Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Runways UK
Parliamentary News
Government News
Media News
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
27 June 2014
24 October 2014
6 March 2015
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
2 June 2014 – The owners of Oxford Airport have launched action over the increasing number of civilian flights at RAF Northolt.
2 June 2014 – New research from the research company GTMC states that the majority of regional business travellers want more direct long-haul flights and greater capacity from their local airports. The GTMC survey questioned more than 1,000 frequent business travellers (taking three or more international business trips per year), who are living outside of London and the southeast. It found more than four out of five respondents (84 per cent) wanted more long-haul options out of regional airports, with 60 per cent saying these should be direct flights.
2 June 2014 – Gatwick Airport has published plans to improve public transport links. The airport predicts rail capacity will be doubled by 2020, beginning with the introduction of new Gatwick Express trains due to be launched in two years’ time (link contains video footage).
3 June 2014 – East Sussex County Council has given its backing to the building of a second runway and new terminal at Gatwick Airport. The council pledged its support for the airport’s third option, which would see a terminal and new runway built one kilometre south of the current site.
3 June 2014 – Heathrow’s new Terminal 2 has welcomed its first passengers, with the airport insisting it has learned lessons from the opening of Terminal 5. The new terminal will operate at 10 per cent of capacity on the first day and it will be some months before the other 25 airlines using Terminals 1, 3 and 4 join United Airlines at the new building. The incoming Chief Executive of Heathrow Airport, Mr John Holland-Kaye, said the new terminal would help its quest for a third runway.
3 June 2014 – The Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport has urged the Government to get behind ‘great airports for great cities’. Addressing a cross party reception of MPs, Lords and business leaders in London following the Queen’s Speech, Mr Paul Kehoe said more needed to be done to maximise the use of what capacity the country has now in its city regions.
3 June 2014 – The Scottish Parliament has debated the issue of Air Passenger Duty. The motion for consideration was – That the Parliament:
- notes with concern the continuing prevarication of the UK Government in devolving control of air passenger duty (APD) despite the clear recommendation of the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution in 2009, evidence of the damaging impact of the significant increases in APD since 2007 and the growing campaign for control for it to be devolved;
- further notes the APD changes that were announced in the 2014 UK Budget, which, from April 2015, will amend the existing four-band system and, as a consequence, reduce duty paid on journeys of more than 4,000 miles;
- further notes that, based on the international destinations currently served from Scotland’s airports, this will be of minimal immediate value to Scotland; believes that improving Scotland’s international air connectivity and the ability of its aviation sector to properly compete with global competitors is a matter that needs to be urgently addressed;
- considers that this would be assisted by control of APD being devolved, and believes that, in the event of a Yes vote in the independence referendum, the UK Government should devolve this as a matter of priority in order to enable the Scottish Government to progress the proposals contained in Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland to reduce APD by 50 per cent in the first term of an independent Scottish Parliament and to seek to abolish it when public finances allow.
The motion was brought by Minister for Transport and Veterans, Mr Keith Brown.
5 June 2014 – John Lennon Airport is seeking to provide air traffic control for other UK airports.
8 June 2014 – MP for Crawley Mr. Henry Smith met with travel and tourism students at Central Sussex College to debate expansion at Gatwick Airport.
8 June 2014 – Emails leaked to the BBC have revealed safety concerns at Cambridge Airport, regarding equipment failures and the condition of the runway. Documents and evidence also suggest air traffic controllers have been working extended shifts and under-qualified staff have been used due to shortages.
Industry News
2 June 2014 – The global aviation industry profit projected for this year has been downgraded from $18.7 billion to $18 billion. The reduced forecast came from International Air Transport Association, which blamed a slowing in world trade and a slide in business confidence due to concerns over China’s economic growth and various geopolitical risks.
4 June 2014 – Residents of the areas around Luton Airport have met to voice their concerns following the decision by the Government not to call in the planning application for the expansion for Luton Airport. The meeting, chaired by Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), was held at Breachwood Green Village Hall on Thursday, May 29. Speaking about the meeting, Andrew Lambourne from campaign group Hertfordshire Against Luton Expansion (HALE) said: ‘The meeting gave people the chance to find out where things currently stand with the planning application and raise their concerns. A high level of frustration was expressed that it appears so little can be done to head off the quality-of-life impact of the Luton Airport expansion’.
The move follows a major industry conference on 19 May 2014 in Gatwick, at which the CAA committed itself to regulating in a more proportionate, effective and risk-based way. The regulator explained that performance based oversight will draw upon information generated by organisations’ own safety management systems, as well as other sources of relevant data, to identify, and then tackle, those areas that generate the greatest risks to safety.
The CAA’s transformation to performance based oversight, and what it means in practice, was laid out to 160 senior industry leaders and accountable managers at the Gatwick conference. Delegates were given the opportunity to debate the concept and practicalities, including the likely benefits and the challenges to both the CAA and themselves.
Runways UK
2 June 2014 – Heathrow Airport is to set out how new rail links will deliver the benefits of growth to passengers and business across the whole country, not just to London and the South East. Speaking at the Runways UK conference taking place in London on Monday, Head of Surface Access Mr Simon Earles explained how Heathrow will build on its position as the best connected airport in the UK, with rail capacity set to treble from 5000, to 15,000 seats per hour, or from 18 to 40 trains per hour, thanks to planned improvements across the network. The new connections mean that by 2030, more than 70 per cent of the UK’s population will be within three hours of Heathrow by public transport and 12 million will be within 60 minutes of the airport.
Mr Earles said that a new fast connection to High Speed 2 at Old Oak Common would mean that journey times between Heathrow and Birmingham would be cut by 1 hour 38 minutes, journey times to Leeds would reduce by 2 hours 08 minutes, and journey times from Manchester would reduce by 1 hour 53 minutes. Also new direct access to the Great Western Line would cut journey times from Cardiff by 37 minutes.
3 June2014 – Road and rail projects to cope with the challenges faced in providing transport systems to service the Airports Commission’s proposals for increasing the UK’s aviation capacity have been discussed at a conference in London. Transportation links into Heathrow, Gatwick, and a possible new Estuary Airport were debated at the Runways UK Surface Access conference at Pinsent Masons in London. The Show Guide is available here; speaker presentations are available here; and the Delegate list is available here.
Parliamentary News
3 June 2014 – The House of Commons Transport Committee has published the report, ‘Local transport expenditure: Who decides?’
5 June 2014 – Mark Carne, the new Chief Executive of Network Rail, will appear before the Transport Committee on 9 June. The Committee is interested in knowing what Mr Carne sees as Network Rail’s challenges and how he will address them. He appears at a key time for the organisation, as it joins the public sector and begins implementing its Control Period 5 spending programme. In the report the Committee states that it believes that transport infrastructure in some parts of the UK may get left behind under the new system to be used from next year (2015) to share out central Government money for local major transport schemes.
5 June 2014 – The House of Commons Library have published a ‘Standard Note’ on Aviation: noise pollution.
5 June 2014 – Early Day Motion (EDM) 46 – An Independent Aircraft Noise Ombudsman was put down on 5 June 2009 by David Lammy (Tottenham, Labour): That this House recognises that, for those who live near major airports, aircraft noise can be an imposition; believes that a fresh approach to tackling aircraft noise must be adopted in order to give such people confidence that their legitimate grievances are being addressed; echoes the Campaign Statement published jointly by Let Britain Fly, the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise and London First advocating the establishment of the role of an independent aircraft noise ombudsman; endorses the recommendation in the Davies Commission Interim Report of 17 December 2013 of the creation of an independent aviation noise authority (IANA); and urges the Government, when the Department of Transport issues its response to the Davies Interim Report, to publish both a timetable setting out how it will create an IANA and its plans for securing cross-Party endorsement of the backing for this initiative. This EDM has been signed by 3 MPs.
5 June 2014 – The first reading of the Infrastructure Bill has taken place in the House of Lords.
Government News
- turning the Highways Agency into a Government-owned company;
- enabling public sector land and property to be sold more quickly;
- change the nationally significant infrastructure regime by making a number of technical administrative amendments to the Planning Act 2008;
- ending delays on projects which already have been granted planning permission, by a new ‘deemed discharge’ provision on planning conditions;
- creating a centralised Local Land Charges register; and
- enabling purchase of shares in renewable energy infrastructure projects.
6 June 2014 – The UK Government has released funding for the Dundee to London Stansted air link. The public service obligation (PSO) agreed between the UK Government and Dundee City Council guarantees £2.85 million to keep the route open, with flight times between the 2 airports at around an hour and a half. The funding comes from the new Regional Air Connectivity fund announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander at Spending Round 13. LoganAir will operate the route under PSO from 1 July 2014. Two daily flights each way means business people and visitors will continue to be able to visit both destinations for day trips.
Media News
30 May 2014 – The publication ‘Aviation Week’ has published its annual ‘Top Performing Airlines’ study. The rankings have revealed some trends about the aviation industry currently. These include:
- EasyJet and Ryanair were both in the top 10, but EasyJet has overtaken Ryanair to be the highest-ranked European carrier.
- Almost all of the large carriers that have completed mergers in recent years saw their scores rise.
- Three of the top five overall – Allegiant, Spirit, and Regional Express Holdings – were from the small category.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 2 June – 8 June
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 2 June – 8 June
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc