 4-5% a year. The ETS, on which progress has been halted for a year, needs to be protected.
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Manston campaigners find cost-cutting Kent County Council to spend up to £100,000 relating to KLM flights
Campaigners at Manston report that they have had to resort to the threat of a Freedom of Information request to find out if Kent County Council has been giving subsidies to the airport. They have managed to get the following statements from KCC: "I can confirm Kent County Council has not been asked for any contributions from KLM nor have we been asked to fund KLM. We were however, asked by the owners of Manston airport if we would contribute to a marketing package to market both the route and the opportunities in Kent. We have agreed a contribution of up to £100,000 subject to approval of a marketing plan and for the monies to be managed by Visit Kent." So that means rate payers in Kent are to contribute up to £100,000 in order to encourage flights to Schiphol from Manston, which looks like a bribe or subsidy, at a time when KCC has had to make around £94 million of cuts to its budget, including cutting £18m from its adult care services, and £5.3m from its childrens' services.
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Cliffe Airport plan being promoted, again, by John Olsen
Ten years ago, proposals for a 3 runway, 24-hour, hub airport at Cliffe, on the south bank of the Thames estuary, on the Hoo peninsula, were rejected. It was abandoned in December 2003 on the grounds that the costs of the coastal site were too high and the airport would not be well used. But this scheme, put forward by John Olsen with what he calls his "Independent Aviation Advisory Group" seems unwilling to go away. He was pushing it again back in 2011, and has again given evidence to the Transport Select committee recently, promoting it. Mr Olsen was the commercial director of Cathay Pacific and ex-head of the failed airline Dan-Air, and wants an airport based on the one in Hong Kong. He wants the Airports Commission to look again at his Cliffe proposals, with claims about the Thames Gateway regeneration project, and the creation of thousands of jobs to deprived areas in north Kent and south Essex. He says the Cliffe project would prevent "malnourished and ill-educated children growing up”
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Manchester Airport Group confirms Stansted takeover deal – and Ryanair cuts its Stansted flights
The Manchester Airport Group (MAG) has now completed its £1.5bn acquisition of Stansted, from Heathrow Airport Holdings. MAG already owns Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports. Stansted's main traffic is budget airlines such as Easyjet and Ryan Air flying to Europe, and Ryanair accounts for around 70% of its traffic. MAG wants to return Stansted's passenger numbers to what they were 5 years ago by 2018, as it is now 47% below capacity and has been losing passengers for years. MAG wants to improve the shopping experience at the airport to encourage passengers to spend more before they board flights. They also intend to lobby transport chiefs about improving rail links between Stansted and London in the medium-term. On the day of the take-over Ryanair announced that it had been planning to expand its routes from Stansted by 5% from April, but would now cut them instead by some 9% or 1 million passengers per year, allegedly due to a 6% increase in charges (or the recession?).
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Virgin to launch domestic UK sub-brand called “Little Red” at end of March to compete with BA
Virgin Atlantic has unveiled details of its UK domestic service, which is being called, Little Red. It will launch on 31st March in Manchester, 5th April in Edinburgh and 9th April in Aberdeen, with a total of 26 daily services to Heathrow. Little Red will be Virgin’s first ever domestic flights in the UK. Virgin won key Heathrow take-off and landing slots after Bmi was taken over by IAG last year. Virgin hopes these domestic flights will feed traffic onto its international service. Virgin says Little Red will compete with BA on domestic air routes. BA operates around 52 daily flights between Heathrow and Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. BA also runs services to Scotland from Gatwick and London City airports.Apparently Virgin has partnered with a number of brands "to offer exclusive products on board including Irn Bru on Scottish flights, plane shaped Tyrells crisps and Bacardi Martini miniatures. It will later offer Krispy Kreme doughnuts, yoghurts from The Collective Dairy and Rude Health granola" ! Why ?!
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Ballot for all residents on the Hoo Peninsula to gauge opinion on Thames estuary airport
More than 20,000 people who would be affected by the building of a Thames Estuary airport in north Kent are being asked for their opinion on the proposals. Volunteers for Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless are delivering ballot papers to 6,000 homes on the Hoo Peninsula. Mark Reckless said "This is a chance for people across the Hoo Peninsula to have their voices heard and help me get the Davies Commission to rule out an estuary airport once and for all.” Residents will be able to choose a "yes" or "no" answer and return it to the MP. The ballots will be collected and presented in one of three ways: as a petition in Parliament, to the Commission or to Boris Johnson, who supports the idea. Meanwhile John Olsen has been pushing his plan for a Cliffe airport again, ten years after it was rejected last time.
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Survey indicates business travellers prefer air if rail journey is over 3 hours, even if rail is cheaper
Research by the company Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) suggests that when travelling domestically for business, air journeys are preferred to rail if the rail journey is over 3 hours, despite potential cost savings (the company is paying). But there are differences between routes. The time taken to get to the airport, and from the airport to the final destination need to be taken into account. There is recognition that useful work can be done on the train, so that is not time wasted. For trips between Manchester and Edinburgh, about 90% of business travellers go by air. Business trips from Birmingham to Edinburgh or Glasgow are generally by air. But business travellers between London and Manchester are about 3 times as likely to go by train, rather then air (journey time is 2hours 11mins by train, and about half that by air). HRG now have a phone app that enables the traveller to compare times and costs of domestic rail/air journeys.
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John Stewart, Chair of AirportWatch, on secret blacklist – which may have been why he was barred from the USA
John Stewart, a leading campaigner against Heathrow expansion, Chairman of HACAN and of AirportWatch, has found his name on a “blacklist”, fuelling claims that such secret files have been more widely used than thought. John believes this list may be behind the reason why he was barred from the US in 2011, on a speaking tour, with no reason given. He has no criminal convictions, does not belong to a trade union and worked in retail before taking up peaceful campaigning. When his plane landed in New York he was escorted off it by armed guards and sent home. John has been told by the GMB union that he was on a blacklist previously thought to have only contained names of alleged “troublemakers” and trade unionists from the building industry. The Standard comments: "If this is true, the problem becomes very disquieting indeed. It’s hard to think of anything more inimical to the modern spirit of openness and transparency than the existence of a secret blacklist circulating between employers and institutions. And if it includes people whose only offence is to hold views or conduct campaigns that some companies or institutions find troublesome, it becomes downright frightening".
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