Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Government News
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
28 June 2013
25 October 2013
7 March 2014
Meetings are held at 11am, Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, with lunch provided afterwards, location map.
Regional News
06 Apr 2013 – Sixty properties around Leeds Bradford Airport have been included in a new Public Safety Zone . The zone, which has been drawn up by the Civil Aviation Authority, identifies space at the end of runways that could be at risk in the event of an aircraft accident. They also carry certain planning restrictions and aim to control the number of people on the ground who are at risk if a plane crashes on take-off or landing.
9 Apr 2013 – It has been confirmed to the Wales Air Forum that as of the 22nd April Eastern Airways will cease operating from Bristol Airport. At present Eastern Airways offer flights from twice daily service to Aberdeen via Leeds Bradford airport. Eastern Airways have assured the Wales Air Forum that they will continue to operate from Cardiff Airport but there are no plans to increase their services to Newcastle and Aberdeen at this stage.
9 Apr 2013 – London City Airport has bought BP’s fuel farm – one of only two facilities at the airport which supply fuel to airlines.
9 Apr 2013 – A cross-party panel from Welwyn-Hatfield Council is set to discuss a bid to increase the capacity at Luton airport, with the aim of raising an objection. If an application is given the go-ahead by Luton Council, the number of passengers could rise from 9.5 million to 18 million a year. The panel has been recommended to object to the plans.
9 Apr 2013 – Manchester Airport has launched a poster campaign in Liverpool in an attempt to draw passengers from John Lennon Airport. Posters are being put up in St Helens, Warrington, Knowsley and Huyton and billing Manchester as the low-cost airport of the north.
10 Apr 2013 – Noise contour maps showing areas that could be affected by aircraft from a four-runway Heathrow have been released.
10 Apr 2013 – A transport group on the Isles of Scilly is calling on the government to help pay for a hard runway at Land’s End Airport. The Department for Transport have said that the issue is ‘a local planning matter’.
10 April – Plans to expand a Lydd Airport in Kent have been approved by the Government. The airport on Romney Marsh will now be able to construct a 294-metre runway expansion for passenger jets and a new terminal building.
12 Apr – Passenger traffic at London’s Heathrow airport rose 3.9 percent in March, boosted by strong growth on European and Chinese routes. Of the 5.9 million people who passed through the airport last month, passenger numbers to China rose 15.1 percent year-on-year. The figures were driven by a record March average load factor (how full the flight is) of 75.8%, up 2.4 percentage points.
12 April 2013 – Further work has been commissioned by Birmingham Airport following feedback received from local residents as part of its airspace change consultation. The Airport proposes a further option for southbound departures, open for consultation up to Friday 17th May 2013. Details of the additional proposed route can be found at www.birminghamairport.co.uk from Friday 12th April, and three further local drop-in sessions are planned for people to discuss the proposed route with the Airport team.
Industry News
8 Apr 2013 –A study by the universities of Reading and East Anglia published in the journal Nature Climate Change forecasts that turbulence on transatlantic flights will become more frequent and severe by 2050.
10 Apr 2013 – The board of Spanish carrier Vueling has accepted an increased takeover offer from British Airways’ owner IAG. Vueling’s directors last month rejected IAG’s original offer to buy the company’s shares at €7 each. This caused IAG, which already has a 45.85 per cent shareholding in Vueling, to come back with an increased offer of €9.25 per share.
10 Apr 2013 – Paris-Orly Airport is creating a €4 million marsh to filter storm water which contains chemicals. Aéroports de Paris is investing in the filtration system to treat water contaminated with de-icer. The system will involve the creation of a tank and a marsh, planted with reeds. The airport says that this means that winter products such as de-icer, contained in airport storm water, can be treated.
10 Apr 2013 – Ryanair is looking at setting up a base in Slovakia to help double passenger traffic there in the latest step of an expansion into Eastern Europe. The airline is aiming to lift passenger numbers on routes to Bratislava from the 800,000 projected for this year to more than 2 million and is in talks about basing planes there. Ryanair serves Bratislava from 16 locations, among them London and Rome, and ranks as the top carrier to the city after starting operations in 2005.
11 Apr 2013 – Lufthansa has revealed further details about the introduction of premium economy seating next year. Speaking in Hong Kong to introduce the Boeing 747-8 aircraft which has just debuted on the route from Frankfurt to the city.
11 Apr 2013 – Airports continue to upgrade their facilities to handle the A380, six years after the plane entered service. The A380 and other ICAO Code F aircraft – effectively the B747-8 Intercontinental and B747-8 freighter – have longer wingspans, higher maximum take-off weights and greater passenger and cargo capacities than any predecessors, meaning that almost all the airports currently handling the aircraft have had to invest in new facilities or upgrade their existing ones to accommodate it.
12 Apr 2013 – A consortium has been chosen to create a £650 million development next to Manchester airport. Manchester Airports Group has selected the developer Argent, the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund and Carillion as its preferred bidder to redevelop 65 acres.
12 Apr 2013 – The Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond has become the first Cabinet minister to call publicly for expansion at Gatwick Airport. The Minister has rejected other options such as the expansion at Heathrow, a four-runway hub at Stansted and a new airport in the Thames Estuary. He claims a second runway at Gatwick, followed later by an extra runway at Stansted, would provide ‘decades worth of passenger growth capacity’ while preventing a ‘disastrous closure of Heathrow.
Government News
- Plans to reform the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing scheme funding arrangements to make a more efficient system which ensures effective protection for holidaymakers. A call for evidence will launch shortly.
- Reviewing the Air Navigation Order, the principle piece of UK aviation regulation, to remove unnecessarily onerous requirements to save businesses time and money, as far as possible.
- Reviewing the costs of statutory requirements on airports to provide facilities for consultation, in order to allow airports greater flexibility in their community engagement.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is also launching a major efficiency drive to significantly review its costs and move services online, saving businesses and taxpayers time and money. More detail on this and other deregulatory work by DfT can be found on the DfT website.