Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Date
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Commons Oral Questions
House of Commons Written Questions
House of Lords Written Question
Media News
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Date
6 March 2015
The meeting will be held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
27 October 2014 – Staff at Monarch Airlines have agreed to redundancies and pay cuts as part of a financial package to save the company. Greybull Capital has bought the airline from the Mantegazza family which has owned it since the 1960s. More than 90 per cent of staff voted to accept the changes. It is anticipated that two-thirds of the redundancies will be voluntary.
27 October 2014 – The Witham and Braintree Rail Users’ Association is calling for the development of a railway link between Braintree and Stansted Airport. The group has estimated the project would cost around £150m to implement and could be achieved within ten years – it would link the main London to Norwich Line with the West Essex route via Witham, Braintree, Great Dunmow and the airport.
27 October 2014 – The Hovercraft company Hoverlink are proposing a service linking Blackpool and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. The service, which would be based on the River Mersey, aims to operate four hovercrafts serving different destinations, each with a capacity of 88 passengers. The Hoverlink project aims to have terminals serving the Wirral area, north Wales, Blackpool and Liverpool by the end of 2015.
28 October 2014 – Member of Parliament for Putney Justine Greening has announced two public meetings in her constituency to discuss the Airports Commission’s short-list of long term development options. The first meeting will be on Thursday 13 November where representatives from Gatwick Airport will be present to give more details about their plans and to answer questions. The Leader of Wandsworth Council Ravi Govindia will also be in attendance. The second meeting will be held on Thursday 27 November when representatives from Heathrow Airport and Heathrow Hub together with the Chair of HACAN, John Stewart, will be speaking. Both meetings will take place at 8pm at St Mary’s Church in Putney.
29 October 2014 – Scotland’s airports have made a joint submission to the Smith Commission, calling for Air Passenger Duty to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
29 October 2014 – Heathrow Airport have announced that they have made changes to their existing development plans based on public consultation. These include making changes to local traffic flows, flood protection, local landscaping, and investigating a new site for an-energy-from-waste plant away from the edge of Stanwell, to a location further away from residential buildings. Full details of the new plans are available from the airport’s website here.
31 October 2014 – The Deputy Leader of Waltham Forest Council Cllr Clyde Loakes, has claimed that changing flight paths from London City Airport would have an impact on ‘tens of thousands’ of residents. Under the proposed plans, most planes travelling to and from the airport would be installed with new navigation technology, enabling flights to use a narrower flight corridor over Leyton, Leytonstone and Wanstead.
1 November 2014 – The train station at Manchester Airport will close for three weeks in the new year as work to complete the new fourth platform is carried out.
1 November 2014 – A report published by The Public Accounts Committee has said ‘severe failings’ that led to a £7m overspend on the building of Guernsey Airport terminal are unlikely to be repeated. The terminal building opened in November 2004, four months later than planned and £6.8m over its original £16.4m budget.
Industry News
27 October 2014 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has confirmed that they have renewed the ATOL licences for the Monarch Travel Group. The license had previously been extended until 24 October, while the group continued negotiations with its new investor. Those negotiations have now been successfully completed and the group’s ATOL licences have therefore been renewed for the next year.
27 October 2014 – The airline operator Flybe have announced a number of new routes to domestic destinations from London City Airport, including Belfast City, Dublin, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen. The airline has also reinstated their daily Newcastle to Exeter route.
27 October 2014 – United Airlines will operate a direct service from Newcastle Airport to Newark during summer 2015. The service will operate five-times weekly between May and September.
28 October 2014 – The air services provider NATS has opened its headquarters for the Middle East and North Africa region, with a permanent office in the JLT free zone in Dubai.
29 October 2014 – Pre-tax profits at Heathrow Airport fell to £58 million in the nine months to end of September 2014 – down from £266 million in the same period last year.
29 October 2014 – Aer Lingus Regional has launched its double-daily Dublin-Leeds Bradford service. The service is operated by Stobart Air and provides a link to the US through Dublin for Leeds-based passengers who can conveniently connect to Aer Lingus’ mainline transatlantic services. The airline expects to carry 70,000 passengers on the route in 2015.
Parliamentary News
27 October 2014 – The Annual General Meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Crossrail Group met to discuss progress on the Crossrail rail project. The Group heard from, Crossrail Chair Terry Morgan and Crossrail Chief Executive Andrew Wolstenholme. Opening his remarks, Mr Morgan explained that Crossrail was confident that it could be delivered on time and on budget. He noted that the route had been extended out to Reading since his last meeting with the Group nine months before. Mr Morgan said that the Department for Transport would look into questions from APPG Vice-Chair Rob Wilson on providing a fast service into Paddington. Crossrail were not currently considering this because it fell outside the project’s purview, he explained. Pressed by a peer over the journey times to Paddington from Heathrow, Mr Wolstenholme said that it would still be quicker to take the Heathrow Express, but noted that it had to reconsider its pricing in light of the competition posted by the Piccadilly Line and Crossrail.
Ms Ibrahim explained that the UK having ‘such a high rate of APD’ was a ‘huge barrier to tourism’, and argued that with lower duty, the UK could exploit structural advantages in its aviation industry to undercut European rivals. Ms Ibrahim highlighted VAT and other tax burdens that made the UK an ‘uncompetitive’ destination, and rejected Mr Leech’s allegation that any money saved would simply translate into airline profit rather than lower prices. Mr Bradshaw asked about the impact of APD on domestic routes, and the importance of local airlines to the tourism industry. Replying, Mr Janson explained that it hit domestic routes especially hard since they paid it in both directions, and noted that such routes were very important to sustaining regional tourism. In response to a question from Conservative MP Angie Bray, Ms Ibrahim clarified that the tourism industry did not have a view on where additional aviation capacity should come.
Labour MP Jim Sheridan asked the witnesses for their views on the potential impact of devolving APD to Edinburgh, and highlighted Scotland’s dependence on southern hub airports due to the limited number of direct routes operating from Scottish airports. Ms Ibrahim explained that there were international examples of domestic air route models that might better support Scotland’s needs, and claimed that much of Scotland’s success was due to the fact that Visit Scotland’s £60m budget was more than thrice that of the British equivalent. On the subject of devolution, Ms Ibrahim did not want to pre-judge the Smith Commission, but drew the Committee’s attention to the very negative impact on Northern Ireland of the Republic slashing VAT and APD. Conservative MP Conor Burns pointed out that VAT and APD were huge sources of Treasury income and asked why the witnesses were insistent on campaigning for measures that the Government could not deliver. Ms Ibrahim replied that if the Government took an “investor approach” it would see that reducing VAT and APD would see medium-term growth in Treasury income in addition to creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and boosting GDP. Pressed for evidence by Mr Burns, she reiterated that the evidence was there and had been acknowledged by Treasury experts, and alleged that the only remaining barrier to enacting the cuts was political will due to short-term revenue challenges that such a policy might pose. She said that there were international examples of how such challenges could be met.
Government News
27 October 2014 – As part of the Government’s long term economic plan for the north of England, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have given their support to develop a rail link connecting the north’s cities which it is hoped could significantly reduce journey times across the region. The Government, working with Transport for the North, will now produce a comprehensive transport strategy for the region. This will include options, costs and a delivery timetable for an east west rail connection. An interim report will be produced next March.
27 October 2014 – The Department for Transport (DfT) has signed a second Public Service Obligation to protect the Newquay Airport to London Gatwick route. The DfT has announced a 4 year funding deal for the flights. The Government is providing £2.5m in addition to £300,000 from Cornwall Council. Three flights each way will take place during the week with 2 weekend rotations. It is estimated that around 100,000 passengers use the route per year. Flybe will operate the flights with the timings providing a convenient schedule for a full working day at either destination.
House of Commons Oral Questions
Shannon – Proposals to bring forward legislation on reimbursing air fares
28 October 2014
Jim Shannon (Strangford, Democratic Unionist Party): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward proposals to require airlines to reimburse the air fares of people who cannot fly on their date of travel because of ill health.
Robert Goodwill (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Scarborough and Whitby, Conservative): There is no legal authority obliging airlines to refund air fares, including for those who choose not to fly due to ill health. The Department would advise that people should take out suitable travel insurance to cover for such circumstances.
McCann – Tackling air pollution in urban areas
30 October 2014
Michael McCann (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, Labour): What steps she is taking to support local authorities tackling air pollution in urban areas?
Dan Rogerson Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Resource Management and Rural Affairs, North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat): Local authorities are key to achieving improvements in air quality. We are taking steps to support them, including enabling them to focus more on practical actions to reduce air pollution through plans to streamline reporting requirements. We have DEFRA’s £1 million air quality grant programme, and we are also funding local transport projects. For example, £560 million has been allocated from the Government’s local sustainable transport fund between 2011 and 2015.
Mr McCann: I thank the Minister for his answer, but he will know that on 26 September DEFRA published a report on air pollution showing that there has been no improvement in the UK’s air quality over the past year and that 38 of the 43 zones exceed the legal limit for nitrogen dioxide. What is going wrong?
Mr Rogerson: We are taking action locally, nationally and at the European level on the regulation of vehicle emissions, which is crucial to tackling this pollution. The Government are making progress on the issue, and we welcome what local authorities across the country are doing to engage with us on improving air quality locally and meeting our obligations.
House of Commons Written Questions
Sir John Stanley – Members of the Gatwick Airport Consultative Committee
30 October 2014
Sir John Stanley (Tonbridge and Malling, Conservative) To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will state the names and the organisations represented by the current members of the Gatwick Airport Consultative Committee.
Robert Goodwill: The Department for Transport has recently updated its guidelines on the establishment and operation of airport consultative committees which includes recommendations on the types of organisations that should be represented. These can be found on the GOV.UK website. The government does not have a role in deciding which organisations should be represented on a particular consultative committee. Responsibility for the composition of the Gatwick Airport Consultative Committee (GATCOM) rests with Gatwick Airport in collaboration with the committee. A list of the names and organisations represented on GATCOM is publically available and can be found on the GATCOM website.
30 October 2014
Nigel Dodds (Belfast North, Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on (a) regional air routes to Northern Ireland and (b) other regional UK routes of the sale of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports to a Spanish and Australian consortium.
Robert Goodwill: The Government has made no such assessment. Airports, and the airlines that use them, operate in a competitive environment and it is for them to take commercial decisions on the services that they offer. The Spanish partner, Ferrovial, already had an interest in these airports through its shareholding in Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited (formerly BAA).
House of Lords Question – Written Question
Lord Avebury – Rules on numbers of people being held at Heathrow Airport holding facilities
27 October 2014
Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat Peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to specify limits in the rules on the numbers of people who can be accommodated in each of the Heathrow short-term holding facilities; and when the rules will be published.
Lord Bates (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Office, Conservative): We are currently exploring a range of measures as part of the rules governing Short Term Holding Facilities to balance the welfare of those people being held, with effective management of the facilities and immigration control. I welcome the noble Lord’s continued interest in this area and his views on the final content of these Rules.
Media News
29 October 2014 – Stansted Airport has chosen the company AeroParker to be its car parking and ancillary pre-booking ecommerce platform. The announcement builds on a growing UK airports presence for AeroParker, whose partners include Aberdeen, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, East Midlands, Humberside and Bournemouth airports.
31 October 2014 – The campaign group A Fair Tax on Flying has estimated that around £3.2 billion will be raised from Air Passenger Duty in 2014/15.
1 November 2014 – The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, will not support The Conservative Party’s policy on airport expansion at the next election.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 27 October – 2 November
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 27 October – 2 November
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc .