Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Gatwick Airport
Industry News
European News
Government News
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
22 Apr 2014 – South Kesteven District Council have published ‘Heritage of Flight’ – wartime aviation trails with on-line and printed material to trace the district’s aviation history from WW1 to WW2 and the Cold War in time for D-Day commemorations in June. A launch in Grantham on Saturday May 24 will co-incide with the Battle of Britain Flight flypast of a Dakota and Spitfire aircraft.
23 April 2014 – London Luton Airport has launched a public consultation on the revision to one of its Standard Instrument Departure (SID) flight routes. The revision uses GPS based aircraft navigation technology, known as Area Navigation (RNAV1), which aims to improve the accuracy of track-keeping by aircraft. By enabling aircraft to fly consistently more accurate flight routes, flight tracks can be routed to avoid centres of population wherever possible; potentially reducing the number of people disturbed by aircraft noise, and reducing airborne emissions through more efficient routeing of aircraft. The consultation will run until 9th July 2014 and full details of the proposal, including information on how to participate in the consultation, are available here.
23 Apr 2014 – The extension to Birmingham Airport’s runway will be open on May 1 2014. The extra 400 metres of runway will allow aircraft to take more fuel, freight and passengers, and fly up to an extra 3,700 kms. China Southern will be the first long-haul airline to take advantage of the extended runway from July 22 when it operates a charter flight to and from Beijing.
23 Apr 2014 – A new survey by the market research company Populas suggests that residents in six out the seven boroughs (all except the London borough of Richmond) around Heathrow Airport are in favour of expanding the airport. Results also suggest that more residents in six out of the seven boroughs (again with the exception of Richmond) said that they would be more likely to vote for a parliamentary candidate at the next general election if they were also in favour of expansion. There is no indication however as to whether the results are statistically significant. Populus interviewed 1,000 adult residents (18+) in seven London Boroughs local to Heathrow Airport by telephone between 25 February and 23 March 2014. In total, 7,000 residents were interviewed. Results were weighted to be demographically representative of all adults in each borough.
23 Apr 2014 – The MP for South Staffordshire, Mr Gavin Williamson, has called a proposal to promote tourism by using 16-seater planes to fly visitors into Halfpenny Green Airport as ‘farcical’. Representatives on the Airport’s Consultative Committee had suggested that tourists could be flown into the Bobbington based airfield to visit places of interest in the Black Country. But Mr Williamson said he was ‘resolutely against it’.
23 Apr 2014 – A new air link from Exeter to London has been welcomed by Derek Phillips, Vice-President of Exeter Chamber of Commerce, as ‘great news’. The Exeter-based airline Flybe has signed a five-year agreement with London City Airport which will see a three times daily city-to-city service. The first flights will take off on October 27, with the journey taking 70 minutes. Tickets have gone on sale with prices starting at £34.99 one way.
24 Apr 2014 – TAG Farnborough Airport are currently applying for an increase in the amount of airspace that it controls. The airport currently caters for civil commercial and private jets and currently handles around 23,000 flights a year, although it has permission to cater for 50,000. The proposals would reduce the altitude of aircraft and, it is claimed, threaten the amenities of thousands of residents as well as the future of gliding groups near Pulborough and in Hampshire which would have restricted airspace. A spokesman for Lasham Gliding Society said at a presentation on its objections: ‘This corridor brings the potential of mid-air collision to an unacceptable level while increasing noise and emissions over towns dramatically’. The MP for Petworth, Nick Herbert is supporting the Pulborough-based Southdown Gliding Club’s fight against the plans. Chichester District Councillors and local MP, Mr. Andrew Tyrie have been asked to move against the proposals. Residents living east of Winchester in Alresford, the South Downs and the Itchen Valley have opposed these plans with many stating the increase could result in nearly double the number of aircrafts, creating noise pollution.
24 Apr 2014 – A bid for £1 million has been submitted to the Government to help towards the cost of a ‘heli-hub’ at Humberside Airport in Kirmington. The new facility would allow aviation-related training to be provided alongside fire and offshore training in a £2m project. More than £1.7m is also being sought to build a roundabout which it is anticipated would open up land at the airport.
24 Apr 2014 – Liverpool John Lennon Airport has announced a change to the structure of its ownership. The Peel Group, which previously held a 35 per cent shareholding in Vantage Airports UK, the current owners of the airport, has reached an agreement to acquire the remaining 65 per cent stake in the business from Vantage Airport Group. The change of ownership is effective immediately and Peel will now become the sole owner of the Airport Company.
25 Apr 2014 – Public consultation comments submitted on Farnborough Airport’s plans to extend its airspace have been lost due to a computer ‘technical fault’. The airport said the fault meant responses left over five days between 11:02 BST on 11 April and 10:08 on 16 April had not been recorded.
27 Apr 2014 – A fund has been set up to in an attempt to save Manston Airport after a public donation. At a Save Manston Airport public meeting, former Pfizer pharmaceutical programme manager Rebecca Baty began the fund off. At the start of the meeting MP Sir Roger Gale revealed that he and fellow MP Laura Sandys had held meetings with a potential buyer for the airport. Speaking after the meeting Sir Roger said, ‘I don’t want to raise false hopes but I think there’s a real prospect, that if Ann Gloag [the airport’s owner] is willing to sell at a fair price, then a fair price can be found and paid’.
Gatwick Airport
24 Apr 2014 – The MP for Mole Valley, Sir Paul Beresford, is supporting campaigners who are opposing plans for a second runway at Gatwick Airport.
23 Apr 2014 – East Sussex residents are being invited to give their views on the expansion of Gatwick Airport as part of the airports ongoing public consultation process. East Sussex County Council has previously given its backing to the proposals, with Councillor Rupert Simmons, the county council’s Lead Member for Economy, saying ‘a second runway at Gatwick Airport will help to deliver our key council priority of economic growth and creating jobs for our residents. While we support Gatwick Airport Limited’s bid, there needs to be investment in the area’s infrastructure to ensure any expansion delivers a real benefit to surrounding towns and counties’. The consultation exhibition will be held in Crowborough Community Centre Thursday 24 April between 4 – 7.30pm.
25 Apr 2014 – Residents asked to vote on which of three options they prefer for the location of Gatwick Airport’s proposed second runway, have said they are disappointed there was no option to vote ‘no runway at all’. Meetings are currently being held in areas likely to be affected by airport expansion, and residents have been given the opportunity to vote for one of three options. But many who attended a meeting at Lingfield Park Racecourse on Friday, April 11, have spoken of their disappointment that a fourth option was not included, to give residents the chance to voice their fears about a second runway being built at all.
26 Apr 2014 – A campaign group to rival the anti-Gatwick Airport expansion lobby has been set up to gather support for a second runway. ‘Gatwick Runway 2’ has been launched online and has so far gained 130 likes on Facebook and is encouraging people in favour of expansion to share their views at public exhibitions which are currently taking place to explain the airport’s plans.
Industry News
24 Apr 2014 – Flybe this week announced plans to base five aircraft at London City Airport from the end of October, at the start of winter 2014.
27 Apr 2014 – CityJet is launching two new routes with flights from Cambridge airport to Dublin and Amsterdam. Operated by a Fokker 50 aircraft, with a capacity of 50, flights will start on May 12 and are bookable from today.Both routes to will operate twice-daily during the week, and daily at weekends.
27 Apr 2014 – Refinements to Heathrow Airport’s proposal for a third runway will be submitted to the Airports Commission on May 14 2014, reflecting input from public consultation in February and March. The airport said its plans had been ‘refined’ following discussions with local authorities, communities and other stakeholders but declined to divulge details.
European News
Government News
22 Apr 2014 – On 31 May 2013, the CAA published the statutory consultation on their statement of policy for discharging their information duties under sections 83-93 of the Civil Aviation Act 2012. One of the proposals was for airlines and airports to be required to display information about specified policies and services for Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRMs), in a comparable format, on their website. Having considered fully the views of stakeholders the CAA are now consulting on a revised proposal. Full consultation documents can be found here.
Media News
23 Apr 2014 – Gatwick Airport has hired the services of the former spokesperson of Tony Blair and Olympic delivery communications public affairs executive Godric Smith. While British Airways has retained Grayling as its lead global public relations agency, after concluding a series of reviews of its worldwide agency relationships.
24 Apr 2014 – Heathrow Airport have released pictures of its new Terminal 2 building (contains video footage).
25 Apr 2014 – The magazine ‘Travel’ compares the prices and the journey times of the surface access options to London airports.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 22 Apr – 27 Apr
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 22 Apr – 27 Apr
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc
The House of Commons will be in Easter recess from Friday 11 April until Monday 28 April 2014 and thereafter from Friday 2 May until Tuesday 6 May 2014.
The House of Lords is in Easter recess from Thursday 10 April until Tuesday 6 May 2014