Contents

SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates

Regional News

Industry News

European News

Government News

Media 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

28 May 2013 – The RSPB are appealing the government’s decision to give permission for the development of Lydd Airport in Kent. The Society claim that the site of the new development is under one of the largest migratory bird routes in the South of England and has expressed fears its growth could lead to more bird strikes.

28 May 2013 – Balfour Beatty is looking to sell its majority stake in Exeter International Airport. The infrastructure group is reported to have spoken with potential bidders over the past few weeks, and have recently issued its second profits warning in six months.

28 May 2013 – The lounge provider ‘No. 1 Traveller’ has introduced a new ‘Driveway to Runway’ range of services for passengers at Manchester Airport. It allows travellers flying from the airport to book products including chauffeur-driven airport transfers, airport parking, a VIP departure service and access to any of MAN’s three Escape lounges, including fast track access.

28 May 2013 – The first direct trains from Scotland to Birmingham Airport in six years will start in December, while 24 of the 28 Scottish services that currently start or terminate in Birmingham will be extended to London Euston.

28 May 2013 – Work has begun on a £10m refurbishment project at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Manchester Airport. The hotel, which originally opened in 1998, will be fully refurbished over three phases, with the first phase and the largest phase, already underway.

28 May 2013 – New airline ‘JetXtra.com’ has introduced weekly flights from Humberside Airport to Alicante and Majorca.

28 May 2013 – A £1Bn business park is currently being planned next to London’s City Airport. The plan would see Beijing’s Advanced Business Park (ABP) take control of a large site located on the north of the Royal Albert Dock. The 35-acre dock is one of the Royal Docks enterprise zones where development has been planned as part of the regeneration of East London

29 May 2013 – A £7m hangar will be built at Newquay Airport in Cornwall by air search and rescue service. The helicopter company Bristow will also be paying for landing fees and fuel when its begins operating from the site. This would Cornwall Council’s £3m subsidy to the airport will be reduced by about £100,000.

29 May 2013 – Humberside Airport will resume flights to Spain after Ryanair had previously stopped providing flights from the airport. The airport has made an arrangement to provide weekly flights to Alicante and Palma directly, which it will be underwriting itself.

29 May 2013 – The Independent Transport Commission has published a report in which they say that if the government decides to expand Stansted or build a new estuary airport to form the UK’s major air hub, Heathrow will need to close. Its report will be submitted to the government Airports Commission. The full report is available here.

30 May 2013 – London’s Heathrow Airport are to rank airlines according to how noisy their aircraft are as part of a plan to try to make the area quieter. The owners of Heathrow also want to increase fines for airlines that break noise limits and try new plane departure routes and steeper approaches. Plans also include establishing a new noise insulation scheme for homes and offices around Heathrow. A ‘Fly Quiet’ programme is to begin later this year. A full report is available here.

30 May 2013 – Work has begun on the new ‘Airport City’ development in Manchester.

 

Industry News

28 May 2013 – The airline EasyJet has reaffirmed its commitment to serving Scottish airports after its purchase of Flybe’s take off and landing slots from Gatwick.

28 May 2013 – Michael Markieta, a transportation planner at global engineering and design firm ARUP has developed a series of international flight maps .

28 May 2013 – The BBC are investigating Ryanair’s punctuality claims that 90% of their aircraft land on time.

30 May 2013 – Ryanair may be required to cut its share holding in Aer Lingus. The UK Competition Commission has found that the Ryanair’s stake, valued at about €280 million, gives the airline ‘the ability to influence the commercial policy and strategy’ of Aer Lingus.

31 May 2013 – Emerging markets are continuing to lead air travel growth, with all regions reporting year-on-year gains, according to the International Air Transport Association. Overall passenger traffic was up by 3.2 per cent in April over the same month last year. European carriers recorded 2 per cent growth, down on the March figure of 4.5 per cent, largely attributed to the downward impact of the timing of the early Easter holiday this year.

 

European News

29 May 2013 – The European Commission reports that aircraft operators responsible for over 98 per cent of the 2012 aviation emissions covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) have complied with the scheme’s requirements.

 

Government News

31 May 2013 – The CAA have begun a consultation process on its proposed ‘Statement of Policy’ with regard to two new duties acquired in the Civil Aviation Act 2012. These are to make information about services and facilities available to aviation consumers, and to make information about the environmental performance of the aviation sector available to the general public. A full copy of the consultation document can be found on the CAA website here. The close date for responses is 31 August 2013.

 

Media News

23 May 2013 – Including civil society organisations (CSOs) when negotiating climate policy can mobilise public support for international agreements, a new study suggests. Using online surveys researchers found that the popular legitimacy of global climate governance decreases when CSOs are excluded.

23 May 2013 – The Association of British Travel Agents has responded to the Government’s consultation on night flying restrictions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted emphasising that any system must strike a balance between the economic benefits of meeting demand and the impact of night flights on local communities and the environment.

The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc.