November 2012 Regional and Industry News

SASIG 2012/13 Meeting Dates

Friday 1 March 2013

24 – 30 November 2012 Regional and Industry News

Regional News

New routes planned between Southend Airport to Manchester, France and Germany
Netherlands-based JOIN Airlines has revealed it hopes to welcome its first passengers in Feb. 2013.

Noise pollution around Heathrow Airport is getting worse according to a recent poll by Hammersmith and Fulham Council
The majority of Hammersmith and Fulham residents (75%) voted that aircraft noise had affected them more since BAA Ltd introduced mixed-mode operations under the Operational Freedoms Trial. The trial will finish in March 2013 and currently allows the airport to use both runways for arrivals and departures.

Stansted Airport bosses launch their rail vision which outlines that new faster and reliable rail links could help attract at least an extra 1.4 million passengers a year to use the airport

Pyjama protest in Hounslow over Heathrow Airport night flight noise
Residents living on the flight path of Heathrow airport gathered in Hounslow to urge the Government to ban flights between 11pm and 6am.

Malaysia Airports Holdings has entered the running to bid for Stansted airport

£12mn boost for East Midlands Airport to cut security queues

Filton Airport, near Bristol has confirmed flights will cease in Dec. 2012 but the Great Western Ambulance Service will continue to operate its rescue helicopter from the area

Work has started to extend the runway at Birmingham Airport in a bid to compete for long-haul flights and airport officials say the runway extension could be in use by spring 2014
Planning permission was granted in 2009 and in February 2012 final approval was given for the £40m project to extend the runway by 400 metres. Chief executive Paul Kehoe said the extension would allow Birmingham to compete with Manchester for flights to the US and the Far East.

Gatwick Airport bosses have stepped up their campaign for a second runway after an increase in passenger numbers pushes turnover up 3.6 percent
The airport saw 19.9m passengers pass through its doors in the six months to September, up from 19.7m in the same period last year. Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick Airport, said the results were proof that competition between London airports was the best way of improving aviation capacity in south east England.

Industry News

Infratil bosses say they would consider investing in its two British airports to change their functions to help make them more attractive to sell
Infratil owns Glasgow Prestwick and Kent airports and put them up for sale after years of underperformance. Infratil executive Tim Brown said the company has to look at a range of complex proposals to encourage the sale of the airports.

Media

Choose Manchester to improve UK’s airport capacity – Ed Cox, Director of Institute for Public Policy Research North

Events

Please click on the Bulletins page of the SASIG website for the complete list of events.

The Greater London Assembly’s Transport Committee has agreed dates to discuss London’s airport capacity. These meetings will be held on:

Tuesday 15 Jan. 2013
Wednesday 6 Feb. 2013

11 Dec. 2012 – Fixing Climate Policy – Policy Exchange

To attend, contact [email protected].

Event Review:

27 Nov. 2012 – No ifs. No buts. Heathrow must have a third runway. Or must it? – Spectator Event Review

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17 – 23 November 2012 Regional and Industry News

Regional News

The World Travel & Tourism Council announces its support for Heathrow’s bid to retain and expand its London airport hub status
The organisation warned that the Airports Commission will, “take too long to review the position” on airport capacity and has argued that growth is being seriously inhibited by the lack of airport capacity in the southeast.

Newcastle International Airport has received a £219 million refinancing package from a consortium of banks
The refinancing package, which includes £50 million from The Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate & Institutional Banking, follows the purchase of Copenhagen Airport’s 49 per cent stake in Newcastle Airport.

Durham Tees Valley Airport boss announces the public launch of the Friends of Durham Tees Valley Airport
The airport Chairman, Colin Granton, set up the group to support Durham Tees Valley Airport, saying it was a chance to, ‘demonstrate the pride which local people feel in their airport and make a practical contribution to helping it move forward’.

Information about Friends of Durham Tees Valley Airport is available on the group’s website www.fodtva.co.uk.

Manchester City Council bosses approve an outline planning application for a £100m World Logistics Hub at Manchester Airport
The 1.4m sq ft development will form the southern part of Greater Manchester’s Airport City Enterprise Zone. The outline planning application was approved at the Planning and Highways Committee on 22 Nov. 2012, despite local opposition.

Manchester’s £650 million Airport City scheme, including World Logistics Hub, is the focal point of Greater Manchester’s 270-acre Enterprise Zone, designated by the Government in 2011 in recognition of its potential to attract investment, create jobs and boost the economy locally, regionally and nationally.

Industry News

Virgin Airline operators have been offered short-haul take-off and landing slots available following the takeover of bmi by British Airways’s Ltd parent company International Airline Group
Virgin bosses plan to begin services on 31 March 2013 and will primarily focus on multiple daily flights between Heathrow and Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The new routes, on which Virgin will compete with long-time rival British Airways, will complement the new Heathrow-Manchester route the airline is introducing next year.

UK aviation chiefs have joined forces to launch a wide-scale public awareness campaign to highlight the importance of flights to local economies
Posters are to be displayed at airports showing how many jobs and services are dependent on air services and local MPs will be sent bespoke mailings with local authority figures showing how many people are employed directly and indirectly by the aviation industry in their area.

The Aviation Foundation, set up by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow and Manchester Airport parent MAG, claims aviation directly employs 220,000 people in the UK and thousands of businesses depend on the services provided by this workforce.

Press Releases

Time to Call Time on Night Flights – Stop Stansted Expansion

Events

Please click on the Bulletins page of the SASIG website for the latest list of events.

The following short courses are all run by University of the West of England in Bristol:

11 Jan. 2013 – Air Quality Action Plans and Action Plan Progress Reports – £150

25 Jan. 2013 – Integrating air quality management into the Local Transport Planning Process– £150

22 Feb. 2013 – Planning and air quality: air quality assessments – £150

21 Mar. 2013- Air Quality and Carbon Management: International case studies – £150

21 Mar. 2013 – Introduction to the Planning System – £200

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10 – 16 November 2012 Regional and Industry News

Regional News

The value of Prestwick Airport plummets to less than one-quarter of the level it was at two years ago as owner Infratil struggles to find a buyer

Emirates chief executive suggests capacity issues can be resolved through more Heathrow ‘efficiency’ rather than a new London hub airport

Manchester Airport unveils plans to win back millions of passengers from London with new direct services to major cities like Bangkok, Los Angeles and Beijing

Stansted Airport operators re-launch ‘noise website’ to enable local residents to find out more about the possible effects of aircraft noise in their communities
The website can be found at – www.stanstedairport.com/noise

Wind direction has been blamed for soaring numbers of complaints during phase two of the Operational Freedom trials about aircraft noise at Heathrow
Complaints about aircraft noise rose from under 400 in Sept. 2011 to over 1,600 in Sept. 2012, and from just over 400 in Oct. 2011 to nearly 1,500 in Oct. 2012.

Heathrow Airport’s chief executive claims Britain is ‘being left behind as Heathrow is missing out on China boom’

Hull Council asks for re-establishment of direct train link to Manchester Airport

Heathrow Airport bosses publish new report “One hub or none”
Research from Frontier Economics claims lack of capacity at Heathrow is costing the UK up to £14bn a year in lost trade and this figure could rise to £26bn a year by 2030. The report explains why two hubs or a split hub like ‘Heathwick’ will not work. It concludes that the UK’s connectivity needs can only be met by a single UK hub airport, by either expanding Heathrow or replacing Heathrow with a new hub airport. It suggests that it is impossible for other non-hub airports such as Gatwick, Stansted or Birmingham to close the £14bn trade gap.

Gatwick Airport bosses responded to the report saying, “Growing Gatwick is the best way to address the current and future capacity problems in the South East. A new runway at Gatwick could be more affordable and practical than other options and… would have a significantly lower environmental impact compared to an expanded Heathrow.”

Industry News

Scottish Passenger Agents Association call for a rival airline to provide strong competition to British Airways on key Scottish routes into London

Ryanair operators call for the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) to be scrapped completely because it will unfairly penalise European airlines
The European Union has postponed a planned extension of rules that require airlines to pay for their carbon emissions to include flights to and from non-EU destinations.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara called for a complete end to ETS as it, “increases the costs of European aviation, making it anti-competitive, while doing nothing to address EU carbon emissions.”

Ryanair confident of Aer Lingus merger despite objections from the European Commission
Ryanair is offering to give up more than 40 routes from Ireland’s major airports to other airlines as part of attempts to win approval for its takeover bid.

Media

Interview with Robert Sinclair, CEO of Bristol Airport

Events

Please click on the Bulletins page of the SASIG website for the latest list of events.

The latest events to be added are:

20 Nov. 2012 -9:00- 12:30 – National Noise Summit – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 12 Great George Street, Parliament Square, London, SWI. Email: [email protected]/ Tel: 0207 680 6550

19 Nov. 2012 – 13.00-14.30 – Help or hindrance? Reforming offsetting rules in European Climate policy – House of Lords – Committee Room 2A

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3 – 9 November 2012 Regional and Industry News

Regional News

Ambitious proposal for new North-East airport unveiled
The ambitious proposal would see the region’s existing airports – Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley – replaced with a new hub for up to 25 million passengers a year built between the A1 and A19 north of Peterlee, in east Durham.

Stansted Airport introduces terminal drop-off charges

London City Airport to get £15mn upgrade

A first look inside as new £2.5bn Heathrow terminal 2 building takes shape

Schiphol claims to operate Heathrow’s third runway in an aggressive advertising campaign capitalising on capacity issues in the South East

Berkshire business leaders hold talks with Network Rail and Heathrow officials over plans for a western rail link to the airport

Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd (formally BAA Ltd) bosses Shortlist four bidders for Stansted Airport
The shortlist includes Manchester Airports Group, New Zealand investment management company Morrison & Co. Ltd., American buyout giant TPG and Australian company Macquarie Group Ltd.

Industry

Aer Lingus operators expect a progress report on 15 Nov. 2012 on its application to take over former BMI routes between Edinburgh and Heathrow

Virgin Airline operators introduce fuel efficiency technology to save £20m a year and cut 100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually

Events

Please click on the Bulletins page of the SASIG website for the latest list of events.

The latest events to be added are:

Thursday 22 Nov. 2012 (1:30 – 4:30pm) – There will two debates in Westminster Hall in relation to reports by the Transport Select Committee. The first will be on ATOL Reform and the second will be on flight time limitations.

26 Nov. 2012 – No ifs. No buts. No maybes. Heathrow must have a third runway – London – £30

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27 October – 2 November 2012 Regional and Industry News

Regional

Southeast counties first to experience new police air service