Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Government News
House of Commons Questions
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
17 Nov 2013 – Two of the North East’s council leaders have given their support to a new long-term plan for Durham Tees Valley Airport, which could see land belonging to them sold for up to 400 houses at the site. Six local authorities – Darlington, County Durham, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland – are minority shareholders in DTVA, which is majority owned by the Peel Group.
19 Nov 2013 – Croydon Council have endorsed proposals for building a second runway at Gatwick Airport. The decision was agreed in principle by the council’s cabinet on Monday 18 November. The council’s interim Chief Executive Nathan Elvery is preparing a full report on the implications of the expansion for the December cabinet meeting.
19 Nov 2013 – A planning application to increase passenger capacity at Luton Airport will no longer be discussed at a meeting this week. The London Luton Airport Operations Ltd application was due to be considered by Luton Borough Council’s Development Control Committee but the matter has been deferred to allow for further consideration of consultees’ comments.
21 Nov 2013 – Bristol Airport and easyJet have announced they have embarked on a new long-term agreement to work together. As part of the partnership, easyJet is launching new routes to Reykjavik and Marrakech in December 2013.
22 Nov 2013 – A new Luton Airport departure route is being planned to ‘thread between villages’ with the aim of reducing the number of people being overflown. Airport Managing Director Glyn Jones gave a presentation at a meeting of the tourism group ‘Experience Bedfordshire’ on the airport’s expansion plans, saying consultation on the new take off routes is due to start in January 2014.
Industry News
19 Nov 2013 – Easyjet have announced record profits with total revenue rising by 10.5 per cent to £4.26b for the financial year ending on September 30, 2013. Last year Easyjet made pre-tax profits of £317m on the back of revenues of £3.85b.
19 Nov 2013 – Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic, TUI Travel and Deutsche Lufthansa have agreed to sell most of their stakes in National Air Traffic Services (Nats) to The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). USS will pay £152m for 49.9 per cent of the Airline Group, which owns 41.9 per cent of Nats. The deal indirectly gives USS a 21 per cent stake in Nats.
20 Nov 2013 – Manchester Airports Group has launched a new graduate scheme, with up to seven students a year to be offered jobs when they leave university. Opportunities are currently available in engineering, asset management, capital delivery, finance and airport management.
21 Nov 2013 – Ryanair, will launch 12 new routes and increase frequencies on 17 services at London Stansted, as part of its 10-year growth agreement with operator, Manchester Airports Group. The airline says they are aiming to increase their proportion of business travellers.
Government News
20 Nov 2013 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority has published data on passenger complaints for the first half of 2013, this includes complaints by reason and by airline.
21 Nov 2013 – The Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin gave a written ministerial statement outlining plans to deploy security scanners at a further eleven airports: Stansted, Luton, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands, Prestwick, Cardiff, Belfast City. The statement can be read in full here.
House of Commons Questions
Campbell – Exceptions from Air Passenger Duty on long haul routes from regional airports
18 Nov 2013
Alan Campbell Opposition Whip (Labour, Tynemouth): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce time-limited exceptions from air passenger duty on new long haul routes from regional airports.
Nicky Morgan, Assistant Government Whip (Conservative Party, Loughborough): I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided on 5 November 2013, Official Report, column 103.
Dodds – Northern Ireland and an increase in the number of runways at Heathrow Airport
21 Nov 2013
Nigel Dodds, (Democratic Unionist, Belfast North): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether she has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive about the potential effects on Northern Ireland of an increase in the number of runways at Heathrow.
Andrew Robathan, Minister for Armed Forces (Conservative, South Leicestershire): The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers, Northern Ireland Secretary), has regular discussions with Northern Ireland Executive Ministers about transport links between Northern Ireland and Heathrow airport, but the matter of an increase in the number of runways has not been raised.
Goldsmith – Consideration of local community responses on night flying restrictions statement
21 Nov 2013
Zac Goldsmith (Conservative, Richmond Park): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 11 November 2013, Official Report, columns 29-30WS, on night flying restrictions, what weight he gave to the views of local communities in his consideration of responses to the first stage consultation.
Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (Conservative, Scarborough and Whitby):We have published a summary of responses to the first stage consultation alongside our second consultation. The document acknowledges that the vast majority of members of the public and community groups who responded to the first stage consultation wished to see an immediate or phased ban on night flights. However, we are not proposing changes to night movement limits at this time as we believe that possible changes to these limits are something which should be considered in the context of any recommendations from the Airports Commission and decisions on the future operational capacity of these airports.
Vaz, V – Plans to reduce the number of deaths from air pollution
21 Nov 2013
Valerie Vaz, (Labour, Walsall South): To ask what plans he has to reduce the number of deaths from air pollution.
Dan Rogerson, Environment Minister (Liberal Democrat, North Cornwall) : Air quality in the United Kingdom has improved significantly over many years, but it still has an effect equivalent to reducing the average life expectancy of everyone living in the UK by six months. The Government are committed to ongoing work to reduce the impact and have invested many billions of pounds in measures that will help to reduce air pollution from transport, energy and industrial sources.
Valerie Vaz, Backbencher (Labour Party, Walsall South): With 29,000 early deaths from poor air quality, a Supreme Court judgment against the Government and the World Health Organisation saying that poor air quality is a primary cause of cancer, what more can the Government do to avoid a public health crisis?
Dan Rogerson, Backbencher (Liberal Democrats, North Cornwall): If we take the transport sources of air pollution, for example, we have invested over £1 billion in measures to promote growth in electric vehicles, which will help to transform future air quality, along with cleaner buses and a range of other policies. We are also negotiating at the European level for better standards in diesel vehicles, which contribute significantly to oxides of nitrogen levels.
Fitzpatrick, J – Air pollution in London
21 Nov 2013
Jim Fitzpatrick, Shadow Aviation, Shipping and London Issues Minister (Labour Party, Poplar and Limehouse): To ask with most of the polluted roads in the country are in London, what meetings has the Minister had with the Mayor of London to address this serious situation for residents in the capital?
Dan Rogerson: In the last month I have had no such meetings, but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has met the Mayor to discuss this issue.
Smith, N – Government’s proposals to reduce air quality monitoring across the UK
21 Nov 2013
Nick Smith (Labour, Blaenau Gwent): Asthma UK has condemned the Government’s proposals to reduce air quality monitoring across the UK. Will the Minister drop these damaging proposals?
Dan Rogerson: We want to focus our efforts on reducing air pollution, and we are confident that we will have enough information coming back from monitoring to ensure that we can update the position. As I said in answer to a previous question, this issue remains a Government priority and we will take action on it at European, national and local levels.
Hilling – The level of air quality monitoring
21 Nov 2013
Julie Hilling (Labour, Bolton West): To ask if the amount of air quality monitoring taking place is being reduced, how will we know that air quality is improving? How does this work?
Dan Rogerson: There will still be air quality monitoring, we are talking about the level of monitoring. We want to focus resources on where we can do the most on this issue.
Media News
16 Nov 2013 – A new global standard for management of aviation fuel quality has been published by Energy Institute and the Joint Inspection Group.
18 Nov 2013 – The campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) will take the case for its challenge against the legitimacy of Airports Commission to the High Court. SSE’s legal challenge stems from the involvement of Geoff Muirhead, former chief executive of the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which now owns Stansted Airport. 22 Nov 2013 – At the High Court in London, Mrs Justice Patterson said she will make a decision on the matter in writing at a later date.
21 Nov 2013 – A new report from London City Airport, ‘Transforming East London Together’, claims that investments have resulted in the centre of the capital moving east. The report forecasts that up to 50,000 new jobs will be created in the next 10 years in London’s Royal Docks.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 16 Nov – 22 Nov
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 16 Nov – 22 Nov
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc.