Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Commons Questions
Media News
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
27 June 2014
24 October 2014
13 March 2015
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
24 Mar 2014 – Leeds City councillor Ryk Downes has welcomed the improved bus service between Leeds Bradford Airport and the Leeds city centre.
24 Mar 2014 – Cotswold Airport’s owner has been found guilty of health and safety breaches, after the airport’s fire chief died. Steve Mills, 45, was killed when a gas cylinder hit him on the head when it suddenly discharged, in 2011. He had been in his role at the airport on the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire border for two years. A jury decided Kemble Air Services Ltd, which denied the charges, did not put guidelines in place for the safe use of the cylinders.
25 Mar 2014 – A possible new buyer has been identified for Manston Airport according the local MP, Roger Gale, Conservative MP for Thanet North. Mr Gale said he believed he had found a ‘reputable’ new buyer. Mr Gale said he was being ‘very careful indeed to not raise false hopes’. 29 Mar 2014 – Thanet MPs Sir Roger Gale and Laura Sandys spoke at a meeting to keep Manston Airport open after a consultation was announced over its future. Residents and workers were told at the meeting that an anonymous offer has been made for the site.
26 Mar 2014 – The airline operator bmi regional has been found to be the UK’s most punctual scheduled airline for the ninth consecutive year, according to data released by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Independent website flightontime.info has analysed UK flight punctuality data – which is then used by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – to assess airlines’ punctuality. The latest figures, for 2013, show that bmi regional achieved an On-Time Performance of over 92 per cent in the previous twelve months, over six per cent greater than BA CityFlyer. A flight is deemed to be on time if it departs or arrives within 15 minutes of its published schedule.
26 Mar 2014 – Four Members of Parliament in and around the London Borough of Hillingdon have written to the new chairman of the High Speed 2 (HS2) Rail scheme urging him to end the uncertainty over the Heathrow Airport spur. Dominic Grieve (Con, Beaconsfield), Nick Hurd (Con, Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner), John Randall, (Con, Uxbridge and South Ruislip) and John McDonnell (Lab, Hayes and Harlington) have written to Sir David Higgins asking him to urgently review the case for the spur, arguing ‘that there is a serious case for dropping this option now.’ A preferred route for the spur – south from an interchange to the west of Ickenham via Denham and Iver Heath – was set out last year, but at the same time the Government announced it would put it on hold until phase two of the line, from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester, were built, projected for 2033.
27 Mar 2014 – A fund set up to benefit the community around Bristol Airport has donated more than £180,000 to 44 local projects since it was established two years ago. The Airport Environmental Improvement Fund was set up in 2012 as one of the commitments the airport agreed to provide in connection with its planning permission for development over the next decade. The management committee includes representatives from both the airport and North Somerset Council and is independently chaired.
26 Mar 2014 – Ryanair is expanding its services from Stansted Airport in a move that Chief Executive Michael O’Leary says will deliver growth of two million passengers a year and support 2,000 new on-site jobs at the Essex site. The airline’s recently announced winter schedule shows eight new routes and increased flights on 36 other routes. The new routes are Athens, Basel, Bordeaux, Bucharest, Perpignan, Prague, Rabat (Morocco) and Skelleftea (Norway). It will take Ryanair’s total Stansted routes to 109 with a growth from 490 to over 700 weekly flights.
26 Mar 2014 – The Government has confirmed it will provide a four-year financial guarantee towards safeguarding the Newquay to London air link. The route was under threat after Flybe announced last March it would terminate its service due to what the airline operator called ‘excessive’ landing charges. In December, the airline said it would continue the route until October this year, while the council and airport bosses pushed ahead with talks over gaining government funding. The existence of a Public Service Obligation (PSO) – a subsidy allocated by the Government to maintain air connectivity in the furthest reaches of the UK – on the route between Newquay and London will see the Government providing a subsidy to an operator to deliver the connection for a four-year period.
27 Mar 2014 – The Deputy Leader of Hounslow Council has said that Heathrow Airport should pay to move Cranford Primary School if it cannot provide sufficient noise insulation at the existing building. Councillor Colin Ellar has told the airport’s operator to pay for sufficient soundproofing at Cranford Primary School or pay for the school to move to a new site.
27 Mar 2014 – Lydd Airport on Kent’s Romney Marsh has appointed Capita to design and manage its runway extension. The 294 metre runway extension, plus a 150m starter extension, is the first phase of the £25 million development plans, which also includes a new terminal building. Once completed, the extended runway will enable Boeing 737-type aircraft to fly with a full payload of passengers, maximising the availability of routes and aircraft choice to operators.
27 Mar 2014 – London Southend Airport has had the largest UK airport solar panel installation as part of its terminal extension. The 496 solar panels, will supply the terminal’s expanded range of shops, cafes and restaurants with clean solar electricity for decades to come, via the airport’s private electricity network. Photon Energy installed the system on the terminal’s curved tunnel-shaped roofs, with panels supplied by Conergy, on behalf of Integral plc, which delivered the mechanical and electrical aspects of the terminal expansion.
27 Mar 2014 – Flights to Copenhagen from Humberside Airport are set to be stopped, just five months after the route was developed. Operator Scandinavian Airlines has announced it will stop the service because of lower than anticipated demand. The flight was introduced in October last year as a means to strengthen northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire’s renewable energy links with Scandinavia as the industry grows in the region. The service will stop from April 6.
28 Mar 2014 – Work will start in the next week to link the £56 million Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme to Junction 3 of the M18. The new airport link road from the motorway network to the south of Doncaster will start a range of projects. The Doncaster Council-led project will support expansion plans at Robin Hood Airport and the new Enterprise Zone.
30 Mar 2014 – Leeds Bradford International Airport will add 7 new routes and a new airline, SAS in the coming weeks. SAS will be running a twice weekly service to Copenhagen, offering a direct link to Denmark’s capital and onward connectivity across Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
30 Mar 2014 – Emirates Airlines has become the first airline operator to run an all-A380 service out of Gatwick Airport. The aircraft will replace the Boeing 777-300ER EK009 to Dubai.
Industry News
25 Mar 2014 – Stobart Air, formerly Aer Arann, is to run new routes from Southend airport in partnership with Flybe. A five-year franchising deal has been agreed between the carrier run by the Essex airport’s owner Stobart Group and the regional airline. The franchise operation is due to start on June 5 with two 72-seat ATR aircraft in Flybe livery.
26 Mar 2014 – Representatives from Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield are heading to France to meet delegates at Routes Europe. The conference, taking place from April 6-8, is an annual gathering of airlines, airports and aviation based companies who wish to conduct business to, from and within the European region.
27 Mar 2014 – Dubai International Airport has overtaken London Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport for air passenger traffic. Dubai handled 1.8 million more passengers than London during the first two months of the year, according to the data released by both the airports’ authorities. Dubai International’s passenger traffic rose 13.5 per cent to 12.1 million passengers in January and February, while London’s Heathrow traffic figures reached 10.3 million for the same period.
Parliamentary News
25 Mar 2014 – The Chairman of HS2 Ltd Sir David Higgins told the House of Commons Transport Select Committee that any High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) link to Heathrow Airport would come from the expansion of Crossrail’s capacity westwards. He also described plans for Crossrail 2 as an essential piece of infrastructure, noting that any redevelopment of Euston should be future proofed to allow for the construction of the project.
26 Mar 2014 – During a session of the Environmental Audit Committee on the environmental impact of the rail scheme High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) MPs heard evidence from Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill; Peter Miller, Head of Environment and Planning, HS2 Ltd; Sara Eppel, Head of the Rural Communities Policy Unit, Department for Food and Rural Affairs,; and Dave Buttery, Deputy Director of the High Speed Rail Legislation, Department for Transport. Opening the session, Labour Committee Chair Joan Walley invited the witnesses to make an opening statement. During the session Zac Goldsmith (Conservative, Richmond Park) asked if there should be better coordination between HS2 and the work on airport expansion. Responding, Mr Goodwill noted that Phase One did allow for a Heathrow spur on the high speed line, if expansion went ahead. He also noted that Heathrow would benefit from Crossrail connectivity via Old Oak Common with trains roughly every eight minutes. Martin Caton (Labour, Gower) asked if Phase One construction took account of the possibility of building a spur to Heathrow. Both the Minister and Mr Miller replied that it did. Mr Goodwill speculated that the connectivity via Old Oak Common would be sufficient for many passengers travelling from the North.
28 Mar 2014 – The House of Commons Library have published a ‘Standard Note’ entitled ‘Air passenger duty: recent debates & reform’. The report summarises the recent debates and reforms of Air Passenger Duty in light of the changes in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s recent budget statement (19 March 2014).
28 Mar2014 – The House of Commons Library have published a ‘Standard Note’ entitled ‘Proposals for an airport in the Thames estuary, 1945-2014’. The report outlines the various on-shore proposals that have been put forward and the Marinair off-shore proposal.
Government News
24 Mar 2014 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) published its final decision on future economic regulation of Stansted Airport’s cargo market, confirming the airport will not require an economic regulation licence for any of its services from April 2014 onwards. The decision follows an assessment of the airport’s cargo services including consultation with key stakeholders. Under the Civil Aviation Act 2012, only airports that have substantial market power are required to have airport licences and are subject to economic regulation. Taking this in to consideration the CAA has today confirmed there is not sufficient evidence that Stansted Airport has substantial market power for its cargo services. This follows the CAA’s previous announcement confirming Stansted’s passenger services did not have substantial market power. The CAA will continue to monitor the effects of competition at Stansted and other UK airports to make sure airports are operating in the interests of passengers and cargo owners.
27 Mar 2014 – The Airports Commission has published the terms of reference for the four feasibility studies being undertaked on an inner Thames Estuary airport proposal. The Commission previously consulted on draft terms of reference, and amendments following this consultation are clearly marked in the document. The Commission received 29 responses to its consultation on the proposed terms of reference for the inner Thames Estuary feasibility studies. This document summarises responses to the consultation and, as an outcome of the consultation, sets out the terms of reference for 4 studies that the commission is undertaking on an inner Thames Estuary airport proposal
House of Commons Questions
Percy, (Conservative, Brigg and Goole) – Multi-ticketing on the revenue from air passenger duty
24 March 2014
Andrew Percy, (Conservative, Brigg and Goole): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of multi-ticketing on the revenue accruing to the Exchequer from air passenger duty in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan, Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Conservative, Loughborough): Budget 2014 announced the reform of air passenger duty with the abolition of bands C and D from 1 April 2015. This will eliminate the two highest rates of APD charged on flights to countries over 4,000 miles from Britain, cutting tax for millions for passengers to travelling to China, India, Brazil and many other emerging markets. This will mean that flights to South Asia and the Caribbean will pay tax at the lower band B rate. Air passenger duty is calculated on a passenger’s final destination. The liability of a journey from the UK will be the same whether the journey is made by using a single, direct flight from the UK, or by using two or more connected flights through foreign hub airports. A journey using separate unconnected tickets has practical and financial implications including no protection on the cost of missed connections. Data is not held on the number of UK passenger journeys to foreign hub airports that may be part of a longer journey using unconnected tickets.
Marsden – Regional Air Connectivity Fund, 19 March 2014 budget statement
25 March 2014
Gordon Marsden, Shadow Further Education, Skills and Regional Growth Minister (Labour, Blackpool South): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether the £20 million of annual funding for the Regional Air Connectivity Fund referred to in The Budget 2014, paragraph 2.42 is additional to the £20 million of funding to improve regional air links referred to in, Investing in Britain’s Future, produced by HM Treasury in June 2013, paragraph 8.8; (2) what grants have been approved under the Regional Air Connectivity Fund since its launch; (3) whether (a) Manchester Airport, (b) Newcastle Airport, (c) Birmingham Airport and (d) Liverpool Airport will meet the requisite passenger number specifications to receive the Regional Air Connectivity Fund; (4) pursuant to Investing in Britain’s Future produced by HM Treasury in June 2013, paragraph 8.8, how much of the £20 million referred to has been allocated already; and for what purposes such funding has been issued.
Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (Conservative, Scarborough and Whitby): As part of the 2013 spending round announcement on 27 June 2013, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Liberal Democrat, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey), announced that £10 million would be made available in each of financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16 to maintain regional air access to London through the establishment of a Public Service Obligation (PSO), where there was the probability that an existing air service would be lost. The Department for Transport is in detailed discussions with regional councils regarding two routes that might qualify for support through a PSO under these conditions. Of these, Dundee council are currently tendering for an airline to operate a service between Dundee airport and London. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Conservative, Tatton), announced in this year’s Budget that funding to maintain existing air connectivity to London would increase from £10 million to £20 million per year. The Chancellor also announced that support will be provided for start-up aid for new air routes from UK regional airports. European Union aviation State aid guidelines allow for provision of start-up aid to facilitate start up of new routes from airports which handle fewer than five million passengers per annum. This currently includes Liverpool and Newcastle airports, but not Birmingham and Manchester airports. The Department for Transport is working with the Treasury to develop guidance that will clarify how the Government will ordinarily expect to interpret the European Union guidelines, and explain how the funding process will work.
Media News
24 Mar 2014 – A London-wide survey suggests that aircraft noise is only the seventh most important aspect of a London Airport for residents, according to new research from Populus – The social and Market Research Company interviewed a sample of 1,039 London residents across the city. No analysis is available by borough council area. Eight per cent of those surveyed ranked noise from flights as their most important issue. Issues such as the number of destinations an airport flies to directly (35%), its proximity to central London (18%) and the economic benefits it delivers (10%) were all seen as more important considerations. Less than a quarter of those polled said noise from flights was among their top three issues.
24 Mar 2014 – The campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has welcomed the recent Aircraft Noise Summit conference where a further call for an independent noise ombudsman was the main item on the agenda. A group of leading industry, political and local government figures signed a joint declaration calling on the Government and politicians to work collaboratively with all stakeholders for the early establishment of an independent aircraft noise ombudsman to further enhance and protect the welfare of people living near airports.
25 Mar 2014 – Chief Executive of Heathrow Airport Colin Matthews, has said that ‘a hub airport is the only way to connect the UK to the fastest growing economies because it’s the only model that can sustain long-haul flights’ after the Indonesian Airline operator Garuda chose to use Amsterdam Schiphol as its European headquarters rather than operate from a point-to-point airport in the UK. Mr Matthews said that Garuda Airlines have been unable to access slots at Heathrow Airport and have been unable to sustain long-haul flights at Gatwick Airport. Now those routes are being lost to the Netherlands and other competing European economies.
28 Mar 2014 – Airline operators are being encouraged by the European Travel Retail Confederation (ETRC) to lobby European Union (EU) member states to ensure revisions to EU air passenger rights – which would enshrine in law the right of passengers to take duty-free shopping onboard flights – are secured in order to protect retail income. ETRC President Sarah Branquinho today said the industry was facing its ‘only opportunity to protect retail income and end passenger confusion’.
28 Mar 2014 – According to the leader of Wandsworth Borough Council, Heathrow Airport would have to pay £100m every year to households around the airport if it is to match Gatwick’s new noise compensation offer. Gatwick Airport has pledged to pay £1,000 per annum to existing homes inside a 57dB noise contour around the airport. For a two runway Gatwick this is expected to cover up to 4,100 homes, costing £4.1m per annum. If a two runway Heathrow offered them same terms the noise contour would cover 100,000 homes at a cost of £100mn per annum. Gatwick also offers up to 2,000 qualifying local households a one-off grant of up to £3,000 towards noise insulation. If Heathrow was to match the terms of this scheme it has been argued that this could cost the airport a further £210m.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 24 Mar – 30 Mar
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 24 Mar -30 Mar
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc