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For a daily compilation of UK articles on national and regional transport issues, see Transportinfo.org.uk | For more stories about specific airports see Aviation Environment Federation Transport & Environment Anna Aero TravelMole Press releases from CAA IATA BA Ryanair easyJet Jet2.com For climate change ECEEE news and Guardian Climate and NoAA monthly analysisCheck Hansard for reports on Parliament |
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Latest news stories:
Small cracks on ribs of A380 wings raise safety concerns
Some tiny cracks have been found on ?5 A380 planes.The cracks were first found on the Qantas A380 that suffered an uncontained engine failure with one of its four Trent 900 engines two years ago. Airbus confirms the cracking on “some non-critical wing rib-skin attachments on a limited number of A380 aircraft.” Airbus says that safe operations of the fleet are not affected and no flight limitations are being put on the A380. It said cracks have been repaired, but it would not detail how the fix is made. Others are concerned about safety and whether the cracks should be repaired quickly and not wait for 4 yearly inspections.
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Fears of trade war after Chinese airlines ‘refuse’ to pay ETS
While the system was introduced this month, airlines won’t have to start paying the tax until the first quarter of 2013 giving them time to take responsive action. The China Air Transport Association says Chinese airlines will not impose surcharges on customers relating to the emissions tax. The EU legally has the option of enforcing fines of €100 for each tonne of CO2 emitted for which airlines have not surrendered a carbon allowance. The Assoc of Asia Pacific Airlines said various governments around the world opposed to the EU ETS are now evaluating what sanctions can be taken against the EU with the likelihood of a trade war ahead, which would not achieve any environmental benefit. Delta has already increased its fares to Europe by €3. Cathay said the ETS would add about $6.44 to a ticket between Hong Kong and Europe.
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Chinese airlines refuse to pay EU carbon tax
The 4 main Chinese airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines, which fly millions of passengers to Europe each year, have said they will not pay the ETS charges. This might lead to a ban from European airports. There are warnings of a trade war, and it has been suggested that China's airlines should counter by reducing purchases of Airbus aircraft. The ETS costs expanding airlines more than those not expanding. China says it is still at the stage of rapid expansion of their airline industries and so find it difficult to cut overall emissions.
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Campaign launched against £50bn Thames Estuary airport
A new campaign has been set up to oppose either Boris Island or Foster's Folly - the two options for airports in the Thames Estuary. Canvey town councillors are making preparations to join forces with parish councils in Kent to oppose the plans. Together they reckon they could be a very vociferous group. County councillor Ray Howard has put forward a motion to Essex County Council, to be discussed soon, on behalf of the town council opposing the estuary airport plans. There are many strong statements from a range of prominent people, showing their opposition to the plans.
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Tests are underway on electric motors so planes can taxi without engine power
Honeywell and Safran are two companies working on a new system by which planes use their auxiliary power unit to power motors in the main wheels without more use of the engines. Planes use a great deal of fuel while taxiing, as this is not an efficient mode for the engines, designed for more full power. A significant % of total fuel is used on the ground - perhaps 3% depending on the flight. The team is currently focused on prototyping and component level testing prior to targeted system installation and ground testing in 2013.
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HACAN calls on Government to ditch for good outdated way of measuring aircraft noise
The UK government uses the Leq system to measure aircraft noise over a 16 hour day. The EU uses the Lden method to measure aircraft noise. This averages the noise out over a 12 hour day; then a 4 hour evening; and finally an 8 hour night. It adds 5 decibels to the evening level and 10 decibels to the night level to allow for the lower background noise levels at those times. This gives a more realistic measure. The EU estimates that around 720,000 people are disturbed by noise from Heathrow aircraft, while the UK Government puts it much lower at less than 300,000.
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Medway Council Cabinet meeting on opposition to estuary airport plans
Medway Council's Cabinet met on 20th December to discuss proposals for a huge airport in the Thames Estuary. The report to the Cabinet by Robin Cooper, Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture advised Members of the 3 current proposals for International Airports in Medway and Kent and recommends strong opposition to all the proposals. They give 10 good reasons for opposing the plans, and these include environmental destruction, adverse effects on homes, massive new house building covering swathes of the area in buildings, CO2 emission, fog and cost.
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Airlines Flying on Clean Fuel Should Pay Less Tax, Branson Says
Branson manages to persuade many people that he takes his responsibilities to the environment seriously, and really plans to fly "green" and "clean" planes ... whatever those charmingly vague terms mean. The spin about "clean", alternative bio-jet fuels is fair enough if it concerns fuels made from waste flue gases, but his hopes of the aviation industry growing hugely by 2050 and getting half its fuel from biofuels by then are unrealistic. The hype is intended to persuade government etc that the aviation industry is seriously trying to tackle the issue of carbon emissions and thus to get as much government subsidy for this as possible. In reality it is a delaying tactic to to continue business as usual.
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Hong Kong airport authority says 3rd runway necessary
Hong Kong airport, which has two runways, wants to build a third as it says the two will be full by 2020. It claims this is needed to keep up with the rapid growth in air traffic. There has been a 3 month consultation. The runway would cost perhaps much more than $17 billion. Hong Kong overtook Memphis in 2010 as the world's busiest air cargo hub on the back of strong import and export growth in China. Critics are calling for a thorough environmental assessment before any decision is made, but time constraints will make such a report unlikely. WWF has questioned the project.
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Aviation joining ETS not likely to increase air fares any time soon
The Telegraph, which has long campaigned against taxes on aviation or anything that increases the price of flying, complains about the recent entry of aviation into the EU ETS. And how it will increase the cost of flying .... in 10 years time.... The price of carbon is now very low - at about €7 - 8 per tonne of carbon, making permits cheap. Increases in fares will not happen till 2013. Many airlines will not pass on the extra price to their customers, as demand is weak at present due to the recession. Airlines get 85% of their allowances free in the first year, and between 2013 and 2020, airlines will get 82% of the permits for free, with 15% auctioned to meet additional needs and 3% set aside for new entrants to the scheme.
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Birmingham Airport hopes to offer cut price holiday escapes during Olympics
Another bit of opportunistic publicity from Birmingham Airport's Paul Kehoe. He uses the opening of a new hangar at the end of January to get some publicity for hopes of growing the number of passengers this year. More business jets. More tourists during the Olympics, on cheap deals to escape Britain during August. And of course, the usual swipe at APD ...
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Aircraft noise measurements over London ‘inaccurate and misleading’
HACAN East, the new group representing residents affected by London City Airport, says that the way the government currently measure aircraft noise over much of London is both inaccurate and misleading. Now that aircraft approaching Heathrow join the approach path much further to the east than they used to, residents affected by planes using London City Airport are also overflown by planes descending to Heathrow. But the noise data for flights using each airport are measured separately and not combined. This problem has been known since 2007, and recognized as underestimating the total noise heard by residents. If the noise levels are combined, aircraft noise levels in parts of East London matches those in West London
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Jet fuel price rose significantly during 2011. Oil likely to increase in price in 2012.
The price of oil rose around 10 - 15% during 2011, depending which sort of oil is considered. IATA says the price of jet fuel rose by about 39% over the year, giving the average price of jet fuel in 2010 as $91.4 / barrel and the price in 2011 as $ 127.5. Some oil analysts think the price of oil will rise in 2012, even though the western economies remain in recession. Maybe as much as another $15 - 20 per barrel by next December. Demand from the emerging economies is likely to keep the price high. Crude oil is becoming more expensive to extract and this will add a premium to the oil we use in the future.
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BBC: Could hypersonic flight become a reality?
The European Space Agency's goal is to create a hypersonic passenger plane, one that flies more than 5 times faster than the speed of sound and six times faster than a standard airliner. There are many technical problems including heating of surfaces at such high temperatures. Even if these planes are eventually produced, it will be decades away. And there is not much demand for such fast travel - not enough to make it economic. If the high-paying first class passengers don't fly on conventional airliners, the airlines would lost traditionally subsidises economy seats get from them.
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Nicholas Faith: Boris Island must never be able to get off the ground
Nicholas Faith argues that an estuary airport is not needed. The cost would be vast and Lord Foster rather airily assumes the money could be raised internationally. The existence of 300,000 permanent resident birds on the banks of the estuary is decisive in itself. They now occupy five Special Protection Areas which could not be replaced by a man-made bird sanctuary. Another delusion is that we need a Very Major Airport to demonstrate that we are a Very Major Player on the world business scene. Too many Heathrow flights are short haul, and Heathrow should focus on long haul, leaving most of the short haul to the other London airports.
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Airlines to enter emissions trading scheme from 1st January 2012
On 1st January, aviation joins the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Airlines will have to obtain carbon credits for all carbon emitted during flights into and out of Europe. This could save around 183 million tonnes of CO2 each year by 2020. Passengers could expect between €0.5 and just under €3 to be added to ticket prices as a direct consequence of the ETS and easyJet said the cost would be about 30 - 50p per passenger for flights within Europe. Permits do not need to actually be handed over till 2013. In practice airlines are getting 85% of the permits they need in the first year free, so they are in a good position to make windfall profits out of them scheme. Airlines are trying to make out that they are already being charged an environmental tax, in APD. But APD is not seen by the government as being an environmental tax. Air passengers are therefore not being charged twice for their travel carbon emissions.
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EU – Double counting for cooking oil biodiesel approved in Germany
France and the Netherlands already double count biofuels made from used cooking oil, and Germany also does this, backdated to January 2011. This is all fuels, for aviation as well as for road transport. It means products are counted twice towards the national quota of the amount of supposedly low carbon fuel being used by that country. They get this double countin because of their reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The German biofuels quota stipulates that the use of tallow-based products for biodiesel production be phased out completely from 2012. SkyNRG in Holland provides aviation biofuel based on used cooking oil to several airlines.
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US Navy buys another 450,000 gallons biofuel for practice exercise
The US Navy has bought 450,000 gallons of biofuel - its largest purchase - in order to try and reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuel oil. It is costing the Navy about $15 per gallon, compared to $4 for ordinary jet fuel. The oil came partly from Dynamic Fuels (in Louisiana) made from used cooking oil and animal fat, and from Solarzyme which produces algal fuel. Solarzyme has already sold the Navy bout 150,000 gallons of their fuel. It will be used in 50% mixture in planes and ships, for a practice "green strike group" Naval exercise off Hawaii in 2012
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IATA – global air passengers up 4.3% in November compared to a year earlier
IATA data for November show 4.3% more passengers globally than November 2010, about 2% more than in January 2011, though 0.2% less than in October 2011. Tony Tyler said continuing economic uncertainty is likely to mean market shortcomings deepening in 2012. Globally, passenger load factors fell to 76.3% from 78.5% in October. This shows that the weakness in passenger demand is outpacing airlines’ ability to adjust capacity accordingly. In Europe demand grew 4.9% compared to the previous November while capacity increased by 5.3%.
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Selling Heathrow won’t pay for a Thames airport
The advocates of an estuary airport hope that it could partly be funded by selling the land at Heathrow which they speculate might raise £12 billion. However, the reason that land round Heathrow is so valuable is because there’s an airport there: close it down and the value collapses. Freight in particular goes from Heathrow, and its location is key. Some 77,000 people work at Heathrow for 320 different companies and more than 200,000 have jobs that depend on it. Once the planes stop flying, it is just another brown-field site.
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IATA: global air freight down – 3.1% in November compared to a year earlier
IATA data for November show global air freight tonnage, domestic and international, was down -3.1% in November, compared to a year earlier. Tonnage was down 4% compared to January 2011 though up 1.1% compared to October. November 2011 international freight was down -3.8% while domestic freight was up +25, giving the overall -3.1%. European carriers reported a 4.6% fall in demand reflecting continued uncertainty associated with the Euro-zone crisis. Shares of global air freight by region are Asia-Pacific 40.5%, Europe 22.0%, North America 23.6%, Middle East 9.8%, Latin America 3.0%, Africa 1.1%.
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British travellers made 7% more bookings for trips in the UK than in 2010
An Expedia survey found Spain and Turkey gained more UK visitors, but fewer went to some north African countries, Bookings for Thailand were down, due to the floods. Expedia forecast that British destinations would again prove popular in 2012. The south of England and London were the most popular choices within the UK. The Bank […]
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Alleged corrupt payments to Shepway District Councillors for Lydd runway extension
Private Eye's "Rotten Boroughs Awards 2011" lists Zaher Deir, former boss of Lydd Airport in Kent, who told a court that unusual spending patterns on his company credit card were accounted for by “gifts” to Shepway councillors who were to determine a planning application for a runway extension. Shepway Green Party and Lydd Airport Action Group are among those demanding a full investigation and the local MP agrees. An inspector is due to rule in March 2012 on whether the runway extension is to be allowed
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Flight times to longhaul destinations to be slashed thanks to Santa’s shortcut
Proposals to allow twin-engined civilian passenger jets to fly over the Arctic will reduce flight times and make destinations on the other side of the globe a one-flight hop. Until now, regulators have insisted the planes must always be within 3 hours of a suitable place to land. The US has now increased this to 5 and a half hours, and the EU may follow. The last time planes flew regularly over the North Pole was during the Cold War to avoid USSR airspace. Some fuel may be saved from some shorter flights.
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24 travel companies collapsed in 2011
Research by Kelkoo travel found 24 holiday companies failed in 2011, and 29 failed in 2010. Most failures occurred at peak season times. The key reasons are the recession, and more bookings direct on the internet. Thomas Cook has launched an advertising campaign with up to £400 off its holidays. 2012 will see other holiday companies go to the wall. Figures indicate that in 2006 69.4 m British citizens took trips abroad, and in 2010 it was 55.6 million.
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Large weekly protests against noise at Frankfurt Airport having an effect
Every Monday 3 - 5,000 people go to Frankfurt airport to protest at the unacceptable level of noise they now find themselves subjected to, from the newly opened runway. Volker Bouffier, governor of the federal state of Hesse, recently met Frankfurt Airport, as well as representatives from airlines and air traffic control, in a desperate search for ways to keep the skies above the Rhine-Main even just a bit quieter. This was a tacit admission of serious negligence. With its focus on creating growth and jobs, the state government had for years underestimated just how extensively noise from the airport expansion would impact local residents, only to discover to its shock that it may have sentenced its own voters to a life smothered in aircraft noise.
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Plymouth Airport has now closed as its routes are no longer profitable
Plymouth Airport closed today. No aircraft will be able to use the site from this evening. The site has been used for flying since the mid-1920s. The closure will see the site's last eight staff lose their jobs. The last commercial flight by Air Southwest, the airport's sole carrier, departed in July. The local MP has written to Theresa Villiers about possible state aid for regional air services, but such subsidy looks unlikely. A group of business people calling themselves "Viable" have crazily ambitious plans for the airport to be rebuilt and expanded for 1m passengers per year.
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Flybe will quit Manston airport from March 2012
Flybe will no longer fly its service from Manston to Edinburgh after March, because there are barely any passengers. The Edinburgh service was regarded as Manston's jewel in the crown. Flybe also runs a service between Manston and Belfast – which will also end. The Manchester flights were scratched earlier this year A Flybe spokesman said "It is fair to say that Manston is one of the airports with the smaller catchment areas in the UK, and you have Gatwick not too far away." Manston does not have the makings of a successful passenger airport.
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Making cellulosic biofuels out of wood chips and grass just loses money
One of the possible sources of so-called "sustainable" biofuels for aviation is cellulosic biofuel - derived from plant material like wood chips, woody waste or various grasses. Several companies have been given large government grants in the USA to work on this, but it has proved to be too costly and fraught with problems. Tar production in the equipment is a problem that has proved hard to solve, especially at scale. One company has now failed and had to auction off its assets. Another is turning to corn (= maize) as that can make money, though the realise it competes with food and so affects food prices.
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Thai Airways conducts biofuel test flight
Thai Airways has flown a 20 minute flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, for the media, airline representatives etc, using partly biofuels, provided by Dutch company SkyNRG. It used 50% ordinary jet fuel and 50% recycled cooking oil from the US. SkyNRG says "SkyNRG does not commit to one single feedstock or technology. The sustainability of alternative aviation fuels depends on many factors and has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis." There will be the first passenger flight tomorrow.
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EU airline carbon tax (Emissions Trading System) backed by European Court
EU plans to levy an emissions tax on airlines are valid, according to the European Court of Justice. The decision means all airlines flying to and from the 27 states of the EU will face a tax on emissions from 1 January. US, Canadian and other carriers argue the charges violate climate change and aviation pacts but the ECJ ruled that the ETS does not infringe the principles of customary international law at issue or the Open Skies Agreement. Airlines can choose whether to fly to EU countries, or not. The US House of Representatives passed a measure two months ago directing the US transport secretary to prohibit US carriers from participating in the scheme if it were to come into force.
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ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS HAIL HISTORIC COURT DECISION UPHOLDING EUROPEAN LAW TO CURB AIRPLANE POLLUTION, ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
A transatlantic coalition of environmental groups today applauded the decision of Europe’s highest court to uphold the EU law to reduce carbon pollution from airplanes. The decision, from the Court of Justice of the European Union, affirms that the EU law is fully compliant with international law. This is their final ruling. The EU Aviation Directive, the world's only mandatory program to address emissions from aviation, will take effect in January 2012. The Court’s decision makes clear that existing law bars precisely the discriminatory treatment of airlines that the United States and others are calling for.
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CAA produces its 2nd Insight Note, on aviation and the environment
The CAA has published its Insight note in relation to climate change, noise and air pollution. This is one of 3 documents in which the regulator sets out its views (its members are the aviation industry). Its aim, therefore, is to find ways to mitigate the problems while allowing UK aviation to grow. The CAA says that without a global ‘cap and trade’ scheme, the EU ETS is the next best option for meeting the carbon challenge. On noise they acknowledge that there needs to be much more recognition of the extent of the problem but only add the anodyne comment that they hope to reduce "the numbers of people affected by noise and encouraging industry to better engage with their local communities to try to create consensus in support of sustainable development".
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Europe fights to save cap-and-trade as price of carbon continues far too low to be effective
Aviation joins the EU Emissions Trading System on 1st January. Due to the recession, the price of a tonne of carbon was €14 in January 2011, but now it has been down to €6 or so, making it much cheaper to pollute and slashing the financial incentives for companies to invest in low-carbon technologies. With the prospect of recession and the problems for the €, the price could fall to €2 soon, making the system ineffective. There are far too many permits in the system, and there always have been since the scheme's launch in 2005. Technologies like carbon capture and storage are not economically viable unless the price is at least €25. Now the environment committee of the European Parliament voted to withdraw some 1.4 billion allowances, about 15% of the total, from the carbon market between 2013 and 2020.
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Big Protests in Frankfurt over 4th Runway
Every Monday over 1,000 people gather in Terminal 1 of Frankfurt Airport to protest against the impact of the 4th Runway which was opened on 21st October. The new runway has created noise problems for over 100,000 newresidents. 20,000 people took part in a demonstration the day before it opened. Although the authorities have (reluctantly) agreed to ban flights between 23.00 hours and 05.00 hours, a huge number of people are suffering as a result of the new runway. The runway was only built after a bitter battle with local residents and environmentalists.
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Reports that Indian airlines may not submit their carbon data for ETS
Climate sceptic groups are promoting a story about India asking its national carriers not to submit data on their fuel consumption to the EU ETS. The data is needed for working out how much an airline needs to pay to the ETS. The source says India has led the opposition to the move with support from more than two dozen countries including the US and China.
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US demands data from European and US airlines as it fires off first retaliatory salvo in growing dispute with EU over ETS
On 21st December. the European Court of Justice will rule on the case brought by major US airlines against their inclusion in the EU ETS. Now the US Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued an order against 9 European carriers (Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Deutsche Lufthansa, Iberia, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic) requiring them to submit traffic and carbon allowance data to it by specified dates. An order has also been served on 7 US airlines requesting similar data and additional financial information on allowance costs and income.
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Battle over Santa Monica Airport’s future revs up
In America, Santa Monica municipal airport is situated right in the heart of the suburbs, with take off and landing routes right over thousands of homes. There are serious questions about the effects of the airport's operations on public health and quality of life. In 2015 an operating agreement between the FAA and the City of Santa Monica will expire.The city of contends that it will then have more control over how the airport is used. But the FAA has vowed to battle to keep the airport going. There were around 105.000 take offs and landings in 2010.
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Conservation charities recruit millions to fight reforms to planning system
MPs face a public backlash over proposals to tear up the UK's planning laws and allow much greater development as conservation groups mobilise millions of members to lobby against the strategy. This campaign against the planning shakeup is rapidly becoming the biggest environmental controversy since the coalition took office, with hundreds of thousands writing to their MPs or signing petitions. On of the key demands of environmental groups is that government provides a single, detailed definition of sustainable development to guide planners.
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Birmingham Airport sees itself as better alternative than an estuary airport
Birmingham airport, under Paul Kehoe, continues to push to expand. It hopes its runway extension will start in July 2012. It also hopes to have direct flights to China, and that this will boost the local economy. They want Birmingham airport to be the new hub, and effort and funding to be spent on that, rather than a Thames estuary airport. The airport says it has planning consent for as many as 30 million passengers per year.
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Virgin accuses government of “ignoring” APD consultation
Virgin Atlantic is complaining that the government did not listen to the request of the aviation industry for no increase in air passenger duty, and for just two bands of APD by distance. They have managed to get, through Crawley MP - Henry Smith - details of the consultation responses (not released to the public) to see how many respondents wanted the current system to remain. "54 out of 70 respondents called for the reclassification of premium economy. Just 11 out of 70 supported retaining the existing double-rate on premium-economy fares".
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Flights delayed after whippet strays onto runway at Manchester Airport
Flights at Manchester airport were brought to a standstill for about 40 minutes, by a whippet that had got away from its owners and got into a cargo area, and (perhaps?) onto the runway. A flight from Turkey was forced to divert to Birmingham because of the Saturday morning drama – and a dozen other flights were delayed. The airport said: “Basically, if there is any lost animal on the runway, we have to stop all flights straight away. Fortunately, we’ve cleared the backlog.”
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Manston to stop fuelling Iran Air: pure coincidence?
A controversial deal allowing Iran Air to refuel at Manston airport will come to an end. It was claimed Iran Air planes were using the airport to dodge US sanctions. Iranian planes are banned from refuelling in countries that have economic ties with America. but can avoid sanctions by filling up at privately owned airports such as Manston. Iran Air has been refuelling at Manston for around eight months and they have now decided to make other arrangements.
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Buyer sought for nose-diving Durham Tees Valley Airport
Peel Airports has put their 75% stake of the airport up for sale, as it is losing money had too few passengers. Most airports have seen a drop in traffic, but for Durham Tees Valley it's been more of a nose-dive than a controlled descent. In 2006, more than 900,000 passengers passed through its doors. This year that will have come down to 200,000. The recession has hit and airlines have also increasingly deserted Durham Tees Valley for the safety of bigger airports.
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CAA (whose membership is airlines and travel companies) says London has good connectivity now, but will need more airport capacity in future
The CAA, whose membership is air travel companies and operators, has produced an "insight note" to add to its contribution to input into the government's work on developing a new aviation policy for the UK. There will be another major consultation on this next spring. The CAA says that whereas London has good connectivity now, "We conclude that choice, value and resilience are all likely to be affected in the absence of additional aviation capacity." ie. The airlines and the tour operators want more airport capacity, and the CAA is lobbying for them.
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Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand sign agreements with Australian company Licella to develop aviation biofuels
Australian biofuel company Licella (in Somersby, NSW) has signed a MOU with both Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand on their technology to convert ligno-cellulosic biomass such as wood waste, agricultural or farm waste, into jet biofuel. Their process uses a Catalytic Hydro Thermal Reactor (CAT-HTR) that breaks down pulverised biomass to produce high-quality bio-crude oil.
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Greening clashes with MPs over ‘Boris Island’ airport
The government has ruled out building a new runway at Heathrow and there are restrictions on further expansion at Gatwick and Stansted. Some business groups say that London will lose out to other European countries if more airport capacity is not built near the capital. Justine Greening, appearing at the parliamentary select committee on transport, […]
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The inevitability of traceability in the oil and gas sector
In many sectors, such as consumer goods, food, etc, products have to be traceable and show their country of origin. Attention is now turning to oil and gas. With the current controversy in the UK over the European fuel quality regulation there will be growing demand for greater transparency. There are already some companies that have pledged to avoid using unconventional oil from oil sands. Pressure to disclose is increasing and the technology to trace crude oil back to its origin is emerging.
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Mintel survey suggests expenditure on holidays down, but 25% regard a holiday as essential
Excluding the flights, overseas holidays by UK households in 2010 made up more than 60% of total holiday expenditure with £12 billion spent on UK trips and £21.3 billion on holidays abroad. Mintel data showed that holidays were rated as the third biggest area in which consumers had spent less, behind entertainment and leisure (54%) and food and takeaways (53%) between 2009 and 2010. The Mintel survey showed 40% class holidays as a luxury and one 25% see a holiday as a necessary spend, based on a poll of 2,000 people. Also data on household spending.
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Around 800 million air passengers in the EU in 2010. UK had 193 million – which is 3.1 passengers per inhabitant
Data collected by the EU shows that in 2010, the UK reported the highest number of air passengers for any EU country, with almost 193 million or 3.1 passengers per inhabitant (which was approximately double the EU-27 average). Just under 800 million passengers were carried by air in 2010 in the EU-27. The number of air passengers carried in the EU-27 had stagnated in 2008, fell by -5.9 % in 2009, and rebounded by +6.0 % in 2010. There is data for the top 15 European airports.
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Heathrow Resists Capacity Crunch as Noise Bar Favors Coastal Hub
Bloomberg says Heathrow is turning to bigger jets and glitzier shops to keep growing in the face of a campaign to build a rival hub on the Thames estuary. There will be more A380s - up to 35 per day. . Heathrow wants more transfer passengers. Colin Matthews said: " ...to give business people starting or ending their journey in London the frequencies and destinations they want you have to fill the rest of the plane.” BAA wants to convince lawmakers and officials that Heathrow can raise its capacity without disrupting people’s lives
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Leeds Bradford Airport ‘selling a pup’ over plans for expansion
Councillors in Leeds have accused the airport of ignoring communities living near the airport. The airport had around 2.8 million passengers in 2008, and around 2.7 milion in 2010, and want to increase the number to 4 million per year. They are now building at the airport to provide a new departure lounge, more shops, a large walkway to the aircraft etc. Councillors say there will be no additional infrastructure to support the expected big increase in passengers, and the road traffic congestion that would bring.
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Virgin and BA owner IAG fight to buy BMI from Lufthansa
Lufthansa, which owns BMI, has said it has not yet decided on a buyer for the carrier. In November Lufthansa signed an agreement with International Airlines Group (IAG), to work towards a final deal. However, the agreement was not exclusive and Lufthansa has now said it also has a deal with Virgin. So both still have a chance of buying BMI, which has 8.5% of the landing slots at Heathrow - seen as the main attraction to buyers.
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Qantas to fly first biofuel flights in early 2012
Qantas is planning Australia’s first biofuel commercial flight in early 2012, according to its CEO. More details are likely to be released in the new year. They aim to make 1.5% cuts annually in emissions by various savings, but believe only biofuels will enable them to make significant cuts. Qantas has signed agreements with Solazyme and Solena. Boeing is working with Hawai’i BioEnergy to see if biojet fuels can be made from sorghum (so much for not competing with food) and eucalyptus, to keep their tourists flying in.
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Deutsche Flugsicherung plans bid for Nats stake
Germany's state-owned air traffic service Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) is planning a bid for a stake in Nats, the part-privatized company that runs the U.K.'s air traffic control service. DFS has asked investment banks in London to tender for an advisory role in a potential bid. George Osborne said last year that the government would sell its 49% stake but little has happened since. GIP is also interested.
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Durban Climate talks end with weak deal that lacks ambition and risks 4 degrees C
At the end of the Durban talks, governments once again failed to provide the inspiration and ambition to tackle climate change and provide hope for hundreds of millions around the world who suffer and will continue to suffer from climate-related impacts. The outcome is a weak agreement that establishes a Green Climate Fund with little money, postpones major decisions on the content of the Kyoto Protocol, delays any real action for several years, and makes an unclear commitment to a global agreement from 2020 that could leave the world legally bound to 4 degrees of global warming. That would be a catastrophe.
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Business Jets over 5.7 tonnes to be charged APD after April 2013
Business jets will be charged Air Passenger Duty from April 2013. The Treasury says the reason for not charging it from April 2012 is that "changes will bring a substantial number of new operators into the APD regime and will require the introduction of special rules tailored to business aviation." APD will be charged on any jet with more than around 6 - 8 seats, depending on the model. Many private jets in practice carry just 2 or 3 passengers. AEF figures on the CO2 emissions per private jet passenger, compared to premium class on a commercial airline, show them to be 3 - 8 times higher.
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Ryanair’s new fees: £1 for your ticket, £5 for your sandwich – £100 for your bag
The cost of flying with Ryanair will rise in 2012, as they struggle to continue making money out of cheap flights. A unchecked bag could cost £100, with £25 for one checked. (Compared to the much- whinged-about APD at a bargain £13). Ryanair’s cabin baggage limits are also tight on weight and passengers who breach […]
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Dropping the application of CBDR to international aviation could unlock significant financing for developing countries
The Climate Group writes that in order to solve the fundamental problem of different perspectives of the developed and the developing countries on aviation emissions, the position by developing countries on CBDR (Common But Differentiated Responsibilities) needs to be dropped. CBDR contrasts with the ICAO principle of equal national treatment. Developing countries may see the issue more in terms of carbon, while developed see the issue more in terms of market distortion.
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Father of climate change, James Hansen, says 2C limit is not strict enough
James Hansen, Direct or of NASA's Goddard Institute says there is a widespread misconception among international climate negotiators meeting in Durban that the 2C "safe" target would stop extreme changes. This is is not true. He believes global atmospheric CO2 should not exceed 350ppm. It is now at about 389 ppm. Some scientists believe 450ppm is a reasonable target. Massive global effects would be inevitable.
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Thomas Cook holiday flight in ‘serious’ incident at Manchester Airport after pilot underestimated take-off weight by 17 tonnes
On 29th April, a holiday flight taking off from Manchester airport nearly had serious problems when the pilot and co-pilot read the wrong reading, and therefore understimated the take off weight of the plane (not adding the weight of the 17 tonnes of fuel). This meant they wrongly calculated the thrust needed for take off, and tried to take off at too low a speed. This could have caused problems, including in control of the aircraft.
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Committee on Climate Change Review on future UK use of bioenergy
The Committee on Climate Change have produced their review on bioenergy. On aviation it says: Biofuels could play a role through the 2020s and beyond in supporting emission reductions from aviation, but this should not be seen as a ‘silver bullet’. It says as well as bioenergy, "efficiency improvements and constrained demand growth will also be required. The findings of the bioenergy review will feed in to the Government’s new bioenergy strategy and to the Committee’s advice on the inclusion of international aviation and shipping in carbon budgets which will be published in Spring 2012."
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Eurozone crisis could plunge airline industry into $8bn loss, IATA warns
Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and chief executive, says global airlines will plunge into combined losses of $8bn (£5.1bn) next year if the eurozone crisis turns into a full blown banking crisis and recession. On their most optimistic assumption, the losses might be $3.5 billion. That estimate is down from the $4.9bn IATA was forecasting just three months ago. European airlines, however, are expected to make a loss regardless of the outcome of the eurozone crisis
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US DOT official warns of damaging trade war between US and EU over EU ETS
The US Department of Transportation continues to push for American and other airlines to be excluded from the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, which aviation joins on 1st January. They are trying to make out that this scheme is holding ICAO back and delaying their action (ICAO has never been remotely pro-active on this). The European Court of Justice will announce their decision on the case against the ETS on 21st December. Realistically the airlines realise that at this late date, the scheme cannot and will not be altered, though they hope for change before early 2013.
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Durban COP17 – difficulties of including international shipping
The European Court of Justice will soon rule on including aviation emissions, but not those of shipping, in the EU ETS. International shipping produces 3 - 4% of global CO2. But But it seems the EU would be unable to enforce restrictions on ships flying flags of convenience from outside the European bloc. A recent report by WWF and Oxfam shows how international shipping could be charged in a fair way, in a global system, for their carbon emissions without unduly harming poorer nations.
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BA says it will cut back on hiring new staff due to APD rise
BA says it will take on only 400 people, not 800, next year. It says this is because of the rise in APD. It does not mention the effects of the economic recession in reducing demand for air travel. Willie Walsh claims the damage done to the UK economy (from the tax rising from £12 to £13 for flight of less than 2,000 miles, or a rise from £60 to £65 for one up to 4,000 miles) will be greater than the tax raised. This ignores, as the aviation industry always does, the tourism deficit caused by more Brits flying out of the UK to spend money abroad, than tourists flying in.
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Scottish airports disappointed by decision not to devolve APD
Because the government agreed to cut APD rates in Northern Ireland, Scottish airport operators are dismayed that contol of APD had not been devolved to the Scottish government. Scottish aviation says if APD were devolved they could provide the means to incentivise airlines to provide new direct international connections to Scotland. The UK Treasury said it had not ruled out devolving APD to Scotland and Wales in the future.
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AirportWatch welcomes Air Passenger Duty increase
In these difficult economic times it is absolutely right that the aviation industry and its customers join the rest of society in making their fair contribution towards the country’s finances. Aviation remains greatly under-taxed compared with most other sectors of the economy. Aviation still pays no fuel duty and no VAT and even with this APD increase the industry still lbenefits to the extent of around £8.5 billion per annum.
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Government retains APD distance and class bands
Air Passenger Duty rate banding for both distances and seat class will not be changed, the government has said. The 4 distance bands will be retained. There will be no reduced APD rate for premium economy. The government said any banding system would produce some anomalies, and the 4 band system produces fewer than a 2 band system. APD will increase 10% from 1 April 2012 as announced in the Budget last week and business jets of 5.7 tonnes or more will be included from 1 April 2013.
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Branson hoping for 50% “sustainable” aviation fuels by 2020 (8 years ahead)
Guardian article about Richard Branson and his hopes for aviation being able to use biofuels for perhaps 50% of their fuel by 2020. This is based on the hope that biofuels, from algae in particular, will be very low carbon. There is a lot of unfounded optimism about what biofuels' carbon emissions will be, now cheap they will be, and how fast they can be scaled up to industrial quantities. Branson's aim is not to cut overall emissions, but get cheap fuel for airlines, so they can continue to grow - and thus postpone the day when the industry acutually starts to be responsible for its environmental impact.
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Bird life in the Thames estuary a significant reason to block project
Article about Kent concerns about an estuary airport. Include the threat of catastrophic bird strike and the destruction of wetland habitats protected by EU and global treaties. "They will cull all the birds but then they will sterilise the land. If you want to stop attracting birds to go near an airport you need to make sure the land is not attractive to them". Lord Foster's plan would destroy five nature reserves and disrupt hundreds of hectares of marshland designated as SPA under the EU Birds Directive and the Ramsar Convention. The RSPB -backed by a million members- sees the Thames Estuary as a test case.
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George Osborne’s airport hint has Thames estuary in a spin
For residents of Grain village the Chancellor's statement that the government will consider plans for an estuary airport next year was confirmation of the threat to their homes. Osbourne is sold on the idea that infrastructure investment can boost the UK by providing economic links for business and unlocking cash from British pension funds. He also unveiled a memorandum of understanding with the National Association of Pension Funds and the Pension Protection Fund to invest up to £20bn in projects such a the four-runway airport.
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Advertising spending by travel companies was £406.8 million in 2010
In 2010 the amount spent by the travel sector (not only air travel) was £406.8 million, while the amount spent by comparison for retail was £1,529.4 million. In 2010 British Airways spent £12.4 million; TUI spent £11.3 million; Thomson Holidays spent £10.1 million on ads; Thomas Cook Travel Shops spent £7.8 million; Virgin Travel Group £ 7.6 million; easyJet spent £7.2 million; Flybe spent £5.9 million. Total UK advertising spend was about £16.6 billion in 2010.
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“Better European Airports” package launched by European Commission
An important ‘airport package’ was released by the European Commission on 1st December. It covers slots, speeding up ground-handling at the airports and noise (where it is proposing the Commission has a greater role). The reason behind is to allow airports to make more efficient use of their existing capacity in order to allow more planes to use them. The report says that Europe’s airports are facing a capacity crunch, and air traffic in Europe will nearly double by 2030. Yet Europe will not be in a position to meet a large part of this demand due to a shortage of airport capacity.
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Our irrational preoccupation with growth
Mary Dejevsky, writing in the Independent, asks why we are so obsessed with growth, and says we should stop chasing high growth that is unrealistic, and apply some ingenuity to making the best of low growth or even decline. With the overall size of the UK economy unlikely to return to its 2008 level until, at the earliest, 2014, if ever, we should focus on using use what we have more rationally, and quality of life.
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Are environmental safeguards for London City Airport strong enough?
On 1st December the GLA's Environmental Committee will meet to look at how well new environmental controls around the City Airport are currently working, and if they would continue to be effective if the number of flights increases. The LCY now has permission from Newham Council to increase the number of flights from the current level of 73,000 to 120,000 per year, subject to tougher environmental controls for air quality and noise levels - which is likely to adversely affect residents in many London boroughs.
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Water for microalgae cultivation has significant energy requirements
A report into the energy used in production of algal biodiesel finds that the water needed is significant, and there are often high energy costs in providing this water for the process. There are also energy costs in providing nutrients for the algae, and other parts of the process. This means - for algae being cultivated in ponds in the USA - that life cycle energy consumed in the cultivation process sometimes, depending on various local conditions etc. - exceeds the amount of energy recovered from the algal biomass
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Gatwick airport says it has had 3.3% passenger growth March to September
Gatwick airport says it has had an underlying passenger growth rate of 3.3% over the 6 months March to April. (The apparent increase of 8.5% is distorted by the ash cloud effects in 2010). Gatwick has increased the aircraft landing charge during summer and removed them in Winter to encourage greater all-year round use of the airport. Some new airlines will start to operate services from Gatwick this Winter, including AirAsia X, Vietnam Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa.
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New report shows Family holidays could boost economy and quality of life
A report by the All Party Parliamentary group on social tourism wants there to be more money spent on encouraging families to take holidays together. Though much of the backing comes from airlines and travel firms like Thomson who want families to travel abroad, there is much support for badly off families to use spare holiday accommodation within the UK for inexpensive holidays, thus also boosting UK tourism.
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Chancellor’s autumn statement – he regards environment rules as a burden on the economy
The Chancellor's autumn statement slammed green policies as a "burden" and a "ridiculous cost" to British businesses, in a fillip to the right wing of his party. He told parliament: "I am worried about the combined impact of the green policies adopted not just in Britain, but also by the European Union …" RSPB, WWF, FOE and CPRE all expressed their grave disappointment of this abandonnment of environmental regulation and the environmental recklessnes and lack of vision of throwing billions of pounds at roads and dirty energy that will only increase our dependency on gas, coal and oil instead of boosting greener alternatives.
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