Contents
SASIG 2013/14 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Government News
House of Lords
Aviation related highlights from the Labour 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
21 Sept 2013 – Flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) were more likely to operate on time than any of the UK’s 10 airports measured by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last quarter, according to the latest industry figures. The CAA data for the second quarter of 2013, covering the period from April to June, showed that the overall on-time performance of scheduled flights at the 10 UK airports monitored was 81per cent. At LJLA, however, 93per cent of scheduled flights operated on time over this period.
22 Sept 2013 – Dr Tony Whitbread, Chief Executive of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and landscape author Dave Bangs have stressed their strong opposition to a second runway at Gatwick Airport. Both have supplied statements to the Charlwood-based Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) group.
23 Sept 2013 – The owners of Stansted airport are launching a campaign for an upgraded rail link to London as part of an effort to expand the Essex terminal and attract long-haul airline operators. Manchester Airports Group, which bought Stansted for £1.5 billion in February, said that it was in ‘active discussions’ with 30 airlines in an attempt to diversify away from Ryanair, easyJet and holiday charter flights.
23 Sept 2013 – Gatwick Airport Chief Executive, Stewart Wingate said one of the global airline alliances could move to Gatwick if the airport won permission for a second runway. Mr Wingate says that he is increasingly confident about persuading the government’s Airports Commission to back the case for adding a second runway at the airport – rather than expanding Heathrow or building a new hub in the Thames estuary.
23 Sept 2013 – Norwich International Airport has just recorded its busiest week of the year so far with passenger numbers in the week ending 15 September being more than 17per cent higher than the same period last year and with growth across all sectors. A major contributing factor to the boost in passenger numbers has been the increased demand for KLM’s services to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
24 Sept 2013 – A new report by economic consultancy Regeneris estimates that as many as 230,000 jobs could be put at risk in the Thames Valley if the government decides to close Heathrow and build a new hub airport. Regeneris considered the regional effect of three main Heathrow Airport future options: an expanded airport; a ‘do-nothing’ scenario; and a new airport to the east or northeast of London, with Heathrow closing. It argues that if Heathrow were closed, ‘in the long run, of the order of 170,000 to 230,000 jobs could be at risk in the area due to their links to and use of Heathrow for travel’. This represents between 7 and 9.5 per cent of jobs in the region.
24 Sept 2013 – The campaign group ‘Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC)’ has submitted a paper to the Airports Commission in response Gatwick Airport’s submission which outlines their proposals to expand the airport to two runways. The paper is an analysis of the different runway proposals, showing what they believe would be the aeronautical problems and the environmental damage they could cause.
Industry News
21 Sept 2013 – A third of Ryanair shareholders voted against a new multi-million euro share option scheme designed for its senior executives. The plan has been designed to lock in some key senior directors and managers at the airline for five years. The resolution had been opposed by UK independent shareholder advisory body PIRC (Pensions Investment Research Consultants), which advises pension funds and local authorities.
21 Sept 2013 – Richard Deakin, Chief Executive of NATS Discusses the way forward for the European Single Sky initiative.
23 Sept 2013 – Qatar Airways has announced it will join the Oneworld aviation alliance on October 30, making it the first of the three major Gulf region air carriers to enter such cooperation. For members of Qatar Airways’ frequent flyer programme the move means they will enjoy the privileges accorded other members in Oneworld, which now includes Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways. Reciprocally, members of those airlines’ frequent-flyer programmes may as of October 30 begin accumulating points and bonuses when flying Qatar Airways. Oneworld is currently the third-largest aviation alliance. The largest is Star Alliance which includes the German carrier Lufthansa. The second-largest is Skyteam which includes Air France/KLM. 23 Sept 2013 – Virgin Atlantic founder, Richard Branson, says the airline will likely join the Skyteam alliance though nothing definitive has yet been agreed to. Speaking at a recent event in Amsterdam Mr. Branson said a tie up with Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines ‘would make sense’ adding that talks would likely be held at some point in the future.
23 Sept 2013 – British Airways has launched its Chengdu route and is now flying to four destinations in China. The capital of Sichuan province joins Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai as one of BA’s four Chinese routes. It launched its Beijing service in 1980 and its Shanghai operation in 2005.
23 Sept 2013 – Southampton Airport has had 200,000 passengers using the airport in August this year, which is an increase of 11 per cent on August 2012. The most popular destinations people travelled to were European countries, with flights to Malaga, Faro and Verona being popular.
Government News
24 Sept 2013 – The Department for Transport has updated the ‘noise contours around airports’.
24 Sept 2013 – The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s specialist aviation regulator, has announced a review of offshore helicopter operations in the North Sea. The review will be undertaken jointly with the Norwegian CAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and advised by a panel of independent experts. It will study current operations, previous incidents and accidents and offshore helicopter flying in other countries to make recommendations aimed at improving the safety of offshore flying.
25 Sept 2013 – Sir David Higgins has been announced as new Chairman of HS2 Ltd, with Doug Oakervee standing down at the end of the year. Sir David will join HS2 Ltd on 1 January 2014 initially on a part-time basis, before taking up the post full time from March. He is currently the Chief Executive of Network Rail.
House of Lords – written question
Whitty: Country of ownership of major airlines
23 Sept 2013
Lord Whitty (Labour Peer, Chairman of Consumer Focus): To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 22 July (HL Deb, col 1045), what is their estimate of the breakdown of ownership by country of the major airlines in the United Kingdom, as of the most recent figures available.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat Peer, Whip): The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Lord Whitty, dated September 2013: As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions concerning the breakdown of ownership by country of the major airlines in the United Kingdom, as of the most recent figures available. These data have been produced using an extract from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) taken at March 2012. For the purposes of this response, ‘major’ has been defined as enterprises with an employment figure of 250 or more. Also, in order to protect the confidentiality of businesses, the geographic breakdown has been grouped into three categories: United Kingdom, Europe and Rest of the World.
|
Passenger air transport |
|
|
Country of ownership |
Count of enterprises |
|
UK |
7 |
|
Europe |
7 |
|
Rest of the World |
7 |
|
Total |
21 |
Aviation related highlights from the Labour Party Conference, Autumn 2013
Transport Hub at Conference: The Big Transport Interview with Shadow Secretary of State Maria Eagle
22 Sept 2013 – Speaking at a Labour Party fringe event, Transport Hub at conference, Labour Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle said that she felt travel affordability was the main transport issue facing the country.
Discussing Labour’s policy review, the Shadow Transport Secretary said that one of the main priorities was affordability of transport fares. She added that any rise in fares should be capped at 1per cent above inflation for all routes. She went on to say that she supported devolution and putting councils and transport authorities in charge of bus routes and fares.
The top five train companies made over £300 million of profit, she highlighted, even though they were paid more money than they were charged in franchises. Talking about nationalisation, Ms Eagle said that it was a question of value for money. Labour wanted to do what works and lines should stay in public ownership where it worked well, she stated. Ms Eagle said that her speech would include references to the privatisation of rail lines. The privatisation of the East Coast Mainline should be halted and they should at least be able to bid for the future franchise, she stressed.
Business is good for Britain: How can we encourage private investment and exports?
23 Sept 2013 – Britain needs a state backed investment bank in order to maintain economic growth, Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna said today. He was speaking at a Labour Conference fringe event hosted by the British Chambers of Commerce supported by Heathrow Airport titled ‘Business is Good for Britain: How can we encourage private investment and exports?’. Also speaking at the event were: Beth Rigby, Deputy Political Editor, Financial Times; John Longworth, Director General, British Chamber of Commerce; and Nigel Milton, Director of Policy and Political Relations, Heathrow Airport.
Labour’s new transport policy – what would it mean for cities?
24 Sept 2013 – Speaking at a PTEG event entitled ‘Labour’s new transport policy – what would it mean for cities?’ Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Maria Eagle said that a Labour Government should be more ambitious on the devolution of transport. Also speaking at the event were: Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London; Graham Stringer MP PTEG Parliamentary Group; and David Brown, Chair of PTEG.
Air tax, visas, connectivity: Does the UK have an aviation policy for growth?
25 Sept 2013 – The Airport Operators Association’s Chairman, Darren Caplan, warned a Labour Conference fringe that the UK had slipped to twelfth in Europe for air connectivity, putting jobs at risk. Mr Caplan was speaking at an event entitled ‘Air tax, visas, connectivity: Does the UK have an aviation policy for growth?’ Also speaking at the event were: Martin Tiedemann, Co-Chair, Socialist Environment and Resources Association; Adam Marshall, Director of Policy and External Affairs, British Chamber of Commerce; and Brian Ross, Economic Advisor, Stop Stansted Expansion. The panel was chaired by Luke Pollars, Association of British Travel Agents and prospective parliamentary Labour candidate for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport.
A fuller report of the aviation related events at the Labour Party Autumn Conference, Autumn 2013, is available in the ‘Latest News’ section.
Media News
23 Sept 2013 – Ed Miliband has spoken with Sir Howard Davies, Head of the Government’s Airports Commission, of Labour’s ‘deep concerns’ over plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. At the meeting the Labour leader is understood to have reiterated his party’s stance on proposals for airport expansion in the South East. Labour is sceptical that a third runway, and possibly a fourth, can be built at Heathrow without causing more noise and pollution. It also insists that any airport expansion will have to meet the target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
The Parliamentary and Party Conference information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc.