WriteToThem.com

Love letters straight from the heart

The nice people at Airport Watch have introduced me to a cracking little site called WriteToThem. Just bash in your post code, and you get instant email links to all your District and County Councillors, MP, and MEPs. This makes it a doddle to congratulate your elected representatives on the skill and wisdom of their approach to anything...

Noise pollution, an ever-growing sound footprint, air pollution, constantly circling training flights, aquifer contamination, increased use of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions, failing to meet Kyoto targets, climate change acceleration, rising sea levels, disrupted school lessons, sleeplessness-induced hypertension, reduced quality of life, falling property prices, reduction in tourism, loss of jobs in the hospitality industries, increase in HGV road traffic, damage to local democracy, unseemly influence of trans-national businesses, inappropriate use of public funds, sub-standard monitoring, inadequate fines, unrealistic forecasts, broken promises, rushed and begrudging consultation...

Or you might not be writing about Manston.

Are night flights restricted?

An independent group set up to advise on the development of Manston airport has said no to more night flights. Kent International Airport Consultative Committee chairman Paul Twyman told a meeting of Thanet council’s airport working group that while there should be a balance of “economic and environmental interests”, he was against changing current night policy. An existing section 106 planning agreement restricts flying between 11pm and 7am. Although it expired in 2003 the agreement will remain in effect until a new one is signed by Thanet council and airport owners Infratil. thisiskent.co.uk

So the S106 'restricts' night flights - as far as I can fathom, it bans scheduled night flights, but allows late arrivals and other unscheduled flights. I've yet to find out who defines what is and isn't scheduled. With a world-weary sigh, I assume it's down to Infratil. What happens if Infratil says a plane is scheduled to arrive at 10:30pm, but it consistently arrives 1½ hours late? Nothing, I guess. Sigh.

Anyway, the S106 from yesteryear remains in force. The statutory consultation period is 6 months, and Cllr Harrison repeatedly told the assembled multitude at Manston on 19th May that Infratil has not yet triggered the start of consultations. So that means no increase in night flights for a while. Doesn't it?

Night flying fuels fresh Manston airport fight

Clipping: thisiskent

Agreements on night flights cannot be changed until the airport owners make a planning application. An independent group set up to advise on the development of Manston airport has said no to more night flights. Kent International Airport Consultative Committee chairman Paul Twyman told a meeting of Thanet council’s airport working group that while there should be a balance of “economic and environmental interests”, he was against changing current night policy.

An existing section 106 planning agreement restricts flying between 11pm and 7am. Although it expired in 2003 the agreement will remain in effect until a new one is signed by Thanet council and airport owners Infratil. On February 12 Infratil persuaded Thanet council to hold an emergency meeting requesting a temporary extension of flying times to 6am to 11.30pm in a bid to attract a new airline operator. The council was told the reason was so the company could attract British Airways World Cargo which, Infratil said, would create more than 400 jobs. After the council agreed to the changes, BAWC’s move from Stansted Airport was cancelled. Night flights are now supposed to adhere to the original terms.

On Tuesday KIACC vice chairman Nick Cole told working party members that aircraft noise is a problem for residents and raised a question over the whereabouts of noise monitoring equipment. Mr Twyman said:

“On the western take-off route planes should turn at about 1.2 miles to avoid villages but they have not done this. We have had a number of excuses over the years and I now think routes need to be clearly defined. We have to have some mechanism to ensure that these routes are kept to. In a good airport there should be good noise monitoring and we don’t seem to have mobile noise monitoring.”

KIACC committee member Malcolm Kirkaldie said:

“If someone wants to complain about noise or planes not sticking to routes it has to be done within 15 days but Infratil takes an awfully long time and doesn’t have to come back to us in 15 days, 20 days or 30 days.”

Thanet council planning boss Brian White said:

“We get separate complaints from residents about noise. Of course there has been and still is duplication of complaints. We are talking to Infratil about sharing a website with the airport.”

Mr Twyman said:

“The local authority needs a big stick it can wield at Infratil when they don’t behave themselves. I think there have to be steep or steeper penalties for people flying outside the agreed hours. We must try to build noise reduction into our plans.”

After the meeting airport working group chairman Mike Harrison said:

“Infratil has to apply to us for a night-time flying policy which will trigger a six-month consultation process.”

Ramsgate councillor David Green, who was in the audience, said:

“It seems to me to be the same old questions and the same old answers. The existing 106 agreement ran out years ago but there is a clause that enables it to continue until another is created. Talking to KIACC was another stage in the process but nothing can happen to address issues until Infratil applies to extend a building, build a new terminal or for an amendment to night flights because the agreement is attached to a planning decision.”

Steve Higgins, of the Stop Manston Expansion Group, said:

“The council need to engage with the community before they make any changes to the policy on night flying.”

Manston is sellable

New Zealand sacrificial lamb steaks

The chief executive of Infratil has not ruled out selling stakes in Manston airport if a buyer can be found, according to a business website. Marko Bogoievski is quoted on www.stuff.co.nz in an article prompted by the New Zealand based company posting big business losses.

The website reports that analysts said Infratil's European airports, including Kent International Airport and Glasgow Prestwick, and energy developments were the most likely assets to go on the block.

Infratil Airports Europe posted an $18.9m loss compared with $1.2m of earnings the previous year. it claimed, adding that Infratil's investments as a whole returned $356.3m compared with $315.9m the year before. Earnings were up at its three major investments, TrustPower, Infratil Energy Australia and Wellington Airport.

Mr Bogoievski is quoted as saying he did not rule out selling stakes in Manston and Glasgow Prestwick if buyers could be found adding: “In the meantime you do what you can control and that's the operating cost structures of those businesses.”
thisiskent.co.uk

Apart from the consistent mis-spelling of 'steak', the thrust of the message has a sad inevitability about it. Infratil over-reached themselves, expanding into foreign markets they didn't fully understand, which lead to them making poor buying choices. Manston is in the wrong place, and failed to make money for Infratil even in the recent air transport boom years.

Manston has gone from white elephant to lame duck to dead in the water, and Infratil are smiling hard and pointedly not holding their nose as they try to sell it, any of it, to anyone.

Manston airport sale "not ruled out"

Clipping: thisiskent

THE chief executive of Infratil has not ruled out selling stakes in Manston airport if a buyer can be found, according to a business website. Marko Bogoievski is quoted on www.stuff.co.nz in an article prompted by the New Zealand based company posting big business losses. The website reports that analysts said Infratil's European airports, including Kent International Airport and Glasgow Prestwick, and energy developments were the most likely assets to go on the block.

Infratil Airports Europe posted an $18.9m loss compared with $1.2m of earnings the previous year. it claimed, adding that Infratil's investments as a whole returned $356.3m compared with $315.9m the year before. Earnings were up at its three major investments, TrustPower, Infratil Energy Australia and Wellington Airport.

Mr Bogoievski is quoted as saying he did not rule out selling stakes in Manston and Glasgow Prestwick if buyers could be found adding:

“In the meantime you do what you can control and that's the operating cost structures of those businesses.”

Infratil bought Kent International Airport after the previous owners, PlaneStation went bust in August 2005. Marko Bogoievski, Infratil's chief executive, added:

“The short term market conditions in no way change the future potential of the airport as outlined in our development plans. Although the current economic downturn has affected KIA in the same way as it has affected other UK airports and business in general, we firmly believe that markets will recover and KIA will be ideally situated to provide an immediate solution to the south east’s predicted runway capacity shortfall. We are not actively seeking to sell KIA and remain committed to its long term development.”

An airport's not the best route to regeneration

Regen Park

"Regeneration work in Thanet includes improving buildings and public spaces in our towns, development of business parks and working with community groups to help bring their ideas to fruition to improve the area. The emphasis in regeneration is on working in partnership with a wide range of organizations, so that together we can make Thanet a quality place to live, an attractive location for investment and an enjoyable area to visit." (TDC website)

Manston is not a building or public space in a town. No community groups are pressing for expansion or night flights. A bustling cargo airport would not make Thanet an attractive place to live in, or visit. Any profits generated by the airport would be repatriated to New Zealand, to cover the tens of millions of dollars Infratil have already lost. Profits from freight transport would go to the hauliers, mostly national and international firms.

Airport expansion may be an eye-catching, high profile project, but it's more cost than benefit, and very little of value stays in Thanet. So why is TDC, and Brian White in particular, pushing it so hard?

Job creation keeps appearing in TDC's pro-Manston arguments. My problem with this is that Manston is a laughably inefficient means of job creation. On the edge of beautiful Herne Bay, just by the A299, a 50 bed Premier Inn motel and associated 50 table restaurant have just been built. This has created 50 jobs.

Two points here:

• this is close to the 70-90 jobs Infratil keep promising, but using a lot less land and making a lot less noise, mess and inconvenience: this has to be a better bet;
• a hotel and restaurant (by definition) encourage people to come and stay in Kent, and spend their money here: surely a more sustainable path to regeneration.

TDC's regeneration manifesto is pointing in the right direction. Investing money, time and effort in Manston is a wasteful diversion from that purpose. Rather than putting their eggs in one rather threadbare basket, TDC should be concentrating on actively promoting a multitude of small new businesses. If only there was some handy light industrial space to use as a regeneration business park...

KIACC examine night flights

After introductions from the Working Party Chairman, it is proposed that the meeting makes maximum use of the time available to let every member of the KIACC have their say. The KIACC Chairman (Paul Twyman) will take Members through the broad disadvantages and benefits of this subject, covering as many of the associated environmental and economic factors as possible.

There are then five main groups of issues to consider. These being;

1. Environmental impacts and measures including noise monitoring and reporting, air quality, complaint procedures and reporting etc.
2. Overflying issues specifically noise abatement routes and preferred runway usage etc.
3. The subject of how penalties and the Community Fund be addressed.
4. The social and economic advantages of enabling some night-time flying; creation of jobs etc.
5. The actual hours during which shoulder-periods etc. might be considered acceptable.

A notable omission is whether anyone actually wants night flights. Anyone who isn't on the Infratil/TDC payroll, that is. I don't know whether anyone will get the opportunity to make this point. Anyway...

(1) Click here for my thoughts on monitoring. In a nutshell, showing a commitment to monitoring is a sign of good faith, and actually doing it and producing accurate and timely reports proves you're not taking the piss. Infratil have been dragging their feet - there is no excuse for this. Any agreement between Infratil and TDC must be monitored effectively, and any complaints dealt with efficiently.

(2) Overflying issues are most easily resolved by minimising the amount of overflying. Duh! Click here to see how easy it is for the air traffic in and out of Manston to avoid overflying built-up areas. Essentially, rather than taking the laziest/easiest option of a straight-line flight path, a slight curve would route the planes over the Wantsum Channel and the North Sea, causing a lot less bother for a lot more people.

(3) When I first saw the escalating scale of fines in the S106 agreement, I was impressed. I've always been of the opinion that if you're going to go to the trouble of squeezing a fine out of someone, it's got to hurt... them. However, looking at the numbers more closely, it becomes clear that few of the breaches are being fined. What the hell is going on? The simplest way of addressing the question of penalties is to apply them consistently.

(4) This is a cracker. Am I the only one who gets the impression that this is a foregone conclusion? Shouldn't we also be considering the disadvantages? Click here to find out how increasing air travel can cost jobs. Anyway, I will be listening carefully to learn about the clear benefits of night flights. In particular, I'm curious to discover whether night flights generate more jobs than day flights. The airport is idle through the night, and idle for much of the day. Why not start by getting the airport busy in the daytime before crashing through everyone's sleep?

(5) I laughed out loud when I first found out about 'shoulder periods'. These are simply a euphemism for changing the rules, moving the goalposts. Can you, dear reader, suggest any other deadline or time limit that has a shoulder period?

• "Lovely Rita, meter maid, please don't give me a parking ticket or clamp my vehicle - I am clearly within the shoulder period on this parking meter."
• "Oh, Mr Conveyancer, please don't let my house purchase fall through - the money was nearly on time."
• "Dear Taxman, do not punish me - my tax return is only slightly late."
• "Please do not fine my plane for failing to meet your terms of business."

No. Set the deadlines and stick to them.

KIACC public meeting

Dear reader, a golden opportunity presents itself. This Tuesday 19th May 2009 there will be a meeting of the great and the good and the rest to discuss the thorny topic of night flights.

The TDC Airport Working Party will be there. Infratil will be there. The Airport Consultative Committee will be there. The general public will be there. A rare chance to see them all in the same place at the same time. The mind boggles! There's even the possibility that something useful may come out of it. 

If there is anything you want to say about night flights, or if you want to hear what everyone else has to say - BE THERE! You may not get another chance like it. 

Tuesday, 19th May, 2009 at 7.00 pm
The Passenger Departure Lounge
Kent International Airport Terminal Building, Manston
Please use the car park opposite the Terminal building (not the staff car park!).

It's a public meeting - you're entitled to be there. Click here to link to the Agenda on the TDC website. If you'll be getting to Manston on wheels rather than wings, here's how:

(click it to big it)

Cargolux in international criminal conspiracy

$124 million of  'Sorry'

It appears that Infratil's best friends Cargolux are getting their arses kicked for their part in an international criminal conspiracy. Two conspiracies, in fact.

The US Department of Justice has accused several airlines of engaging in a conspiracy to eliminate competition by fixing the international cargo rates they charged, from at least 2001 through 2006. Three of the airlines have coughed up fines to avoid the presumably more expensive rigmarole of going through the courts. See Reuters for more grisly details. The red-handed three (and their guilt money) are:

• Japan-based Nippon Cargo Airlines Co ($45 million)
• Korea-based Asiana Airlines Inc ($50 million)
• Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines International ($119 million)

Dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you: that's $119,000,000 worth of naughtiness. But they are contrite:

Cargolux Chairman Marc Hoffman said yesterday that his airline had "cooperated intensively with the DOJ and the other authorities throughout the investigation and will continue to do so." He added that the company had "reviewed and reinforced its competition compliance program." ATW Online

Meanwhile, in another part of the globe, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also been investigating cargo price-fixing, and collusion on fuel surcharges, between 2003 and 2006. Once again, Cargolux have sought to save themselves some hefty legal bills and have offered the ACCC A$5 million worth of 'sorry'.

"Cargolux has cooperated intensively with the ACCC and the other authorities throughout the investigation and the legal proceedings and will continue to do so," Chairman Marc Hoffmann said. RoutesOnline

Familiar words.

As I typed this, and registered the fact that even the smaller fine is more money than Manston has ever made, I had a fleeting mental image of Infratil as an impressionable adolescent hanging out with crooks just because of the cash they can flash.

It's a dirty dead-end business guys, and you're in with a bad crowd.

Location, location, location matters for airports too

Manston isn't Outer London. It's out of London.

Well, there are several airports that have leapt on the global branding bandwagon and smuggled the word 'London' into their name, with varying degrees of geographical accuracy.

(A special mention must go to "London Ashford Airport": 60 miles from London, 13 miles from Ashford, 1 mile from Lydd. It seems the greater the distance, the more prominent the billing - it's full title is actually "Jupiter Brazil London Ashford Airport".)

So, JBLA to one side, what are we left with? Well, starting from where London actually is, you can see that London City is pretty much a slam-dunk - 9/10 for accuracy. Spiralling out clockwise from the south, we have Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Stansted, Southend and Manston. Yes, folks, Manston's even further from London-land than the fantasists at Lydd.

'Location, location, location' does matter and this seems to be a persistent blind spot for many when it comes to discussing Manston's viability. It may have a lovely long runway, but it's in the wrong place.

Draw a circle with a 20, 30 or 50 mile radius around all the 'London' airports, and Manston's circle will have the least land in it - because it's on a peninsula. In terms of population within the catchment area, it may just nudge ahead of Lydd, but will always be well behind the others. It's not a great place for a high volume passenger airport. Not that great for freight either, being so far from the highest densities of people and industry.

On with your thinking cap, dear reader, for soon I will be asking for your best efforts on two topics: how would you make a sustainable success out of Manston as an airport; and how would you make a sustainable success out of the Manston site as a non-airport.