Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Commons Questions
Media News
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
24 October 2013 (Please note this is a revised date from the 25th October 2013)
7 March 2014
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
24 August 2013 – Work is to start shortly on the Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route which will link the M18 to the south of Doncaster with Robin Hood Airport, after the scheme was given final approval by the government.The two-year project on the dual carriageway will start in October.
24 August 2013 – £1.3m will need to be paid to Norwich International Airport for a new radar system, because traffic on the road will interfere with the current system.
24 August 2013 – Birmingham Airport has been accused of ignoring the views of local residents over proposed flight path changes for a £65m runway extension.
26 August 2013 – Discussion about the scarcely used railways station at Durham Tees Valley Airport.
27 August 2013 – Durham Tees Flight Training, has acquired St George Flight Training based at Durham Tees Valley and Newcastle Airports.
29 August 2013 – The manufacturing sector provides more than one-third of all international business travellers to Manchester. A survey of international corporate travellers arriving at Manchester airport showed that 35 per cent were from manufacturing businesses. This was followed by 11 per cent who worked in the healthcare and life science industries and a further 8 per cent from the telecoms, media and technology sectors, according to the research carried out by business adviser Deloitte.
Industry News
24 August 2013 – Airlines allege that intellectual property is being misappropriated by unauthorised parties using ‘screen shots’ of ticket price information.
28 August 2013 – Easyjet has announced it will run a Jersey to Gatwick service when Flybe pulls out of the route next year. Flybe will end its services from Gatwick Airport in March after agreeing to sell 25 slots at the airport to the airline. It will run three daily return flights, one fewer than Flybe offers.
Parliamentary News
30 August 2013 – Shadow Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has resigned from the Labour front bench over his party’s position on Syria. Mr Fitzpatrick stated that he was opposed to military intervention in any way. He had served as Shadow Transport Minister since October 2010.
Government News
27 August 2013 – A new Director has been appointed to the independent body that investigates ‘Airprox incidents’ in UK airspace. Steve Forward, a former Royal Air Force Air Commodore takes over the role at the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) with immediate effect. An Airprox is defined as: a situation in which, in the opinion of a pilot or controller, the distance between aircraft, as well as their relative positions and speed, have been such that the safety of the aircraft was, or may have been, compromised.
30 August 2013 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has today announced its intention to hold a public consultation on its proposal to deregulate (for airworthiness purposes) all UK-registered single seat microlights. The consultation, which will open during September and run for six weeks – it will, if successful, extend the present single seat deregulated (SSDR) category, introduced in 2007, to include all single seat microlight aircraft as defined within Annex II Article 4(4). All such aircraft would then be able to be designed and constructed either privately or commercially without the airworthiness oversight of either a member association or the CAA.
House of Commons Questions
Jackson – Reduction and removal of Air Passenger Duty
29 August 2013
Stewart Jackson (Peterborough, Conservative): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effect of a reduction in air passenger duty on connectivity to and from UK airports; (2) what consideration his Department has given to the removal of air passenger duty for domestic air travel; and if he will make a statement.
Sajid Javid (Economic Secretary to the Treasury): The Chancellor keeps all taxes under review and considers their effects in the round. Air Passenger Duty (APD) is a relatively efficient and non-regressive tax, which makes an important contribution to the public finances. It would not be possible under EU law to have different rates of APD on intra-UK flights than on flights from UK to other EU destinations. The UK currently has excellent connectivity. London’s five airports serve more destinations worldwide than any other city in Europe, and the UK has the third largest aviation network in the world. The Government has set up the Airports Commission to provide an assessment of how to meet the UK’s international connectivity needs and maintain the UK’s position as Europe’s most important aviation hub.
Media News
26 August 2013 – Scottish Labour Infrastructure spokesman, James Kelly has called for the publication of a report into improving links to Glasgow airport.
26 August 2013 – Martin Evans, visiting professor at the University of Glamorgan Business School, considers the options for increased UK airport hub capacity.
28 August 2013 – Peter Bishop, Deputy Chief Executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called for ‘High Speed 2’ to link directly to Heathrow Airport.