Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
House of Lords Questions
Media News
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
28 June 2013
25 October 2013
7 March 2014
Meetings are held at 11am, Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
8 June 2013 – Manchester Airport is trialling guides who will fast track groups of passengers through the airport. The service costs about £50 for up to four people. Passengers can use the service to be escorted to wherever they wish to be once they are airside. For arriving passengers, the guide will meet the passenger at their arrivals gate, fast-track them through immigration, take them to their baggage reclaim carousel and then guide them to their onward means of transport.
10 June 2013 – Birmingham Airport have published plans for expansion of the airport. The plan supports the development of a business park for the Midlands manufacturing sector alongside the expanded site and the National Exhibition Centre. The plans also include the development of rail links from the airport to the proposed HS2 line.
12 June 2013 – A Populus survey of more than 6,000 people commissioned by Heathrow Airport has found that 46 per cent of respondents supported expanding Heathrow, compared with 43 per cent who were against expansion. Communities with more people who worked at the airport were found to be more in favour of expansion. In Feltham and Heston, 51 per cent backed expansion, with 38 per cent against, in Spelthorne the breakdown was 48-36, in Windsor 48-39, Brentford and Isleworth 46-43, Hillingdon 44-47 and the least support was in Richmond Park with 50 per cent opposing a bigger Heathrow compared with 39 per cent in favour. Populus interviewed more than 6,000 adults between February 27 and May 4. A group opposing the expansion of the airport (Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) has challenged the findings of the poll. Heathrow Airport has said they will fund a community campaign supporting a third runway.
12 June 2013 – Thai Airways is to deploy the Airbus A380 on daily flights between Heathrow and Bangkok this winter. The 507-passenger aircraft will operate one of the airline’s two daily services to the Thai capital from December 1.
12 June 2013 – British Airways’ first Airbus A380 will arrive at Manston International Airport for a period of training in preparation for its launch into service later in the year. Once the A380 training is complete, the airline’s new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will also make its way to Manston for part of its ‘entry into service’ programme.
12 June 2013 – Emirates has announced plans to open an indoor aviation themed attraction in London this July. The carrier says London’s Emirates Aviation Experience (EAE), will be the first of its kind globally. The EAE, located at the South side of the Emirates Air Line cable car in London, will cover an area of almost 3,230 sq ft (300m²) and will provide an insight into the operations of commercial air travel.
12 June 2013 – KLM UK Engineering are to recruit up to 25 new staff to help free up its existing maintenance teams. The firm currently employs 375 staff at its base at Norwich International Airport and also takes on up to 80 contractors at peak periods.
12 June 2013 – Plans for a business park near Coventry Airport have been given agreed. The £250m Coventry Gateway scheme, including warehouses, factory units, a hotel and retail outlets, was approved by Warwick District Council.
Industry News
10 June 2013 – British Airways will receive its first two Dreamliners later this month with the initial A380 superjumbo to follow in early July. The first Dreamliner is scheduled to be delivered on June 26 with the second 787 following the next day on June 27. The first Airbus A380 will arrive on July 4 with the second due to be delivered in September.
11 June 2013 – The 9th Annual ACI Europe Best Airport Awards were awarded to: London City Airport in the 1-5 million passenger category; Edinburgh Airport in the 5-10 million passenger category; Hamburg Airport in the 10-25 million passenger category; London Heathrow Airport in the 25 million passengers category. The ACI Europe Best Airport Awards aim to recognise achievement in core activities such as customer service, facilities, retail, security, community relations and environmental awareness and operations.
11 June 2013 – Delta Air Lines is expected to secure unconditional European regulatory approval to buy a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic. The European Commission, which is examining the deal as the pan-European regulator, has stated that it does not see competition problems.
11 June 2013 – More than 3.2m passengers used Gatwick in May 2013 – more than 231,800 passengers than the prior year. London City Airport had its busiest ever month, week and day in May 2013, peaking at 15,697 passengers on Friday 23 to total 315,514 – the highest monthly figure in its 26 year history . The figures represent an increase of almost 20 per cent compared to May 2012.Heathrow Airport handled 6.1 million passengers in May, an increase of 4.7 per cent on May 2012. The average number of passengers on each flight rose to almost 152, equating to a load factor of 75 per cent up 1.1 percentage points. The growth in passengers using Heathrow was across most markets. Transatlantic traffic was up 4 per cent, with European short haul passengers up 7 per cent including double-digit growth in Italy (14 per cent), France (12 per cent) and the Netherlands (16 per cent). Traffic to and from the BRIC economies was up 12 per cent with notable growth in India 18 per cent and China 14 per cent.
13 June 2013 – An express bus service from the city of Cardiff to Cardiff Airport is due to begin service in August .
14 June 2013 – A trial of environmentally optimised transatlantic flights has begun as part of the TOPFLIGHT project being led by air traffic service provider, NATS. TOPFLIGHT is part of the SESAR programme, the technical and operational component of the European Community’s Single European Sky initiative which aims to modernise and harmonise air traffic management systems across Europe.
Parliamentary News
Early Day Motion (EDM) 244 – Air Passenger Duty
Early Day Motion (EDM) 244 was tabled 12 June 2013 by Jim Sheridan (Labour Party, Paisley and Renfrewshire North): That this House believes that the UK’s air passenger duty (APD), the highest air passenger duty in the world, is acting as a deterrent to both inward investment and inbound tourism; is concerned about the impact of APD on UK businesses wishing to export to emerging markets; notes the compelling analysis undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers about the economic impacts of APD; further believes changes in APD policy could contribute positively to the UK’s economic growth; and calls on HM Treasury to commission a comprehensive study into the full economic effects of aviation tax in the UK, including its impact on employment. This EDM has been signed by 6 MPs.
House of Lords Questions
Spicer – The future of London airports
10 June 2013
Lord Spicer (Conservative peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to expedite the announcement of their policy on the future of London airports.
Earl Attlee (Government spokesperson for Transport): My Lords, the long-term question of aviation capacity is a matter of national importance. It is vital that the Airports Commission has sufficient time to carry out a thorough investigation of the options, and to build consensus around its long-term recommendations. The timetable set for its final report, by the summer of 2015, will allow this to take place, and will enable a stable, long-term solution to be found.
Lord Spicer: My Lords, does not the recommendation in the report of the Transport Select Committee that a rapid decision be made in the go-ahead for a third runway at Heathrow count for anything?
Earl Attlee: My Lords, we welcome the report of the Transport Select Committee but do not necessarily agree with all its conclusions. It is important that we have a solution that will withstand a change of government. The Crossrail and HS2 projects can withstand a change of government. We need a policy for Heathrow and the London hub that can also withstand a change of government.
Lord Soley (Labour peer): The noble Earl wants a thorough inquiry, but we have been having thorough inquiries since the Maplin inquiry, which was about 50 years ago, so it would be quite nice if we could finish this. Had the Government taken on board the last Government’s position, we would be there now, which would be helpful. I put it to the Minister that there is a danger of an unconsidered policy developing on this, since we now have six London airports with seven runways—or seven airports, if you include the newly renamed London Oxford Airport. I do not know how far this is going to go on until we actually get a proper policy.
Earl Attlee: The noble Lord knows very well that the issue is not about point-to-point capacity with the various London airports; it is about hub capacity.
Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat peer): On the subject of hub capacity, is it not relevant to think in terms of which airlines bring people into Heathrow who require the access to a hub? Many airports cater for people who are coming to the United Kingdom for short or long stays, and they do not need to interline. The announcement this morning of Birmingham Airport’s massive expansion, and the fact that it is going to be 35 minutes from the centre of London, should also be taken into account.
Earl Attlee: My noble friend makes many very good points, and I am sure that the Airport Commission will take them into consideration.
Lord Clinton-Davis (Labour peer): I speak as the life president of BALPA. The inordinate delay in making a decision about the siting of a major airport in London can only result in benefiting Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. Any alternative to Heathrow is bound to take a huge amount of time to come into operation, whereas Heathrow, properly adapted, is ready now. Is it not the most obvious choice for any Government to enable them to make a speedy decision, which will not result in giving an advantage to other airports in Europe?
Earl Attlee: My Lords, Heathrow has one fundamental disadvantage: there are 220,000 who live within the 57 decibel noise contour, making it a very difficult problem to overcome.
Lord Mawhinney (Conservative peer): My Lords, in his initial Answer, my noble friend talked about the importance of taking three years over this and the fact that a decision would not come until just after the next general election. Is he aware that the Government, who keep pressing for more economic growth, are in danger of being charged with dithering, given that a speedy resolution to this will do more to promote economic growth than many of the other things that we all read about in the newspapers?
Earl Attlee: My Lords, there is no point in making a decision that will not stand a change in government.
Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Labour peer): My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that one of the difficulties of this open-ended discussion which has, as my noble friend Lord Soley has said many times, been going on for a very long time, is that a lot of areas are under constant threat and the blight that occurs in them is very damaging to the communities that live there? Is it possible for the Government at least to start ruling some things out, rather than leaving every option on the table?
Earl Attlee: As usual, the noble Baroness makes a very good point. The Airports Commission has been charged with reporting by December this year to rule out certain options.
Lord Higgins (Conservative peer): Given that the legislation for a hub at Maplin Sands went through with comparatively few problems back in the mid-1970s, is there not a case for looking at that site again?
Earl Attlee: My Lords, the Airports Commission will look at all sites including Maplin Sands or the Thames Estuary airport, and will then come up with a shortlist of which options need to be looked at in greater detail.
Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour peer): The Minister has shown great sagacity in indicating that there may be a change in government. His answers thus far have indicated that one of the two parties that form the coalition votes on one great negative—namely, no to the third runway at Heathrow—and intends to present itself before the next election with absolutely no advance in policy whatever.
Earl Attlee: It was the party opposite that came up with a policy for a third runway at Heathrow with no consensus and therefore it did not survive a change in government.
Lord Oxburgh (Crossbench peer): My Lords, can the Minister assure the House that any decision on the future of London’s airports will be taken in the light of a coherent and integrated transport policy for this country, involving both rail and road?
Earl Attlee: Absolutely, my Lords. The Airports Commission is charged with taking that into consideration, particularly as regards rail connectivity.
Lord Richard (Labour peer): The Minister does not exactly give the impression of a Government who are anxious to find a speedy solution to this problem. He keeps saying that the policy has to survive the next election. What consultative processes does he have in place for trying to ensure that it will survive the next election? Is he, for example, discussing it with other parties?
Earl Attlee: My Lords, currently it is planned that the final report of the Airports Commission will come out after the next election. Of course, the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, and I could have a chat before the next election but, even though he and I have solved a lot of problems together and we have rarely needed to seek the opinion of the House, I suspect that this matter will be far beyond our pay grade to determine
Media News
11 June 2013 – Mary Reilly and John Kirkland OBE have been appointed as non-executive members of the Department for Transport Board, Transport Secretary. They join lead Non-Executive Director Sam Laidlaw and other non-executives Ed Smith, Alan Cook and Sally Davis. The full team will attend the next DfTboard meeting on Wednesday 12 June.
Mary Reilly has recently retired as a Partner at Deloitte, and brings extensive experience of providing non-executive advice to UK and multi-national companies across a broad range of sectors on audit, risk management, governance and regulation. She was previously chair of the London Development Agency and was on the board of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). Mary Reilly replaced Hanif Lalani who left the department in November 2012.
John Kirkland is Chairman of the Bowmer and Kirkland Group of companies, the largest privately owned construction, engineering and development group in the UK. He is also President of a number of homeland security companies in the US. He brings the department strong commercial business insight and experience of running successful, high-profile companies. John Kirkland will replace Sally Davis who leaves her role in January 2014.
11 June 2013 – International Airlines Group’s subsidiary British Airways has reached agreement in principle with the trustees of its two main pension schemes on the schemes’ regular triennial valuations. The agreement confirms that the existing contribution plans for the Airways Pension Scheme (APS) and New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) remain on track to repay the pension liabilities. The valuations are based on the schemes’ funding position as at March 31, 2012. The main terms of the agreement are:
- A combined technical deficit of £3.3 billion (compared to £3.2 billion at March 31, 2010, which was the basis for the last deficit recovery plan).
- No change to the existing contribution arrangements which were agreed in 2010.
- The ability for British Airways to move to normal dividend payments over time.
- British Airways will continue to make additional deficit contributions if its cash balance at March 31 in any year exceeds £2 billion (2010 threshold: £1.8 billion).
- The slight increase in deficits between March 2012 and March 2010 is due to a reduction in the interest rates used to discount the schemes’ liabilities, partly offset by other changes including lower pension increases.
12 June 2013 – ‘Fair Tax on Flying’ (the travel industry’s joint petition against Air Passenger Duty (APD)) announced that ten new Chambers of Commerce have joined their campaign. The new Chambers of Commerce who have announced their support are: Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce; Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce; Business West; Doncaster Chamber of Commerce; Essex Chambers of Commerce; Kent Channel Chamber of Commerce; Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce; Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce; Sheffield Chamber of Commerce; and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. They join the Birmingham, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester, London and Scottish Chambers of Commerce who are already members.
12 June 2013 – French and German governments’ air traffic management providers have abandoned plans for a new legislative programme for single European skies (SES2). The announcement has been welcomed by the unions Prospect and PCS, who represent 4,000 ATM staff. They called on the UK government, the Department for Transport and NATS Holdings to write to the European Commission asking them to abandon SES2 and refocus on existing SES legislation.
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc.