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Community website for all things Herne Bay (Kent, UK). Covers: The Downs, Herne Bay Museum, Herne Bay Historical Records Society, Herne Bay Pier Trust, Herne Bay in Bloom, East Cliff Neighbourhood Panel, No Night Flights, Manston Airport, Save Hillborough, Kitewood, WEA, Local Plan and much, much more...

No Night Flights

Filtering by Tag: Charles Buchanan

KIACC meeting at Manston

HBM

KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING IN PUBLIC

Friday 27th September 2013 6.30pm in the Airport Departure Lounge

AGENDA

1.       Chairman's welcome & opening

2.       Minutes of last meeting

3.       Matters Arising

4.       Short introduction to the public part of the Meeting by P Twyman, Chair of KIACC

5.       Short presentations from Community Fund recipients

6.       Report from the Airport Management  (Charles Buchanan, CEO Manston Airport)

7.       Thanet District Council (Cllr Hart, Leader of the Council has been invited to speak)

8.     Questions from the public and discussion


Members of the public are invited to attend this meeting and will have the opportunity to ask questions after the business of the Committee has been dealt with.

Hear from Thanet District Council and the CEO of the Airport.  Hear about the work of KIACC.  Make your views known.

Agendas will be available at the meeting.

The Constitution of KIACC provides for one meeting a year at which the public can attend.  In recent years, in keeping with our wish to provide a public forum for discussion on airport issues, the Chairman has extended this provision so that the public can not only attend but have the opportunity to speak.  So far nobody has objected to this commonsense approach!

After the formal business of the meeting there will be ample opportunity for members of the public to ask questions and make suggestions (but not, please, long speeches).  It would be helpful in making best use of  time if people with specific questions could let us have them in advance so that they can be grouped together - suggestions to secretary.manstonkiacc@talktalk.net.   And if they are not reached they can be passed on to the appropriate quarter for a response.

We look forward to seeing you.


If past performance is anything to go by, we might expect an announcement from Charles Buchanan a few days after he is out of the public spotlight. 


No Night Flights home page

KLM - everything's going to be fine. Really.

HBM

I flew from Manston to Schipol a couple of weeks after the service started. On the 10am flight, not the 6:30am NIGHT FLIGHT, naturally. 

The charming staff told me that the first couple of days had been "mad busy", with VIPs and bigwigs jetting back and forth - on free tickets presumably - but things had quietened down since then.

There were 16 passengers on my flight on the way out, 12 on the way back. And, yes, I do realise that one trip is no more than a snapshot and may not be representative.

It's an uncrowded, quick and convenient journey, but clearly not sustainable if the planes are flying less than a quarter full. I'll let you know what it's like the next time I go - I hope to make the most of this route before KLM pulls the plug. My guess is that KLM will tough it out for the summer season, suspend it for the winter, and then simply not restart.


Charles Buchanan

Charles Buchanan

Manston Airport bosses confident of KLM future

Bosses at Manston Airport have said they are confident that a new passenger service to Amsterdam has a future. It comes after passengers said they had travelled on KLM planes that were less than half full.

The Dutch carrier started twice-daily flights from East Kent to Schiphol three months ago. Charles Buchanan, Manston's chief executive, told the BBC that the new service was a success:

"We have some flights that are less full than others obviously, but we've had others that are absolutely jam-packed and not a spare seat to be had. That's the normal way of aviation - you get some that are full and some that are less so. We're confident that the service has a future. This is a growing service, the forward bookings are coming in at a good rate."

KLM started running two morning flights from Manston, with one returning in mid-morning and the other in the evening, starting on 2 April.

BBC 1st Jul 2013


No Night Flights home page

Heathrow closes - TWO planes diverted to Manston

HBM

Flights have been diverted via Manston Airport from Heathrow today after a plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

Both runways were closed when the British Airways plane caught fire in mid-air shortly after taking off this morning. Two diverted British Airways A320 aircraft - en route to Heathrow from Helsinki and Budapest - landed at Manston.

Both flights will return to Heathrow when permission is granted by London Air Traffic Control. Manston Airport chief executive Charles Buchanan said:

"We were pleased to help, and even more pleased that the incident ended safely for all concerned. I'd just like to thank all the team at Manston who handled these two flights, as well as the passengers arriving and departing on the scheduled KLM service to and from Schiphol, Amsterdam this morning."

All passengers and crew from Heathrow flight were safely evacuated and the fire brigade said the blaze has been put out. Heathrow's two runways were closed before one re-opened later in the morning. Other flights were diverted via Stansted and Cardiff. A statement from British Airways said:

"The BA762, Heathrow to Oslo service, returned back to Heathrow shortly after take-off due to a technical fault. The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying 75 customers. The aircraft landed safely and emergency slides were deployed and we are currently caring for our customers. Emergency services attended the aircraft. We will be carrying out a full investigation into the incident."
kentonline 24th May 2013

No Night Flights home page

Agenda for Public KIACC meeting

HBM

KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE

MEETING IN PUBLIC - in the Airport Departure Lounge

Friday 30th November 2012 6.30pm

AGENDA

  1. Chairman's welcome & opening
  2. Minutes of last meeting
  3. Matters Arising
  4. Short introduction to the public part of the Meeting by P Twyman, Chair of KIACC
  5. Short presentations from Community Fund recipients
  6. Report from the Airport Management - a presentation on the airport and its future (Charles Buchanan, CEO Manston Airport)
  7. Thanet District Council – an update on the Council's position on the airport and its development; the work of the Airport Working Party; and views on the future (Cllr Hart, Leader of the Council has been invited to speak)
  8. Questions from the public and discussion


No Night Flights home page

Charles Buchanan's brave face

HBM

Every now and then Charles Buchanan reports to KIACC (the airport's consultative committee).

These reports are usually a rattling good read, if only to pick out the bits where a favourable gloss is put on the less than lovely truth.

The airport sale seems to be in the doldrums. The Olympics were a wash-out, although some planes parked at Manston. Posh people's planes.

If they happen, KLM flights would be leaving at about 6am, according to Charles. Of course, the problem with that is that they would still count as scheduled night flights, in breach of the S106.

Passenger numbers have fallen to the point where it's almost a personalised air taxi service. Cargo remains at the same level it's been for years.

Nonetheless, through thick and thin, Manston is "very committed to working with our local community", providing raffle prizes for local charity quiz nights and so on.

"discussions have not progressed as quickly as had been anticipated" - Charles Buchanan, reporting.

"discussions have not progressed as quickly as had been anticipated" - Charles Buchanan, reporting.

"the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" - Emperor Hirohito, surrendering.

"the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" - Emperor Hirohito, surrendering.



No Night Flights home page

BBC Radio Kent airport debate in Rochester

HBM

BBC Radio Kent is hosting a debate on airport expansion.

A panel will come together at Cliffe Memorial Hall near Rochester on 30th October with doors opening at 18:00 GMT.

The panellists will be:

  • Daniel Moylan, the Mayor of London's Aviation Advisor
  • Councillor Alan Jarrett, Deputy Leader of Medway Council
  • John Grant, Executive Vice President of aviation experts, OAG
  • Charles Buchanan, Chief Executive, Manston Airport
  • Sue Armstrong-Brown, Head of Conservation Science at the RSPB
  • Clive Lawrence from Demand Regeneration in North Kent

If you would like to be in the audience, you can request tickets by emailing radio.kent@bbc.co.uk or writing to: BBC Radio Kent, The Great Hall, Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1QQ.

Admission is by ticket only. Tickets are free but are limited to a maximum of two per person and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Applications for tickets close on 19 October.


No Night Flights home page

All aboard the 4.20am flight to Amsterdam?

HBM

smiley tired.png

Let's have a quick look at the latest exciting news to come from Manston airport. The suggestion is that KLM's decision as whether or not to run a twice a day service between Manton and Schipol will be influenced (but not decided) by the response to Manston's online survey.

  • Charles Buchanan says that KLM would have a plane parked at Manston overnight, ready to fly to Schipol each morning.
  • Charles Buchanan has often said that planes only make money when they are in the air, so it follows that KLM would want their "Manston" plane back in Schipol bright and early so that it has plenty of working (flying) hours ahead of it through the rest of the day.
  • Schipol Airport is effectively closed between 10pm and 6am, and Amsterdam is one hour ahead of us (at the moment).
  • The flight time from Manston to Schipol would be about 40 minutes.
  • To arrive in Schipol at 6am (local time), KLM's "Manston" plane would have to leave at 4.20am (local time).
  • The online questionnaire doesn't ask what time of day people would like to fly - now you know why.
  • The online questionnaire doesn't ask how much people would be prepared to pay for their flight.

As influential local commentator Maurice Byford has pointed out:

Any business worth its salt would carry out due diligence, population and traffic analysis and SWOT analysis without resorting to a survey. You might want to ask, how many people travel to Europe from Kent, but then you need only look at the traffic figures from EuroStar train from to see the passenger footfall for Belgium.

There are plenty of reputable consultancies that specialise in providing detailed economic and demographic analyses to help businesses make rational commercial decisions. They have access to all the available data on business activities, income distribution and socio-economic groupings by post code. They have a pretty good idea how many people run businesses with European interests, and how many people are likely to take weekend jaunts to the Continent or connect to long-haul flights.

It is very likely that KLM have already done their homework, which is why they were looking for £600,000 of public money to underwrite the risk of operating from Manston. The online survey doesn't cover two of the questions that KLM most clearly need answered - how much will people pay, and how willing are they to accept KLM's offering (i.e. first thing and last thing, and nothing in between).

Airlines are high investment, high throughput, low margin businesses. They employ people full-time to examine every available business opportunity, and re-examine each option every couple of years. All of the major airlines will have examined and re-examined Manston over the years it has been owned by Infratil. With the exception of FlyBe's tentative experiment with a couple of minor routes (which failed for lack of passengers), there have been no takers.

KLM's interest in Manston may simply be that it is cheaper to park a plane there than at Schipol, and there's the possibility that the passenger fares would exceed the fuel costs to Schipol. In all probability, KLM will discover what others have discovered before them - Manston's catchment area cannot support a successful passenger or freight airport. It doesn't matter how keen the local residents or the local businesses are - there simple aren't enough of them.

After years of fanciful forecasts, missed targets and false hopes, this may be Infratil's legacy - a minimal passenger service that only ever flies at night, while the airport is almost entirely idle through the 16 hours of daytime. This is Infratil waving goodbye, with two fingers.


No Night Flights home page

Night Flights vote - press coverage

HBM

Vote against Manston Airport night flights plan

BBC 25th May 2012

Plans for night flights from Manston Airport in Kent have been opposed by Thanet District Council. At a meeting on Thursday, the Labour-controlled council voted against all night flights to or from the airport. Charles Buchanan, the airport's chief executive, said:

"We are disappointed the council is not supporting the airport as much as it could."

In March, owners Infratil announced plans to sell Manston and Glasgow's Prestwick Airport. Mr Buchanan said the airport wanted to run "a small number" of scheduled night flights. He said the owners had received legal advice that two flights per night, on average, did not constitute "an increase in activity over and above that which is already permitted", and they could go ahead without needing extra planning permission. Mr Buchanan said a number of companies were interested in taking up the opportunity.

"They would also bring the rest of their daytime schedule to the airport as well. Without that they'll go to airports where they have that flexibility."

Council research showed that 73% of some 2,000 residents questioned were against the proposal, citing potential noise levels and disturbance to sleep as their primary reasons for objecting. The airport currently deals with passenger and commercial aircraft with a runway capable of taking Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s. Its refurbished terminal is capable of handling up to 700,000 passengers a year.


Thanet Council says "no" to night flights

Thanet Gazette 25th May 2012

MANSTON airport's plans to run as many as eight flights a night failed to get the support of Thanet District Council last night after a final crunch vote. Opinions divided along party lines at the extraordinary council meeting as the Labour administration motioned a rejection of the airport's proposals.

Council leader Clive Hart said the council's consultation response was based on the results of an independent review of the airport's proposals and the council's own consultation with residents. Conservatives argued that a vote against night flights was a vote against jobs for the area. Conservative group leader Bob Bayford said that a ban on all aircraft movements between 11pm and 7am was a "straight jacket" for the airport:

"At best it will delay the development of the airport, a worst it will kill the airport."

Mr Bayford added that it was "dangerous" for the council to base its response on a "seriously flawed" in-house consultation in which 73 percent of respondents opposed night time flying. Laughter came from the packed public gallery when Mr Bayford pointed out the Manston Airport's own consultation of residents showed 79 per cent being in support of night flights.

Mr Hart defended the in-house consultation saying it had the greatest response of any to date:

"The results have been extremely conclusive and it wasn't at all close."

The response stated the council's support of the day-time operation of Manston airport but said the council would not support night-time flying on the basis of its own consultation and the council-commissioned Parsons-Brinckerhoff report. Listing the objections, the report said the noise and environmental impacts had been underestimated by airport, the economic benefits of night flights were overestimated and that the impact on Thanet's tourism would be detrimental.

It also pointed to concerns raised in the World Health Organisation's assessment of the impacts of disturbed sleep and added that the night flight proposals had not considered Article 8 of the Human rights Act- the right to respect for private and family life.

The motion to adopt the response was won after Labour got the support of the council's two independent groups. The Conservatives voted unanimously not to support the response but were out-numbered. Phil Rose of the No Night Flights campaign and Charles Buchanan, chief executive of Manston Airport, watched the meeting from the public gallery. Mr Rose said:

"It is a good result and I am very, very pleased that the council came out following the recommendations of the independent reports. They have listened to the views of the people."

Mr Buchanan said the airport will take the vote into consideration and formulate its response:

"All we have ever asked for a limited number of night flights with mitigation measures. The result is disappointing but entirely predictable."

The council's response will not be binding as the council is only a consultee in Manston's own consultation of its night-time flying policy. A separate residents' petition against night flights, presented to the council last week, was also noted. It had collected 2682 signatures but only 777 were valid as the others did not include an address.


Manston chiefs attack council over night flight decision

kentnews May 25, 2012

Manston Airport chiefs say they are “very disappointed” after Thanet District Council last night voted to oppose night flights from the Thanet airfield. As part of the consultation process, the council saw a heated debate over its position. The Conservatives on the council were open to the suggestion, while the ruling Labour group were opposed.

Speaking this morning, chief executive of Manston, Charles Buchanan, said:

We are clearly very disappointed by this stance as it is completely inconsistent with the council’s stated policy to support the airport’s success as a creator of thousands of much needed jobs. The position the council adopted last night is also in sharp contrast to its leader Clive Hart’s stated assertion of ‘the council’s recognition of Manston Airport as an economic asset to Thanet’.

The council’s response contradicts the conclusions of the report from its own consultant Parson Brinckerhoff, which identifies that a ban on night time flying, in relation to passenger services, would: ‘almost certainly prohibit a large number of potential carriers’. Its consultant also recognises that with respect to freight operations, the absence of night flights ‘would undoubtedly hinder the ability of Manston to attract either regular flights or a based operator’.

It is this ability to attract passenger and freight services that will fundamentally determine whether the airport is an economic asset for Thanet, as well as providing the travel advantages for local people using their local airport. Importantly, the council which has sought to question Manston’s own economic impact report, has once again contradicted the conclusions of its consultants own report into the impact of the airport, which stated that: ‘…we are satisfied with the approach and values used for the economic assessment’.

Given that Parson Brinckerhoff acknowledges that they themselves only have ‘some relatively minor queries’, we are very surprised that the council has adopted such a negative approach towards the airport and its economic impact assessment. We will now obviously consider the council’s response before providing them, as a consultee on night-flights, with a reasoned reply in due course.


Manston night flights formally opposed by Thanet District Council

kentonline May 25 2012

Plans for night flights at Manston airport have suffered a big setback after councillors voted against the idea. Cabinet members of Thanet District Council had already said they would not support the bid by Kent International Airport. However, a full council meeting last night formally opposed the idea of night flights.

Manston wants some planes taking off and landing between 11pm and 7am. Scheduled night flights were suggested at the airport to help increase air capacity. But councillors decided the proposed scheduled flights would be too noisy and have too great an environmental impact. A consultation found three quarters of people living nearby also did not want night flights.

Charles Buchanan, chief executive of Manston Airport, said:

We are clearly very disappointed by this stance as it is completely inconsistent with the council’s stated policy to support the airport’s success as a creator of thousands of much needed jobs. The position the council adopted last night is also in sharp contrast to its leader Clive Hart’s stated assertion of ‘the council’s recognition of Manston Airport as an economic asset to Thanet’. Ironically at a time when the government is recognising the role that Manston could play a part in supporting the south east, by making use of existing under-utilised runway capacity, Thanet is apparently rejecting the opportunity to build its economy and create thousands of jobs.

The immediate conclusion is that despite the council’s stated support for the airport, the leadership has refused to recognise the operational flexibility that its own expert identifies as being necessary for that success. One can only guess why they have chosen such a course and put at risk one of the engines for the long term prosperity of Thanet. We will now obviously consider the council’s response before providing them, as a consultee on night-flights, with a reasoned reply in due course.



No Night Flights home page

Night Flights vote

HBM

TDC listened, and said "No" - will Mr Buchanan get the message?

On the face of it, it looks like a straightforward example of democracy at its best.

If only.

A local council is faced with a difficult decision that involves complex technical issues. Quite correctly it takes advice from technical experts - in this case, two separate firms of experts.

The first firm of experts (Bureau Veritas) said that the costs outweighed the benefits. So that's a "No".

The second firm of experts (Parsons Brinkerhoff) said that the costs had been understated and that the benefits had been overstated. So that's very "No".

The local council then asks the local people who will be affected by the outcome of their decision what they think. Three-quarters of them say "No".

So the local council says "No".

As I said, on the face of it, that's fine. However, there were a few patches of turbulence en route to this fairytale ending.

First of all, the leader of the Blue Squadron, Cllr Bayford, moved an amendment to the motion which was more of a reverse thrust than a touch on the rudder. Red Squadron Leader Hart wanted to vote on:

The Council confirms that Thanet District Council fully supports the day time operation of the airport but further recommend that as a consultee the Council cannot support the introduction of scheduled night time flying operations between 2300 hours and 0700 hours.

Whereas Blue Squadron wanted to vote on:

The Council confirms that Thanet District Council fully supports the airport and recognises that it needs some flexibility in its night time flying policy in order to realise its full potential and deliver the jobs that Thanet so desperately needs.

Can you spot the difference? Cllr David Green thoughtful this amendment so completely changed the meaning of the motion that it should be disallowed. Legal eagle Harvey Patterson disagreed – I do wonder about legal minds sometimes. We then had an hour and a half of debate and discussion, of very mixed quality.

Red Squadron Leader Hart surprised everyone in the room by revealing Charles Buchanan is "a lovely man". However, this was not going to stop him refusing the request for scheduled night flights.

Blue Squadron Leader Bayford criticised the council's public consultation exercise, but was happy to treat the airport's own (unaudited, unverified) consultation as being valid.

Cllr Wise showed his mastery of understatement when he said that Manston "needs more time". The airport's future depended on attracting night freight he said. He was "astounded and staggered" that anyone would want to deny the area the benefits of night flights between 11pm and 7am, particularly "for the sake of a few votes in Ramsgate".

Cllr Harrison pointed out that the economic downturn that had caused the unemployment that so concerned Cllr Wise would also mean that there would be less demand to use the airport, day or night, passenger or freight.

Cllr Fenner was the first of many to point out the disastrous effect night flights would have on the growing tourism industry in Thanet and Ramsgate. (This is a rock-solid argument that should be presented louder, clearer and more often. East Kent tourism already employs tens of thousands of people, and is growing. It's a diverse sector with a multitude of employers, making it more resilient than a Pfizer-style arrangement where there are so many eggs in a single basket.) She pointed out that a green light for night flights would simply increase the sale price, benefiting only Infratil.

Cllr Ezekiel tried to score points by pinning the blame for the S106 on the Red Squadron, but this backfired when it was pointed out that the Blue Squadron had failed to do anything about the S106 year in, year out. Things went from bad to worse when he managed to corner himself into having to withdraw sweeping statements about Red Squadron's voting record. A bit of a tizzy ensued, when he called the long-suffering general public in the cheap seats "a rabble", and accused us of intimidating him with "hissing and sissing". I was there - nobody hissed. I'm not even sure what "sissing" is, but I expect I would have noticed it. Anyway, Cllr Ezekiel easily won the evening's prize for over-sensitive petulance, but I understand he has a lot on his mind at the moment so perhaps we should cut him some slack.

Cllr Liz Green pointed out that many of the proposed night flights of freight would be coming from third world countries that themselves had the sense to ban night flights.

Cllr Scobie drew our attention to the rather puzzling fact that the Blue Squadron's amendment had been tabled by the very same people who had voted for the motion in earlier committees... so why were they now wanting to vote against it?

[I'll add some more details here later, if I can face the trauma of re-living the dreary horror of it. There were some refeshingly good performances from the Independents, and a quite brilliant shooting-self-in-foot from Cllr Gideon.]

Anyway, the Amendment was voted on, and was voted down. All the Conservatives, plus Cllr Ezekiel, were for; all the rest were against.

The main vote was split into three, and the pattern of voting was identical in each case. Blue vote was the Conservatives plus Cllr Ezekiel, the Red vote was Labour plus all the Independents except Cllr Ezekiel.

  1. not supporting night flights between 2300 and 0700: Red all for, Blue all abstained.
  2. agree the draft response as the Council's official position: Red all for, Blue all against.
  3. authorise Madeline Homer to write to Manston confirming the above: Red all for, Blue all abstained.

The Conservative party had long ago said that it would be a free vote. It is simply coincidence that they all voted exactly the same way, four times in one evening.


See the Press coverage.

See the political posturing.

Click to contact ​Cllr Wise

Click to contact ​Cllr Wise

Cllr Wise showed his mastery of understatement when he said that Manston “needs more time”. The airport’s future depended on attracting night freight he said. He was “astounded and staggered” that anyone would want to deny the area the benefits of night flights between 11pm and 7am, particularly “for the sake of a few votes in Ramsgate”.

No Night Flights home page


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