Latest Aviation Policy News
Heathrow Hub’s refreshed proposal to the Airports Commission
Heathrow Hub have published details of their refreshed proposal to the Airports Commission. The proposal states that it aims to tackle the issues of noise, surface access, cost and location, in its refreshed proposal.
Details of the scheme are available here.
Key featues of the refreshed submission include:
Noise mitigation and communities
- Potentially curtailing or ending night quota flights arriving after 4.30am and before 6am by making available more capacity later in the morning, or moving the touchdown point 2 miles to the West on the new runway extension in the critical early morning arrival period.
- No new households would be brought into the noise footprint.
Surface access
- The connection of Heathrow to the national rail network through the construction of large new passenger facility on land identified to the north.
- 30 trains per hour based on Great Western and related services, enabling swift direct connections with regional centres; additional rail access to the south.
- Partial tunnelling and bridging a stretch of the M25.
- Enhanced junction 13 and a new junction to the new passenger interchange.
- No closure of the M25 – the M25 road works would not affect existing traffic, which would be switched to the new section overnight.
Heathrow Airport Ltd’s refreshed proposal to the Airports Commission
Taking Britain Further. Heathrow’s plan for connecting the UK to growth
The attached report is Heathrow Airport Ltd’s refreshed proposal to the Airports Commission, foll0wing the publication of the Commission’s Interim Report in December 2013.
The submission follows discussions with local residents and businesses, the public, businesses around the country, passengers, airlines and elected representatives across the UK’s nations and regions.
Key elements of the proposal include:
- New rail access to Wales and the West through the Western mainline, the South and South West through Southern Rail Access, and the North through HS2.
- A Taskforce for Regional Connectivity will be established to develop proposals for how regional air links to the airport can be improved. The airport intendes that additional capacity will be provided for flights to cities such as Inverness, Liverpool and Newquay.
- Proposed runway located farther south, affecting fewer homes, is intended to preserve historical buildings in Harmondsworth and maintains the existing M25/M4 junction.
- New section of M25 to be tunnelled and upgraded alongside the existing section.
Letter from Michèle Dix, Managing Director, Planning, TfL relating to the future of London City Airport
Letter from Transport for London to Louise Ellman regarding an Estuary Airport & London City Airport
The Managing Director of Planning at Transport for London, Michele Dix, has written to the Chair of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee, asserting that a new airport in the Thames Estuary would not mean the closure of London City Airport, or potentially Heathrow Airport.
Overseas Travel and Tourism, Provisional Results for February 2014
Overseas Travel and Tourism, Feb 2014
The attached report shows monthly estimates of completed international visits to and from the UK and earnings and expenditure associated with these visits.
Key points
- Visits to the UK by overseas residents rose in February 2014, continuing the pattern noted at the end of 2012 and 2013. The number of visits to the UK in the three months December 2013 to February 2014 was 5 per cent higher than a year earlier.
- Holiday visits to the UK continue to rise and are up 9 per cent in the three months December to February compared with the same months a year earlier.
- Visits abroad by UK residents are up 3 per cent over the past twelve months and their expenditure has increased 5 per cent in the same period.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launches new safety tools
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a series of template risk models, highlighting a number of specific safety scenarios, which airline and airport operators, air navigation service providers, maintenance organisations, ground service providers and regulators can use as part of their own safety management systems (SMS). The models will allow organisations to assess their current risk controls and evaluate their exposure to each particular scenario.
The 24 risk models, which cover scenarios such as aircraft loading errors leading to loss of control, and runway incursions resulting in collision on the ground, are known as ‘bowtie’ models, www,caa.co.uk/bowtie, and can be used as templates for organisations to customise to suit their own operations. Completed models can then be fed into official safety management systems.
The CAA said it had worked extensively with the aviation industry to develop the risk models which consider human, technical and environmental factors within the scenarios. Feedback from operators using the models will be actively encouraged and shared across the industry, further enhancing knowledge and understanding of aviation safety risks.
The aviation industry’s use of the models will ultimately provide the CAA with more sophisticated data and safety performance indicators, allowing the regulator to take an overview of safety risks across all UK operators helping inform future initiatives.
The models can be found on the CAA website here.
SASIG Bulletins for April are now available
The latest SASIG bulletins for April are available here.
Access to these articles will require membership login.
HMRC Air Passenger Duty Bulletin March 2014
HMRC Air Passenger Duty Bulletin March 2014
UK National Statistics has published Air Passenger Duty Bulletin which covers data for March 2014 .
This includes monthly statistics on Air Passenger Duty receipts and passenger numbers for the UK.
The report is attached as an Excel workbook.
HM Treasury and Infrastructure UK – Policy paper: Projected infrastructure starts and completions in 2014 to 2015
The attached report outlines infrastructure projects and programmes all currently with projected start dates for 2014-15, including some projects which have already started in this financial year. However, where projects and programmes are privately funded, decisions about the final timescale will be taken by individual developers.
Airports Commission Final Appraisal Framework
Airports Commission Final Appraisal Framework
The appraisal framework is the outcome of the consultation on the draft framework published in January 2014. The framework sets out how the Airports Commission expects the scheme designs for additional airport capacity announced in December 2013 to be developed, and how the schemes will be appraised and scheme promoters have until 14 May 2014 to send updated scheme designs to the Airports Commission.
Airports Commission Appraisal Framework consultation responses – summary
In addition to the framework the Airports Commission has published a summary of responses received to the consultation.
SASIG Bulletins for March are now available
The latest SASIG bulletins for March are available here.
Access to these articles will require membership login.