Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
European News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Lords 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
6 Jan 2014 – Stockport Council has received 102 letters of objection to plans for the Manchester Airport relief road which it will discuss at a series of special meetings at the council. A public consultation on the plans for the £290m road returned 117 letters, nine in support, 102 against and five offering comments.
7 Jan 2014 – A shuttle bus which runs to and from Belfast City Airport has been stopped. Mark Durkan, Northern Ireland Assembly Environment Minister has supported the decision to end the scheme, but the Chair of the Assembly’s Environment Committee, Anna Lo, says she is ‘amazed’ at the decision (Report contains video streaming).
7 Jan 2014 – A four-day inquiry has begun into plans for a hard runway at Redhill Aerodrome to replace three grass runways. Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge councils both rejected the scheme last year, saying the plans were inappropriate for the green belt. Conservative MPs Crispin Blunt and Sam Gyimah have lodged formal objections to the development but businesses in the Gatwick area have backed it, saying refusal would stand in the way of economic recovery.
8 Jan 2014 – Leeds Bradford International Airport is in the process of structuring a refinancing package after publishing accounts showing increased passenger numbers and turnover. The airport has to refinance a £49.2m senior term loan, a £20.6m capital expenditure facility and a £11.3m terminal development facility by May. In its latest accounts, the airport has increased their turnover from £22.5m to £25m with improved revenue performance from both aeronautical and commercial sources.
8 Jan 2014 – Members of the Durham Tees Valley Airport consultative committee have supported a draft master plan for the airport, which aims to secure the airport’s long-term future. However, members of the committee repeated concerns that a proposed housing estate of up to 400 homes would put a strain on local services, including education and health provision.
8 Jan 2014 – A campaign has been launched to change the name of Humberside Airport to the John Harrison International Airport.
9 Jan 2014 – The Cardiff Airport Express bus service is currently under review five months after it was launched. Professor Stuart Cole, from the University of South Wales has been commissioned to report on the performance of the express service from Cardiff City Centre to Cardiff Airport, which launched in August 2013.
Industry News
6 Jan 2014 – Chief Executive of Gatwick Airport, Stewart Wingate is to appear before MPs to answer questions about the problems experienced by the airport on Christmas Eve. Mr Wingate will face MPs on the House of Commons’ Transport Select Committee on January 7 alongside the airport’s product development director William McGillivray. Details of the evidence session can be found in this bulletin.
10 Jan 2014 – Heathrow Airport have stated that investment at the airport will have to be reviewed following new economic regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority. The new rules will see airport charges cut by the Retail Price Index minus 1.5 per cent from 2014-2019. A statement from Heathrow claims that this will see per passenger airline charges fall in real terms from £20.71 in 2013/14 to £19.10 in 2018/19.
European News
7 Jan 2014 – Passenger traffic at Europe’s airports rose by 3.5 per cent in November compared to November 2012, Airports Council International Europe reported today. European Union (EU) airports showed an increase averaging 2.2 per cent, while passenger traffic at non-EU airports reported an average increase of 8.4 per cent, when compared with the same month in the preceding year.
7 Jan 2014 – Frankfurt Airport is implementing a new system of airport charges to reward airline operators if they achieve passenger growth of more than 1 per cent using less noisy aircraft on international routes. The reductions will be introduced retrospectively during 2014 and 2015, with an additional incentive sum awarded for each subsequent year the airline can maintain the previous year’s growth in terms of the absolute number of passengers.
Parliamentary News
07 Jan 2014 – The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has launched an enquiry into the Government’s draft National Policy Statement (NPS) on National Networks. The draft NPS has been published by the Department for Transport under the Planning Act 2008. It sets out the Government’s vision and approach to the development of nationally significant infrastructure projects on the road and rail networks in England, including the development of strategic rail freight interchanges. It also sets out the policy against which the Secretary of State for Transport will make decisions on applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects on the road and rail networks. The Committee would like to receive views on the draft NPS. In particular, the Committee would like to know:
- Has the Government identified a compelling need for development of the national road and rail networks and of strategic rail freight interchanges?
- Does Government policy on the development of the national road and rail networks, and the investment programme relating to the road and rail networks, meet that need?
- Does policy on the development of the networks take appropriate account of environmental, safety, sustainability and accessibility issues as well as the impact of new technology?
- To what extent does the draft NPS provide clear guidance to the Secretary of State about how to assess schemes? Does it help scheme promoters understand the approach the Secretary of State is likely to take to nationally significant road and rail infrastructure projects?
- How does the draft NPS relate to other aspects of the Government’s transport strategy, including HS2, and to integration with local transport networks?
Written submissions should be made through the Committee’s Inquiry page here. The deadline for written submissions is Wednesday 26 February.
Giving evidence were: Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive, Gatwick Airport; William McGillivray, Product Development Director, Gatwick Airport; Jason Holt, Head of Gatwick, easyJet; and Peter Duffy, Customer Director, easyJet.
The evidence session began with opening statements and positions from Gatwick Airport and easyJet. Representatives from both organisations apologised for the delays to passengers. Both stated that the reasons for the delays were related to the flooding of the River Mole, the increased number of passengers due to the Christmas period, and the lack of available staff and resources to move passengers from the flooded North Terminal to the South Terminal, due to the Christmas holiday period.
Representatives from Gatwick Airport said that they would await The McMillan Review to assess what would be done in the future to prevent similar problems. They also said that the airport would be working with the Environment Agency to reassess their flood modelling.
Full details of the evidence session are given below.
Gatwick Airport opening statement and position
Opening the session, Labour Committee Chair Louise Ellman invited Mr Wingate to make an opening statement. In delivering his statement, Mr Wingate apologise to the delays caused to passengers using Gatwick on Christmas Eve last year. He explained that the Airport had received only 30 minutes notification that the River Mole would burst its banks, flooding three runway sub-substations. There had been severe damage done to the north terminal building switch rooms, which could not have been fixed on Christmas Eve.
Mr Wingate said that the decision had been taken, along with airline partners, to switch flights to the south terminal partners. He added that 186 rescheduled flights had departed, but that 67 flights had been cancelled. Mr Wingate explained that a Gatwick Non-Executive Director, David McMillan, would conduct an assessment of the Airport’s response. He told MPs that the north terminal building had previously been assessed as being at low risk of flooding; adding that Gatwick would be working with the Environment Agency would be reassessing the flood modelling.
Mr Wingate admitted that more could have been done by Gatwick Airport and its airline partners, adding that £100 in high street vouchers had been given to affected passengers as a ‘good will gesture’. The McMillan Review would examine what more could be done in the future, he said.
Questioned by the Chair on what more could have been done, Mr Wingate emphasised that the weather had been exceptional and that they had been faced with making a tough decision very quickly. He described the decision to switch the north terminal flights to the south terminal building as ‘unprecedented’.
EasyJet’s position and assessment
Turning to easyJet, the Chair asked if they agreed with Gatwick’s position and assessment of the situation. Also apologising to affected passengers, Mr Duffy said that airlines were responsible for checking passengers in and handling baggage.
He believed that the Gatwick plan had failed because of the number of passengers moved and the lack of bus resources to move passengers to their flights. As a result, the south terminal building had begun to fill up. Mr Duffy noted that a similar flooding incident had taken place in October and had been handled well.
Number of bus drivers
Conservative MP Karl McCartney asked why there had not been sufficient bus drivers available. In reply, Mr Wingate said that Gatwick had felt that it should have done everything within its power to get departures going, because it was Christmas. He said that the coaching operation had been fully resourced for a normal day, but added that extra drivers had been brought into help manage the extra passengers.
Turning to Mr McCartney’s question about the lines of accountability on decisions for flooding contingencies, Mr Wingate said that £20m had been invested in the south terminal to address the risk. He added it was important to go ‘back to the drawing board’ in determining the level of investment needed to protect the north terminal building. Mr Wingate said most preparations on the day had been to mitigate the impact of the wind.
Pressed on the number of drivers, he said that Gatwick had used the coaches to transfer passengers on a ‘milk round’ route to drop passengers off and return as quickly as possible to pick others up. Mr Wingate said he had been informed of the progress at the Airport through a series of conference calls, whilst he had been in Newcastle. He indicated that Mr McGillivray had been one of the senior leadership team present on the site during the day’s events.
Lessons from October
Questioned about the October flooding incident, Mr Holt said that Gatwick had produced 100 extra staff to help the airlines move passengers from the south to the north terminal. He described the events as ‘a dress rehearsal for what happened on Christmas Eve’. Mr Duffy said that the scale of the bus issue had presented a problem on 24 December, adding that easyJet had had 11,000 passengers to deal with. He said that the airline could have made a decision to cancel flights earlier if it had been told that the contingency plan was not working sooner.
Contingency staffing
Questioned by Conservative MP Karen Lumley on the levels of contingency staffing, Mr Wingate said that close to 500 airport staff had been on hand to help passengers, with many staff and volunteers working more than 12 hour shifts. He once again reaffirmed that more flights would have been cancelled on any other day of the year.
Ms Lumley asked if easyJet had brought more staff in to deal with the situation. Extra staff had been brought in, Mr Duffy affirmed. Adding to this, Mr Holt said that 105 additional staff had been brought into assist, with staff working discretionary time remaining until the last possible minute that they would be allowed to crew a departing flight.
Mr Wingate sought to emphasise the disruption that the flooding of the River Mole had caused to the local area, including the loss of runway systems and rail services to Brighton and Victoria. ‘This was an enormous event that was much bigger than Gatwick Airport’, he declared.
Ms Lumley asked if the incident had damaged the case for a second runway at the Airport, given the risk of flooding. In reply, Mr Wingate defended Gatwick’s bid, pointing out that the last time that the Airport had faced flooding on that level had been in 1967. He affirmed that any new facilities would be protected from flooding.
Communication with passengers
Labour MP Sarah Champion asked if issues and developments had been clearly communicated to passengers. Responding, Mr Wingate said that 500 people out of Gatwick’s 2,500 workforce had been helping passengers, in addition to staff from the airlines. He explained that two-thirds of the systems in the north terminal building had been working on Christmas Eve. This had been because two out of the six switch rooms had been out of action. Mr Wingate said that Gatwick and its airline partners had fallen short of the standards they would normally expect to deliver to passengers, but had done so in trying to get as many as possible to their destinations.
Pressed by Ms Champion, Mr Duffy and Mr Holt did not feel there had been adequate communications between Gatwick and easyJet on the day. Mr Holt explained that he had addressed large groups of passengers of three separate occasions, in an attempt to reassure them. He claimed not to have seen many Gatwick staff during the day.
EasyJet had pushed for the emergency Silver Command meeting to be launched, Mr Holt said, adding that ‘no information had been given to easyJet unless they went ferreting for it’. He said that it had only become clear at a 1pm meeting that the bus resource would be insufficient to deal with the level of passengers being moved between the two terminal buildings. Mr Holt concluded that communications between the Airport and the airline could have been better.
Questioned by the Chair, Mr Wingate insisted that the airlines, including easyJet, had a ‘big accountability’ to passengers alongside Gatwick. He said that existing contingency plans had not taken into account the extraordinary decision to run a full schedule of flight. Mr Wingate insisted that the airlines had jointly shared the decision to continue with flights. Mr Duffy said easyJet would not have agreed with go along with the plan if it had known that there was insufficient capacity to cope.
Senior staff on site
Conservative MP Jason McCartney asked which of the witnesses had been on site at Gatwick Airport on Christmas Eve. Mr Wingate had been in Newcastle, both Mr Holt and Mr McGillivray had been at Gatwick on the day, whilst Mr Duffy had been at easyJet’s head office in Luton.
EasyJet’s customer support
Questioned by Mr McCartney on the level of support given to passengers, Mr Duffy explained that easyJet’s total support, including booking 6,500 hotel rooms over the Christmas period, had run to a cost of £2m. Mr Wingate undertook to purchase more loudhailers for the use of airline staff.
Police presence on the day
Questioned on the police presence at Gatwick at the day, Mr Holt said the repatriation of bags had occurred in the north terminal with the police asking all easyJet to vacate the baggage reclaim area on the night because of concerns about public order. Mr Wingate affirmed that Gatwick and its airline partners would make the decision to cancel more flights earlier in the day to prevent a hostile situation arising. He did not want to place any airport and airline staff or police officers in such a hostile situation again.
Flooding contingency plans
Questioned by Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders, Mr Wingate explained that there were contingency plans in place to deal with flooding. Only parts of the north terminal building had become inoperable, he said, adding that British Airways flights had continued to be run through there. Mr Wingate said that any future decisions to cancel the schedule when faced with a similar level of disruption would be taken around 8am or 9am.
Seeking to explain the accountability for unpacking an aeroplane, Mr Duffy and Mr Wingate explained that it was shared between the airport and the airline.
McMillan Review and Gatwick’s resilience
Conservative MP Chloe Smith asked if the McMillan Review would examine the resilience of Gatwick’s systems. In reply, Mr Wingate confirmed that the Review would cover that area. He also believed that aspects of the story had been misreported in recent days, namely the mistaken belief that it had been the power supply to the north terminal building. In 25 years of operation, the switch rooms of the terminal buildings had never flooded and therefore the situation had been unexpected, he said. Mr Wingate said the Review would consider the level of contingencies needed for both the power generation and the switching rooms. He added that ‘millions of pounds’ would be needed to improve investment across the board.
Need for an independent inquiry
Labour MP Graham Stringer asked if there should be an independent inquiry into the issue. Responding, Mr Wingate explained that Gatwick had initiated its own review without prompting, affirming that the Airport would participate fully with any independent inquiry opened by the Department for Transport or the Civil Aviation Authority.
Mr Stringer asked if any flights had been diverted as a result of the flooding and if those affected had been offered any compensation. Mr Wingate and Mr McGillivray did not believe that any had been, but offered to clarify that fact for the Committee.
Pressed by Mr Stringer on the weather forecasts available to Gatwick, Mr Wingate stated that the Airport purchased forecasts from the Met Office, offering to write to the Committee with full details of these. He said that the rate of investment at the Airport had doubled since management had changed hands.
Mr Stringer asked if the incident would impact on Gatwick’s bid to become a hub airport. Mr Wingate affirmed that all efforts would be made to restore the Airport’s reputation.
Timing and level of cancellations
Conservative MP Martin Vickers asked why Gatwick would take the decision to cancel all flights in the future. It was a ‘very difficult’ situation and decision to make, Mr Wingate said, believing that the appropriate decision would be taken if such a rare situation were to arise again. He added that only 28 per cent of departures on Christmas Eve had been unable to fly, believing that flights should have been cancelled earlier given the wider, regional disruption.
Mr Duffy extolled the importance of airports clearly communicating the effectiveness of contingency planning. Pressed by the Chair, he affirmed that easyJet had had to deal with a lack of information and resources from Gatwick’s side. Mr Duffy called for clearer decision making and better contingency planning.
Attitudes of other airlines
Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick asked what the attitudes of other airlines had been to the day’s disruption. Responding, Mr Wingate said there had not been any discontent from airlines operating out of the south terminal. He added that British Airways had only cancelled 11 flights out of the south terminal, whilst other airlines had successfully made the switch.
Mr Fitzpatrick asked what the consultative arrangements were between the airports and the airlines on contingency planning. Both parties had discussed the Environmental Agency documents and assessments in making the decision to invest in flood protection for the south terminal, Mr Wingate said. Pressed by the Chair, Mr Duffy said that easyJet had not received the sort of fully integrated contingency plan from Gatwick that he believed the Committee would expect.
9 Jan 2014 – The Transport Committee will be holding its first evidence session on passenger transport in isolated communities on 13 January 2014. Witnesses will be: Janice Banks, Chief Executive, Action with Communities in Rural England; Claire Haigh, Chief Executive, Greener Journeys; Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport; Bill Freeman, Chief Executive, Community Transport Association; Ewan Jones, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations, Community Transport Association; Martin Higginson, Adviser, Association of Local Bus Company Managers; Claire Walters, Chief Executive, Bus Users UK; Neil Buxton, General Manager, Association of Community Rail Partnerships; and David Mapp, Commercial Director, Association of Train Operating Companies. A full transcript will be published on the Committee’s webpage when it is available.
Government News
8 Jan 2014 – Parliamentary Under Secretary for State for Transport and Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill has made a ministerial statement announcing the publication of the air navigation guidance. The full statement reads: ‘I am pleased to announce the publication of a revised version of the air navigation guidance. I am grateful for the technical assistance of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the input of those who responded to the consultation – carried out in summer 2013. A summary of the responses to the consultation and the government’s reply to these responses is being published alongside the new guidance.
Under the Transport Act 2000, the CAA is required to take account of environmental guidance given to it by the Secretary of State for Transport when exercising its air navigation functions. The new guidance has 2 key objectives. The first is to provide the CAA with additional clarity on the government’s environmental objectives relating to air navigation in the UK, including the need to improve the efficiency of our UK airspace network. The second is a reaffirmation of the need to consult local communities near airports when airspace changes are being considered in the vicinity of these airports. The guidance now reflects significant developments such as the creation of the future airspace strategy and single European sky, and the aviation policy framework.
Although this guidance has been prepared, consulted on and revised by the government separately from the Airports Commission’s work, it is notable that the clarity it brings around the introduction of performance-based navigation routes at our major airports and the need for greater delegation of decision-making powers over airspace changes to the CAA are in line with the findings of the Commission’s recently published Interim report. The government’s full response to the report will follow in the spring. In the meantime, this publication demonstrates the government’s desire to act quickly to make the best use of existing capacity. A copy of the guidance can be found on GOV.UK and I will place copies in the libraries of both Houses.’
9 Jan 2014 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced the appointment of two senior figures to key leadership roles within its recently merged safety and airspace functions. Rob Bishton, a senior airline executive will take over as Head of the CAA’s Flight Operations department, while Tony Rapson, a former Royal Air Force Group Captain, air traffic controller and aviation policy maker, will head up the brand General Aviation Unit.
10 Jan 2014 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published its final decisions on economic regulation at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted after April 2014. The decisions have been made using powers set out in the Civil Aviation Act 2012, which requires that regulation reflects the circumstances of individual airports. The CAA has assessed the market power of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted (passenger market only for Stansted), and decided that ‘passengers would not benefit from further regulation of Stansted, but that Heathrow and Gatwick will both require airport licenses from April 2014 onwards’.
House of Lords Questions
Lord Kennedy – Addition of the compulsory booking fees to the price of flight tickets
7 Jan 2014
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the compulsory booking fees added to the price of tickets purchased through some ticketing companies.
Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport (Liberal Democrat peer): No assessment has been made. Pricing policies are a matter for the airlines. However, Regulation EC1008/2008 on Common Rules of the Operation of Air Services in the Community includes measures on airline ticket pricing. Article 23 of the regulation requires the final price of an air ticket (inclusive of all foreseeable and unavoidable taxes, fees and charges) to be displayed at all times. Any optional price supplements, such as those covering hold baggage or insurance, must be communicated clearly at the start of the booking process. The acceptance of optional price supplements by the customer must be on an ‘opt-in’ basis.
Lord Kennedy – Airline charges in addition to fares
7 Jan 2014
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the charges imposed by some airlines in addition to the cost of the fare.
Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport (Liberal Democrat peer): No assessment has been made. Pricing policies are a matter for the airlines. However, Regulation EC1008/2008 on Common Rules of the Operation of Air Services in the Community includes measures on airline ticket pricing. Article 23 of the regulation requires the final price of an air ticket (inclusive of all foreseeable and unavoidable taxes, fees and charges) to be displayed at all times. Any optional price supplements, such as those covering hold baggage or insurance, must be communicated clearly at the start of the booking process. The acceptance of optional price supplements by the customer must be on an ‘opt-in’ basis. Since October 2012 the Civil Aviation Authority published a summary (updated quarterly) of the optional charges levied by the top airlines in the UK in one price comparison document. Information on the cost of taking hold luggage on board, having an in-flight meal and reserving specific seats is all included, as well as a range of other optional charges that airlines may apply. A link to the summary can be found via the following link: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/2200/Comparing_ airline_charges.pdf
Lord Jones – Amount of funding the Government has provided for the Airbus A50 airliner
7 Jan 2014
Lord Jones: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding they have provided for the Airbus A50 airliner.
Lord Livingston of Parkhead, Minister State for Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Conservative peer): The Noble Lord is advised that there is no Airbus aircraft programme called the A50. We have assumed there was a typographical error in the question and it was meant to say A350. The question has been answered based on this assumption. The Government has committed to provide up to a total of £400 million to GKN and Airbus in the form of repayable interest-bearing loans to contribute towards the design and development costs for the A350 XWB programme.
Lord Jones – Amount of Government funding for the development of the Airbus A380 aircraft
7 Jan 2014
Lord Jones: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total amount of Government funding for the development of the Airbus A380 aircraft.
Lord Livingston of Parkhead, Minister State for Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Conservative peer): The UK Government provided a repayable interest-bearing loan of £530 million to contribute towards Airbus’ design and development costs for the A380 programme.
7 Jan 2014
Lord Rowe-Beddoe (Crossbench peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have decided to devolve the control of Air Passenger Duty to the Northern Ireland Assembly but not the National Assembly for Wales, in the light of the Silk Commission’s recommendations.
Lord Deighton, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Conservative peer): The Government has devolved direct long-haul rates of air passenger duty (APD) to the Northern Ireland Assembly. This takes into account the unique position of Northern Ireland, which is the only part of the UK sharing a land border with another EU Member State, which has a lower rate of aviation tax. As set out in the response to the Silk Commission, the Government is not convinced of the case for devolving APD to Wales given the potential effects across the country as a whole. In particular, a report published by HMRC in 2012 highlighted that different rates either side of the Wales/England border would be likely to lead to market distortions that redistributed passengers between airports without significantly increasing the overall demand within the UK.
Media News
7 January 2014 – A co-operation agreement has been signed to develop and manage a fourth airport in Moscow at the existing Ramenskoye aerodrome. Aviation business solutions firm Avia Solutions Group, has signed an agreement with the largest Russian state-owned holding company Rostec. Both are to establish a joint business venture and implement a project for a fourth Moscow airport hub, where activity is planned for the summer of 2015.
8 Jan 2014 – The opening of Berlin Brandenburg Airport has been delayed by a year as problems continue to be reported.
9 Jan 2014 – Buying Business Travel discusses whether British Airports are able to respond to challenges raised by inclement weather.
9 Jan 2014 – London Gatwick airport has updated its biometric-based automated passenger verification system.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 6 Jan – 10 Jan
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 6 Jan – 10 Jan
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc