Latest Aviation Policy News

 Flying into the Future: Key issues for assessing Britain’s aviation infrastructure needs. A report by the Independent Transport Commission.

The Independent Transport Commission (ITC) has released a report, Flying into the Future: Key issues for assessing Britain’s aviation infrastructure needs. The report is based on the wide range of submissions received by the ITC in response to its Call for Evidence during Autumn 2012. The authors assert that

• international connectivity is important for the UK economy and jobs;
• short-haul connectivity can be improved by developing regional airports, close to local and regional catchment areas; and
• improving long-haul connectivity is central the UKs economic position.

The authors argue the need for an improved hub airport with increased capacity (whilst rejecting alternative suggestions) and suggest that the best sites for an improved hub are Heathrow, Stansted or the Thames Estuary.

The report raises four key issues which it believes need addressing as part of the increase in capacity:

1. Closing Heathrow – the ITC concludes that if a new hub airport is developed at Stansted or in the Thames Estuary, Heathrow will almost certainly have to close. This will have widespread implications, and needs far more attention than it has yet received.
2. Costs and charges – the ITC raises fears that airlines and passengers might face increased charges at a new Estuary Airport, more than twice those for an expanded Heathrow, and two-thirds more than at an expanded Stansted.
3. A new town? – the ITC believes that building a new hub airport, whether at Stansted or elsewhere, could require urban development including homes, schools, and local transport. The ITC estimates the size of such development would be on the scale of a new Peterborough.
4. Noise – the report states that planes are getting quieter and proposes an assessment of whether a package of measures (such as moving the runways westward) would enable Heathrow to provide the extra connectivity needed while also reducing the problem of noise for local residents.

The report has been submitted to the Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies.

The full report of the House of Commons Transport Committee. Aviation Strategy. First Report of Session 2013–14 is now available. This includes Volume I: Report, together with formal minutes. Oral and written evidence contained in Volume II and additional written evidence contained in Volume II are available on the Committee website here.

 Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution

This report presents answers to 22 questions relevant for the review of European policies on air pollution and addressing health aspects of these policies. The answers were developed by a large group of researchers engaged in the WHO project ‘Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution – REVIHAAP’. The experts reviewed and discussed the newly accumulated scientific evidence on health effects of air pollution, formulating science-based conclusions and drafting the answers.

The review concludes that a considerable amount of new scientific information on health effects of particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, observed at levels commonly present in Europe, has been published in the recent years. This new evidence supports the scientific conclusions of the WHO Air Quality Guidelines, last updated in 2005, and indicates that the effects can occur at air pollution concentrations lower than those serving to establish the 2005 Guidelines. It also provides scientific arguments for the decisive actions to improve air quality and reduce the burden of disease associated with air pollution in Europe.

The authors suggest that the current guidelines for some particulate matter (PM2.5) should be re-examined in the light of recent results from long-term studies that have shown increased rates of mortality at concentrations well below the current guidelines of 10 micrograms per m3. The evidence suggests that there is no ‘safe’ threshold.

Extensive rationale for the answers, including the list of key references, will be provided in the final report from the project.

 Airport capacity in London, May 2013

A new report by the London Assembly concludes that airport capacity in London is ‘currently underused’, with some London airports having more than half of their runway slots free. The report suggests that to encourage passengers to switch from Heathrow, improved transport access from central London to Gatwick, Luton and Stansted are needed – for example, by better rail connections and actively promoting public transport. Stansted Airport Ltd suggested that it could attract 1.5 million more passengers per year if the rail journey time from London was reduced from 45 to 30 minutes.

The report also reveals that in 2010, 127 million people used London’s airports and most, including those using Heathrow, flew direct to their destinations (78 per cent) rather than  use the airports to transfer. Seventy-five per cent of flights from Heathrow are short haul and London remains the best connected European city across the 23 fastest growing economies.

Today, the CAA has published the following documents about the economic regulation of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted documents:

• Summary of Heathrow market power assessment (www.caa.co.uk/CAP1026)
• Summary of Gatwick market power assessment (www.caa.co.uk/CAP1028)
• Economic regulation of Heathrow from April 2014: Initial proposals (www.caa.co.uk/CAP1027)
• Economic regulation of Gatwick from April 2014: Initial proposals (www.caa.co.uk/CAP1029)
• Economic regulation of Stansted from April 2014: Initial proposals (www.caa.co.uk/CAP1030)

The CAA also published a 4-page In focus summary of the initial proposals – Help us make London’s airports better for passengers (www.caa.co.uk/CAP1031)

The CAA will be publishing its full ‘Minded To’ positions for the market power assessments of Heathrow and Gatwick at the end of May 2013.

The CAA is consulting on its initial proposals for the three airports.  Responses should be sent to [email protected] no later than 25 June 2013.