Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Commons Questions – Written Answers
House of Lords Questions – Written Answers
Media News
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
6 March 2014
27 June 2014
24 October 2014
13 March 2015
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
19 Oct 2013 – Plymouth Council and the company Viable Ltd. are in negotiations about reopening Plymouth Airport. Viable have said the group has made an offer in excess of £1m but would need to secure the leasehold on the site.
21 Oct 2013 – Cornwall Council has held initial discussions with the Department for Transport over providing a subsidy on the air route between Newquay and London. Following the decision by Flybe on 23 May 2013 that it was to terminate its service between Newquay and Gatwick at the end of March 2014, the council says it has been involved in a number of negotiations with other airlines to secure the future of the route – adding that although these discussions ‘remain ongoing’ with other operators, the council is also exploring other options to ensure the service is maintained.
22 Oct 2013 – Spanish construction firm Ferrovial SA has sold an 8.65 percent stake in Heathrow Airport, as the airport says a battle with airlines over future fees risks deterring investment. Ferrovial sold the stake for£ 392 million to the London-based Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd fund.
23 Oct 2013 – Representatives from BMI Regional are in talks with Newcastle Airport to add new routes from the airport.
23 Oct 2013 – Manchester Airport saw 2.2m passengers in September, a year-on-year increase of 5 per cent that was above the UK-wide average of 4 per cent. This is the airport’s 16th consecutive month of growth and takes the moving total for the year to 20.64m passengers. The airport is attributing part of this success to its ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign across the West Midlands, Lancashire, Merseyside and Yorkshire, which the airport says is helping it to attract more passengers from its catchment area.
24 Oct 2013 – The third and final part of a major scheme to fix the Leeds Inner Relief Road can go ahead after the Department for Transport approved £16 million. The scheme, as originally bid for, consists of essential maintenance to 3 large highway structures on the A58M Leeds Inner Ring Road at Woodhouse Tunnel, New York Road Viaduct and Lovell Park Road Bridge.
24 Oct 2013 – Southend Airport moved into profit in the half year to August after a 40 per cent rise in passengers. Discussions are taking place with various airlines about starting new services from the Essex airport which is due to have a terminal extension completed by January 2014. Parent company, the transportation and distribution firm Stobart Group, saw pre-tax profit at the division which covers the airport come in at £100,000 against a loss of £300,000 in the same period last year. This came as revenue rose from £7.9 million to £10.4 million.
24 Oct 2013 – Leeds-Bradford Airport has been named best airport with up to six million passengers at the annual Airport Operators Association awards ceremony. The awards recognise excellence within the travel industry, with votes cast by UK airlines through the British Air Transport Association (BATA), the UK airlines trade association.
25 Oct 2013 – A report by air transport consultants York Aviation, commissioned by Gloucester City Council argues that Gloucestershire Airport plays an important role in the local economy. The airport at Staverton is part owned by Gloucester City and Cheltenham Borough councils but sits on Tewkesbury Borough Council land.
Industry News
22 Oct 2013 – The airline operator Lufthansa Group has downgraded its profit forecast for 2013 ahead of its interim results. The group, which includes Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, estimates an operating result of €600-700m for the full year, including one-off restructuring costs that amount to €300m. This compares with €907m in the first nine months of last year. The group had earlier said it would see an improvement on last year and Associated Press reports that analysts’ estimates were around €920m. The group is facing transferring part of its short-haul network to its subsidiary Germanwings. Lufthansa publishes its interim results for the nine months to September 30 on October 31.
22 Oct 2013 – Heathrow has achieved accreditation by the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) for its progress in managing and minimizing its CO2 emissions. The airport has been awarded the optimization accreditation level as part of the voluntary climate change airport programme. The optimization accreditation certificate is the highest level of performance achievable for airports given out by the ACA without offsetting emissions.
22 Oct 2013 – Heathrow Airport Limited has purchased a number of LS10 liquid bottle scanners, for use in its terminals at London Heathrow Airport, as well as several other airports in the UK including Aberdeen, Southampton and Glasgow International. The move follows the European Union’s decision to ease restrictions on airport liquid bans. Beginning in January, the EU will permit a limited category of liquids aerosols and gels onto planes under a phased implementation process.
25 Oct 2013 – Aviation minister Robert Goodwill has stressed that the sector must continue to play its part in the government’s deficit reduction plans. He was speaking at the end of a Westminster debate on aviation strategy prompted by a report in May by the Commons transport committee which called for expansion of Heathrow.
Parliamentary News
21 Oct 2013 – The Transport Committee’s First Report of Session 2013-14, Aviation strategy, was selected for debate on Thursday 24 October, in the Main Chamber. Louise Ellman, Chair of the Committee said, ‘This debate will be an important opportunity to discuss the controversial subject of runway capacity in the south east. Our report called for a new runway at Heathrow Airport but it also tackled other important issues, such as the environmental impacts of aviation, the role of airports outside the south east, and air passenger duty. The Government has set up an independent Airports Commission and has stated it will defer any decision on aviation strategy until after the next General Election. However, it is important that these issues are properly debated by Members of the House during the current Parliament.’ 24 Oct 2013 – A full transcript of the debate can be found here.
23 Oct 2013 – Air Passenger Duty was forecast to bring nearly £3bn in revenue over the next year, MPs heard in a House of Commons debate. Bringing a debate on Air Passenger Duty (APD), Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party) called on the UK Government to abolish APD, claiming that such a move would provide ‘a permanent boost to the UK economy’ and create tens of thousands of jobs. Commending the announcement of review into green taxes and levies by Prime Minister David Cameron earlier that day, he hailed it as time ‘to stop this King Canute attitude to climate change’ whereby it was believed that fiscal powers could affect climate change.
Airports in Northern Ireland were placed at ‘grave disadvantage’ by being 100 miles from Dublin, an airport operating in a country with no APD, Mr Wilson said. Since its introduction, APD had increased by 160 per cent for short-haul flights and 225 per cent for long-haul flights, whilst many EU countries had a much lower level or had abandoned the tax altogether, he said. Mr Wilson also said that businesses paid some £500m per year in APD, which impacted on their willingness and ability to look overseas for suppliers, markets, investment and new opportunities. Reports on the removal of APD, such as the recent one from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), had found that the removal of the tax would add £16bn to the economy over three years, he said.
Responding to the debate, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Nicky Morgan explained that, upon entering office, the Coalition Government had been faced with the largest deficit in peacetime history. She heralded promising signs in the economy as evidence that the Government’s policies were ‘beginning to bear fruit’. ‘Supporting strong transport links is a key part of building our economic recovery’, Ms Morgan affirmed, pointing to £20m in funding announced in that year’s Spending Review to improve air connectivity between London and the rest of the UK. The Economic Secretary assured Members that Northern Ireland would be able to bid for this support. Nonetheless, Ms Morgan believed that ‘ensuring sound public finances is indispensable to economic recovery’, adding that APD was forecast to generate revenues of £2.9bn in 2013/14. It made ‘an essential contribution to the Government’s strategy for tackling the current budget deficit’, she stated.
The Government had frozen the rate of APD since 2010 in real terms, meaning that it had only risen by £1 for most flights, the Economic Secretary said. Seeking to address questions about the impact of abolishing the tax on revenues and international competitiveness, Ms Morgan said that the Government wanted to maintain a competitive tax system that was attractive to international business.
Speaking for the Opposition, Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury Catherine McKinnell said that Ministers had ‘totally dismissed’ both reports from PwC and the Commons Transport Committee on the issue. The Shadow Economic Secretary criticised the Government’s failure to conduct its own review as an ‘unscientific approach’. She claimed that the Government had shown a ‘complete lack of direction on APD and that further delays on decisions would risk invest and future development. A full transcript of the debate can be found here.
23 Oct 2013 – Transport Committee – Committee to hear evidence on transport’s winter resilience. Witnesses will be: Derek Provan, Director Airside Operations, Heathrow Airport; Andy Lord, Director of Operations, British Airways; James Coleman, Director of Corporate Affairs, Gatwick Airport; Simon Buck, Chief Executive, British Air Transport Association; Dana Skelley, Director of Roads at Transport for London, representing the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT); Councillor Peter Box, Chair, Economy and Transport Board, Local Government Association; Graham Dalton, Chief Executive, Highways Agency; Robert Goodwill MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Transport.
Government News
21 Oct 2013 – Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport gave a speech on discussing the importance of aviation and future aviation plans. In the speech Mr Goodwill talks about the Government’s Aviation Policy Framework and the Airports Commission.
23 Oct 2013 – Speaking at the Airport Operators Association Conference in London, Sir Howard Davies Chairman of the Airports Commission said that he felt a solution to the country’s aviation capacity problems is unlikely to come into effect until 2023 at the earliest. He told the group that he was initially focusing on the interim report – to be released by the end of the year – which he said would ‘look at what short-term measures are possible to make use of the existing capacity’. He then added: ‘Because as we all know, any decision on new capacity will take a decade or more to come into effect.’
House of Commons Questions – Written Answers
Sheerman – Proportion of air passengers carried by Ryanair
21 Oct 2013
Barry Sheerman (Shadow Minister of State for Social Security, Shadow Minister for Disabled People): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of UK air passengers are carried by Ryanair.
Robert Goodwill (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport): In 2012, 12% of UK air passengers were carried by Ryanair.
Davies – EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and its role in decreasing carbon emissions
22 Oct 2013
David T.C. Davies (Conservative, Monmounth): To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the extent to which the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System has led to a decrease in carbon emissions.
Gregory Barker (Conservative, Minister of State for Climate Change): Aviation was included in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) from 1 January 2012. Verified emissions data for 2012, released by the European Commission in April 2013(1), showed that aircraft operators emitted 54.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) for the whole of the EU, including 15.8 MtCO2e for operators regulated by the UK. As emissions data for the second year of operation of the aviation EU ETS will not be available until April 2014, an assessment of the decrease in carbon emissions cannot yet be made.
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the amount paid by UK airlines for emissions under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme since 2012.
Gregory Barker: The Department has made no such estimate. The amount paid by UK airlines under the EU Emissions Trading System is subject to a number of variables, including the balance between free allocation of allowances to each airline and its actual emissions (85% of allowances were allocated for free to airlines in 2012), the use of international project credits and the price paid in the market for any allowances purchased.
Sheerman – Minimal fuel carry for commercial aircraft
22 Oct 2013
Barry Sheerman (Shadow Minister of State for Social Security, Shadow Minister for Disabled People): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of whether the current regulation for minimal fuel carry for commercial aircraft is satisfactory.
Robert Goodwill: All EU airlines are required to comply with the fuel requirements set out in an EU regulation commonly known as EU-OPS, which are in place to ensure that airlines operate with sufficient fuel at all times. The minimum fuel requirements detailed in EU-OPS state that the commander of a flight must upload sufficient fuel to reach the intended destination, fly a ‘go-around’, hold for 30 minutes, divert to a designated alternate airport, and have an additional emergency reserve equivalent to 10% of the original amount uploaded. This policy has recently been subject to extensive consultation with aviation stakeholders and has been reconfirmed in revised EU regulations adopted last year, which the UK fully supports.
Davies – DEFRA spend on sustainability schemes
22 Oct 2013
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information his Department holds on how much the EU has spent on (a) the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Scheme, (b) the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels and (c) other sustainability schemes to encourage sustainable business practices.
Dan Rogerson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs): DEFRA does not hold the information requested.
David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost of the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Sustainability Scheme to businesses in rural areas.
Dan Rogerson: DEFRA has not made any such estimate.
House of Lords Questions- Written Answers
Ashcroft – Discussion about, and subsidy for, St Helena: Airport
21 Oct 2013
Lord Ashcroft (Conservative Peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had about the provision of an air link to St Helena; and what assessment they have made of whether they will need to provide a subsidy for such a link.
Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat Peer, Government Spokesperson in the House of Lords on International Development): Informal discussions have been held with a number of airlines and charter companies. A company has now been appointed to assist the St Helena Government in contracting air services by the time the airport opens in 2016. It is intended that the services will be provided on a commercial basis.
Hunt – UK participation in Airbus consortium
21 Oct 2013
Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour Peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will ensure that the United Kingdom’s participation in the Airbus consortium will not be endangered by discussion by Ministers about holding a referendum in 2017 on continued membership of the European Union.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative Peer, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills): The UK Government work closely with Airbus and the three Governments that hold shares in its parent company—France, Germany and Spain. The UK’s main sources of support for the company are delivered through Research and Development (R&D) funding and repayable launch investment. None of this funding is dependent on the UK’s membership of the EU and is made at the discretion of the UK Government. The UK also has a place in the Airbus Inter-governmental Committee alongside France, Germany and Spain. This is not an EU body, but an arrangement recognising that the four Governments invest large sums in Airbus and have an interest in maintaining close contacts with the company. The ministerial meetings build upon regular official-level meetings. This activity would not be affected by any decision on the UK’s membership of the EU. There are two areas where changes in the UK’s engagement with the EU could have some, limited impact. The first is around the UK’s input into the WTO case on subsidies to aircraft manufacturers brought against the EU by the US, and the counter-claim brought by Europe. A UK withdrawal from the EU could have some impact on this case, but the most likely outcome would be that it would continue as now, with the UK co-ordinating its input alongside the EU’s. The second area which may have an impact is in the UK’s ability to participate in cross-European Aerospace research projects. We cannot say now what impact this will have on the UK but it is unlikely to impact significantly on the UK’s relationship with Airbus as the majority of R&D support is currently delivered through individual Governments.
Empey – European Aviation Safety Agency flight time proposals
22 Oct 2013
Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take following the decision of the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee to reject the new flight time proposals from the European Aviation Safety Agency.
Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat Peer, The Minister of State, Department for Transport): The Transport and Tourism Committee vote was overridden by the European Parliament which voted in favour of the Commission Regulation in a plenary session on 9 October. The Regulation now has to clear scrutiny by the Council of Ministers after which it will be formally adopted.
Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent reports of pilot fatigue, what plans they have to ensure the safety of air passengers in United Kingdom air space.
Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat Peer, The Minister of State, Department for Transport): The Government recognises that fatigue is a serious issue. The Civil Aviation Authority has significant work underway to help address its impact on flight safety. The Government and the CAA support the adoption of the Regulation. Under the Regulation airlines are required to schedule crew duties in a way that will not lead to unsafe levels of fatigue. They cannot, as is currently the case, meet their obligations by simply complying with the limits established in the Regulation. The Regulation will also provide the CAA with greater powers to ensure that airlines meet their obligations. The Regulation will increase protection for UK passengers travelling on other European Union airlines as it is more restrictive than the current requirements.
Media News
Critics assert that Virgin is focusing on the wrong impacts. The company’s carbon footprint, though reduced by 6 per cent since 2007, still stands at 5.9m tonnes. WWF-UK head of business, Dax Lovegrove said that Virgin Atlantic and other airlines should ‘focus less on per passenger and per kilometre CO2 efficiencies and more on managing the overall carbon footprint from the general rise in passengers travelling over great distances’. Others have highlighted methodological shortcomings behind the estimates.
21 Oct 2013 – A survey commissioned by the UK’s Airport Operators Association has found that less than half of senior financial decision-makers are satisfied with UK air links to existing, traditional overseas markets and emerging overseas markets; and fewer than two in five have confidence that the solutions put forward by Sir Howard Davies’ Airports Commission to address long-term connectivity needs will be delivered. The survey was carried out by ComRes which questioned 500 UK senior business decision-makers.
Bulletin Summary
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin Oct 19-25
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin Oct 19-25
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc.