Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
Government News
Aviation related highlights from the Liberal Democrat Party Conference, Autumn 2013
Media News
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
24 October 2013
7 March 2014
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
17 Sept 2013 – A new exhibition at Humberside Airport highlights the range of destinations available from the airport.
17 Sept 2013 – Councillors considering a planning application to build a 9,000-space car park at Manchester airport will visit the site in October. The visit has been welcomed by Wythenshawe residents objecting to the scheme, which has gone before a full council planning meeting. The plan submitted by Manchester Airports Group, is for a long-stay car park near the Moss Nook area and accessed from Styal Road and Shadowmoss Road.
18 Sept 2013 – Airline operator Flybe and South West Trains have begun a dedicated rail ticket for passengers travelling between Southampton Airport and London Waterloo. Flybe passengers can book a return rail ticket for £30 between Southampton Parkway rail station and London Waterloo after the air booking has been made. The rail booking produces a unique reference number which a passenger can use to collect a ticket from a rail ticket machine at either Southampton Airport or Waterloo.
18 Sept 2013 – St Austell and Newquay MP Stephen Gilbert has launched an email campaign save the route from Newquay Airport to London Gatwick, which is believed to be under threat. Mr Gilbert and is hoping 20,000 emails will be sent to easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall in the aim of keeping the connection.
18 Sept 2013 – Manchester Airport will present its ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign in the West Midlands this month. Manchester Airport launched its ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign earlier this year in an attempt to reach the estimated four million passengers from its ‘catchment area’ that currently travel by road and rail to London airports.
18 Sept 2013 – Discussions over a second runway at Gatwick Airport has polarised councillor opinion at Crawley Borough Council.
18 Sept 2013 – Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield has seen passenger numbers at the airport rise by 7 per cent year on year from August 2012 to August 2013. A number of the airport’s routes have seen an increase in popularity, including Alicante, Las Palmas, Dalaman, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Poznan, Gdansk and Warsaw, which has led to the overall rise in passenger numbers
19 Sept 2013 – London City Airport has submitted a planning application for permission to expand its current infrastructure to accommodate up to 120,000 aircraft movements and six million passengers annually by 2023. The €240 million expansion programme includes proposals for new aircraft parking stands (to accommodate larger planes), a parallel taxi-lane to optimise runway capacity in peak operating hours, and a terminal extension to ensure that LCY’s convenience and speed-of-transit propositions are maintained. The airport is not proposing a second runway, or any extension to the existing runway.
19 Sept 2013 – Plans for an orbital rail route around Greater London are being developed by local authorities in the South East and by Transport for London. Surrey County Council has raised the idea in its rail strategy developed by consultant Arup. It suggests establishing a rail link between Gatwick Airport and Bedford via Reading, Didcot, Oxford and Milton Keynes. The plan would involve upgrading the North Downs Line between Gatwick and Reading via Guildford
Industry News
16 Sept 2013 – The airline operator Ryanair have agreed terms with Manchester Airports Group to expand its presence at Stansted Airport. 17 Sept 2013 – The Civil Aviation Authority have said that it would defer making a judgment on how to regulate the airport in future following the agreement.
19 Sept 2013 – The Director General of Airport Council International (Europe) Olivier Jankovec, has stated that he is confident European airports will be ready for a partial relaxation of restrictions on carry-on liquids to aircraft by January 2014. Beginning in January, passengers will be permitted to buy duty-free items over 100 ml outside Europe and transfer through a European airport without having the item confiscated. The liquids must be sealed in tamperproof bags and screened by specialized scanners.
Parliamentary News
17 September 2013 – The House of Commons Transport Select Committee launched their Fifth Report of Session 2013-14: entitled ‘Access to transport for disabled people’. Chair of the Transport Committee Louise Ellman said that the Government must work harder to improve accessibility for disabled people across the nation’s transport networks. For air travel, the Committee calls for a change to European Union rules so that in future airlines are required to allow carers to travel free of charge when the airline judges a disabled person incapable of travelling independently, as is the case in the USA. They also call for the European Commission to reform the rules governing compensation paid by airlines when mobility equipment is damaged in transit.
Government News
Aviation related highlights from the Liberal Democrat Party Conference, Autumn 2013
The Big Interview with Norman Baker MP – Aviation
15 Sept 2013 – On airport expansion and the future of Heathrow, the Minister said that the Liberal Democrats had taken the view that exponential growth of aviation was not viable. The projections were for an ever increasing percentage of carbon emissions originating from aviation. There was spare capacity at Luton, Stansted and Gatwick, he added. Mr Baker agreed that there should be a hub, possibly by a high speed link between Heathrow and Gatwick. The Davies Commission was a good idea and cross party agreement was essential for the future of airport capacity. Mr Baker stated that Sir Howard Davies was ‘competent’ and he was interested in what the recommendations would be.
Ministerial Q&A on Transport with Norman Baker MP
15 Sept 2013 – Aviation journey times should include travel to and from city centres, Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker said today. Mr Baker was speaking at a Ministerial Question and Answer session on transport at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Glasgow.
A Vision for 2035: The Future of Aviation?
16 Sept 2013 – The Davies Commission was the last chance for the UK to maintain its global position as the leading aviation hub, the Liberal Democrat Party Conference Fringe heard today. Transport Hub and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) in the UK hosted the event, ‘A Vision for 2035: The Future of Aviation?’. Also speaking at the event were: Guy Lavis, Aviation External Affairs Lead – Transport for London; Martin Evans MILT, Director and Aviation Advisor – CILT (UK); Nigel Milton, Director of Policy and Public Relations – Heathrow Airport; John Morris FCILT, Public Affairs Director – Birmingham Airport; and The event was chaired by Vernon Murphy, Aviation Forum, CILT.
A fuller report of the aviation related events at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference, Autumn 2013, is available in the ‘Latest News’ section.
Media News
12 Sept 2013 – Member of the London Assembly Murad Qureshi questions The Mayor’s position on aviation noise.
The Parliamentary and Party Conference information in this Bulletin is sourced from DeHavilland Information Services Plc.