Thursday 29 May 2014

Mayor of London figures refute Heathrow claims on aircraft noise



5:30am Thursday 29th May 2014 in NewsBy Amy Dyduch
Your Local Guardian: Third runway: Somewhat controversialThird runway: Somewhat controversial
Figures published by the London Mayor “blow out of the water” Heathrow’s claim that overall noise levels would fall if a third runway was built, campaigners said.
The figures, part of Boris Johnson’s report on the Estuary Airport submitted to the Airport’s Commission last week, showed Heathrow’s claims assumed the new runway would be operating at only one-third capacity.
They also argued that Heathrow was too optimistic about the introduction of quieter aircraft.
The Mayor’s figures, based on a study he commissioned from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), showed if a third runway was built more than 1m people would be impacted by noise, up from 725,000 today.
Chairman of Hacan John Stewart said: “These new figures from the CAA blow out of the water Heathrow’s claims that a third runway can cut noise levels.
“They could be a game changer as they show that Heathrow still has not found a way to deal with the politically toxic problem of noise.”
The CAA study shows that if a third runway was built at Heathrow people would be disturbed in new areas of London and the south-east.
Heathrow said the number of people within its noise contour fell tenfold since the 70s, despite the number of flights doubling.
It said its modelling showed the number of people within the 55 Leq Heathrow noise footprint would be cut by 45 to 48 per cent by 2030, even with a third runway.
A Heathrow spokesman said: “These significant noise reductions are due to quieter aircraft, the third runway being located farther west, steeper landing approaches, and aircraft landing farther along all three runways.
“In its interim report the independent Airports Commission found that it is possible to add flights while continuing to reduce aircraft noise at Heathrow.”
Posted by Editorial at 02:34 0 comments

Heathgate a political fix


UK airport expansion: Boris Johnson claims 'political fix around Gatwick'

Thames estuary airport more efficient in long term, says London mayor, who described expanding Gatwick as 'a delusion'
Boris Johnson about to board a plane
Boris Johnson: 'A lot of money is moving off Heathrow and on to Gatwick … Gatwick is more deliverable but it is not the right answer.' Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
A "political fix" is putting Gatwick airport in pole position to get a new runway, London mayor Boris Johnson claimed, as he appealed to theAirports Commission to take a longer view and reconsider building a new hub.
The mayor has submitted a new dossier to the commission, which had made its scepticism over his favoured plan of a Thames estuary airportproject clear but revised its timetable to allow Johnson to address critical questions.
Johnson said it was time to stop "making do" and haphazardly expanding existing airports, adding: "We must ensure that the final outcome is not one that future generations will regret."
The mayor claimed the government was edging towards giving Gatwick the go-ahead, saying there was "a political fix around Gatwick". He said, in all parties: "A lot of money is moving off Heathrow and on to Gatwick. Heathrow is closer to the answer but not deliverable. Gatwick is more deliverable but it is not the right answer."
He said, expanding Gatwick was "a sham, a snare, a delusion".
Johnson's favoured inner Thames estuary airport plan, promoted by architects Foster and Partners, would cost about £25bn to build, with £25bn extra needed for surrounding transport infrastructure, and an additional £14bn to purchase and shut down Heathrow, which would be redeveloped as a new suburb.
However, the mayor's team claim much of this money could be raised from the private sector, while new infrastructure would be an inevitable government spend to meet the needs of an expanding population in east London, whether or not a new airport was built.
The Thames estuary case focuses on London's forecast growth, to 11.3 million people by 2050, and the additional jobs and homes moving the hub airport could produce. The submission claims the new hub would generate £7bn a year in economic benefits and would be commercially viable with a relatively modest increase in landing charges – rejecting the Airports Commission's estimates that the cost of building in the Thames estuary would mean fees triple those at Heathrow, driving up fares.
Foster and Partners' artist impression of a four-runway Thames estuary airport capable.Foster and Partners' artist impression of a four-runway Thames estuary airport capable. Photograph: Foster And Partners/PA
Johnson's latest evidence included studies conducted for Transport for London by the Civil Aviation Authority showing that a third runway at Heathrow would bring the number of people exposed to severe aircraft noise to more than a million, with areas from Kensington to Deptford caught within its noise contour. Referring to recent comments made by a Heathrow board member and major shareholder, Qatar Holdings' Akbar Al-Baker, that locals would get used to plane noise, the mayor said: "Mr Al-Baker very brilliantly highlighted both the problem and the solution. Many people felt their experience didn't accord with what he was saying. Doha is building a hub away from the main population; it was very helpful because he showed what needed to be done."
According to the mayor's team, building the Thames estuary airport at a similar remove from the capital would expose fewer than 30,000 people to aircraft noise. Johnson said: "The brutal, ineluctable facts of geography mean that we as a country will come round to this in the end."
While Sir Howard Davies left the Thames estuary proposal off the original shortlist, political pressure resulted in a fudge whereby the commission requested more time to consider the idea of a brand new, four-runway hub in east London. Davies will announce in September whether the estuary plan remains in contention with the other three schemes. As well as Heathrow and Gatwick airports' own blueprints for an additional runway, the Heathrow Hub group has drawn up a scheme to lengthen the west London airport's two existing runways to effectively create a four-runway operation.
The commission will give its final recommendation in June 2015. No political party has promised to implement its findings. Johnson, who may yet be in a parliamentary role when a decision is made, said: "I will respect the findings of the Davies commission but I will not abide by them."
Posted by Editorial at 01:55 0 comments

Saturday 24 May 2014

Dracula Returns he wants 24 hour flights at Heathrow

 

A Heathrow board member has said the airport should be open 24 hours a day, and that local residents under the flightpath would soon get used to the noise.
Akbar al-Baker, representing Qatar Holdings, which owns a 20% stake in the airport, said locals enjoyed excessive freedom and made too much fuss.
Speaking to journalists from the Times and the Telegraph in Doha, Baker, the chief executive of Qatar Airways, said: "If you live under the flightpath of an airport, I assure you, over a period of time you will not even hear the aircraft passing over your house.
"The thing that is impeding Europe's growth is that airports are locked up from 11 o'clock at night to 5.30 in the morning, which is a very, very critical time for east-west transfer. People [in Qatar] are not making as much fuss about noise as they are in Europe."
 
He said that objections to noise, which affects more people around Heathrow than anywhere else in Europe, should be overriden. "I know people require freedom, but I think this is too excessive. Sometimes the national interest must be considered."
Heathrow moved swiftly to distance itself from Baker's views. A spokesman said: "Mr al-Baker's views are his own and do not represent the views or policy of the Heathrow board or executive committee. We recognise that adding the flights Britain needs for growth must come hand in hand with reducing aircraft noise for residents. Round-the-clock flying from London is not an option. We take the concerns of local communities very seriously and have never argued for 24-hour flying."
Local campaigners, however, expressed deep concern. John Stewart, the chairman of Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (Hacan), said: "He wants to bring the Qatari version of democracy into west London, where the benighted residents under the flightpath will have no voice, no say and no rights. The big worry is that this is the second-biggest shareholder in Heathrow and whatever the airport says publicly, he must have a significant influence in developing company policy."
Heathrow noise is accepted to significantly disturb 250,000 people on standard measurements, more than its rival hubs elsewhere in Europe.
Protesters from across the continent descended on Frankfurt airport on Monday to join thousands of campaigners who have been occupying a terminal for 100 weeks since a new runway was opened. Residents claim they were misled over new flightpaths created over neighbourhoods that were previously unaffected by noise.
In the interviews, Baker also defended some of his airline's controversial employment policies. Qatar Airways bans female cabin crew from getting married in the first five years of their employment. He told the Telegraph: "We used to allow this and a lot of people started to get married and then two to three months later they were pregnant so we were losing a lot of trained people that we had then to stop them flying. We had to put a stop to this. But after five years they can get married to anybody they want."
Posted by Editorial at 13:56 0 comments

'Five out of six people' against Thames Estuary airport according to Medway Council well they would wouldn't they

Artist's impression of island airport
Boris Johnson wants the Thames Estuary airport to be built on the Isle of Grain

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Five out of six people would oppose building a new airport in the Thames Estuary if it meant closing Heathrow and other airports, a survey has found.
An estuary airport on the Isle of Grain and the closure of Heathrow has been proposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson.
The online survey of 2,000 adults from across the UK was commissioned by Medway Council and Kent County Council (KCC), which oppose the new airport.
Mr Johnson's office has not yet commented on the survey.
The mayor is due to submit final plans for the estuary airport to theAirports Commission on Friday.
The commission, which is considering how to expand air capacity in south-east England, has drawn up a shortlist which comprises building a third runway at Heathrow, lengthening an existing runway at Heathrow, and building a new runway at Gatwick.
It is also considering the £148bn Isle of Grain airport in north Kent.
Aerial view of the Isle of GrainMedway Council and Kent County Council oppose building an airport on the Isle of Grain
Mr Johnson has said if the new airport is built, a city of 190,000 homes and thousands of jobs could be created on the Heathrow site.
Medway and KCC believe City and Southend could also close, but Mr Johnson has not said this would be the case.
The survey found 38% of those asked supported an estuary airport. But when they were told Heathrow, City and Southend airports could close as a result, the support dropped to 16%, or just over one in six.
"We strongly believe that plans to site a hub airport in the Thames Estuary are financially, geographically and environmentally wrong," said Rodney Chambers, leader of Medway Council.
"It will waste tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money for a project which is on the wrong side of London for the majority of passengers.
"This survey highlights the chronic lack of public support for the project.
"Most people will not back a scheme which closes other key airports including Heathrow and City and Southend Airports."
The Airports Commission will make its final recommendation on airport expansion in summer 2015.

Posted by Editorial at 13:51 0 comments

Heathrow board member says locals enjoy 'excessive freedom' over noise

Akbar al-Baker of Qatar Holdings, with 20% stake in Heathrow, advocates 24-hour operation and says residents would adapt
A plane comes in to land at Heathrow airport
Heathrow moved quickly to distance itself from Baker's comments, saying it took the concerns of local communities very seriously. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
A Heathrow board member has said the airport should be open 24 hours a day, and that local residents under the flightpath would soon get used to the noise.
Akbar al-Baker, representing Qatar Holdings, which owns a 20% stake in the airport, said locals enjoyed excessive freedom and made too much fuss.
Speaking to journalists from the Times and the Telegraph in Doha, Baker, the chief executive of Qatar Airways, said: "If you live under the flightpath of an airport, I assure you, over a period of time you will not even hear the aircraft passing over your house.
"The thing that is impeding Europe's growth is that airports are locked up from 11 o'clock at night to 5.30 in the morning, which is a very, very critical time for east-west transfer. People [in Qatar] are not making as much fuss about noise as they are in Europe."
He said that objections to noise, which affects more people around Heathrow than anywhere else in Europe, should be overriden. "I know people require freedom, but I think this is too excessive. Sometimes the national interest must be considered."
Heathrow moved swiftly to distance itself from Baker's views. A spokesman said: "Mr al-Baker's views are his own and do not represent the views or policy of the Heathrow board or executive committee. We recognise that adding the flights Britain needs for growth must come hand in hand with reducing aircraft noise for residents. Round-the-clock flying from London is not an option. We take the concerns of local communities very seriously and have never argued for 24-hour flying."
Local campaigners, however, expressed deep concern. John Stewart, the chairman of Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (Hacan), said: "He wants to bring the Qatari version of democracy into west London, where the benighted residents under the flightpath will have no voice, no say and no rights. The big worry is that this is the second-biggest shareholder in Heathrow and whatever the airport says publicly, he must have a significant influence in developing company policy."
Heathrow noise is accepted to significantly disturb 250,000 people on standard measurements, more than its rival hubs elsewhere in Europe.
Protesters from across the continent descended on Frankfurt airport on Monday to join thousands of campaigners who have been occupying a terminal for 100 weeks since a new runway was opened. Residents claim they were misled over new flightpaths created over neighbourhoods that were previously unaffected by noise.
In the interviews, Baker also defended some of his airline's controversial employment policies. Qatar Airways bans female cabin crew from getting married in the first five years of their employment. He told the Telegraph: "We used to allow this and a lot of people started to get married and then two to three months later they were pregnant so we were losing a lot of trained people that we had then to stop them flying. We had to put a stop to this. But after five years they can get married to anybody they want."
Posted by Editorial at 13:49 0 comments
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