Knight vision

I wonder if Sir Roger Gale MP understands aviation. He says that "the new Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening, needs to take a long, hard, look at the available and under-used facilities that already exist. That must, of course, include Manston." And then what? What does he think will happen after this purposeful looking?

The top end of the aviation industry is characterised by huge budgets and small margins. The successful players continually examine and re-examine every opportunity the market has to offer. It is a very pure form of market-driven capitalism, and as his ex-Boss once said "You can't buck the market".

The major (and minor) players in the aviation industry have been examining, and then rejecting, Manston for over a decade. In addition, throughout that time, each owner of Manston has been doing their utmost to attract business. Does Sir Roger really think that a thoughtful stare from a Secretary of State is going to transform a history of hard-headed rejections into a future of warm-hearted embraces?

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Since the application of the jet engine for civilian aircraft use, London’s Heathrow airport has been the dominant inter-lining facility within Europe and has been used by passengers changing planes to fly to just about every country in the world.

That international standing has been worth, over more than half a century, hundreds of millions of pounds and tens of thousands of jobs to the United Kingdom.

That World Class position is, though, now under threat. Heathrow Airport is bursting at the seams and the construction of Terminals Four and Five and the refurbishment of the older Terminals One, Two and Three cannot disguise the fact that LHR only has two runways and that, therefore, the capacity for aircraft movements is very strictly limited.

Other European airports - Paris Charles de Gaulle, for example, and Frankfurt — have four runways and Schiphol is snapping at London’s heels and eager to steal the business. If we are to retain our national position as a premier player in global aviation then, as I said in a ‘View’ back in February 2009, to do nothing is not an option.

It is not so very long ago that I presided over a Commons debate during which the Aviation Minister ruled out a new London airport in the Thames Estuary or in Kent.

Now, with government having eliminated the possibility of a third runway at Heathrow from the equation, ‘Boris Island’ or, more probably a ‘Grain Island Airport’ is back on the agenda and will go out to public consultation. There are, of course, those who would like to see the skies clear of all aeroplanes. For those people the answer is simple; never mind the cost to the economy, never mind the loss of employment, no more airports and no more runways. Let others launder the dirty linen of global travel. For the rest of us there is a harsh reality to be faced. If not Heathrow, then where?

Whether we like it or not international travellers do not wish to find themselves relegated to some peripheral location. Heathrow has been successful in part because of its proximity to Central London and to the global Financial Services located there.

In 2009 I Wrote that “I do not believe that ‘Boris Island’ is either desirable or politically achievable” and, broadly, I hold to that view. The Mayor of London has said that “sovereign funds”, by which he presumably means Middle and Far Eastern money, are available to provide the billions of pounds necessary in long- term investment to build a brand new London Airport.

Provided that airlines could be persuaded or compelled to relocate from Heathrow to ‘New London’ rather than to mainland Europe then he may well be right. Boris Johnson also says that “given the political will” a new airport could be built not in decades but in short order. That, I personally doubt. Our planning and consultation and necessary legislative procedures all take time and even with the necessary political will I would doubt that a new airport and the supporting rail infrastructure is likely to be up and running, if it is approved, inside 20 years.

The need for additional airport capacity in the South East is, though, immediate. I believe that the time has come for the new Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening, to take a long, hard, look at the available and under-used facilities that already exist. That must, of course, include Manston.

I have said before and can only repeat that while I do not suggest that Manston offers either the space or the location to serve as another London Airport it could relatively easily, with enhanced rail transport links, prove to be a viable regional airport capable of taking passenger traffic from Gatwick. That, in turn, would release slots. at Gatwick that could help to take some of the pressure off Heathrow.

Manston, with its job creating potential in an area that needs inward investment and employment, ought to be a more affordable and more immediately achievable contribution to the solution than the construction, at some time in the future, of a new facility in the Thames Estuary with a consequent transfer of work from the West of London to the East.

Formal consultation on UK aviation

NEWSFLASH: the real reasons Flybe quit Manston - click HERE

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Thames Estuary airport plans to be examined

The government is to hold a formal consultation on UK aviation - including controversial plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary. The study, to begin in March, will look at options for "maintaining the UK's aviation hub status".

Downing Street said no decisions had been made - London Mayor Boris Johnson backs the Thames airport idea. David Cameron has ruled out expanding Heathrow but his deputy Nick Clegg is said to be opposed to the estuary idea. Labour said the coalition was in a "complete mess" over aviation policy.

The airport would be built partly on reclaimed land and could be on either an island or a peninsula. But concerns have been raised about damage to the environment. Campaigners say the site, which is renowned for its populations of wintering birds and is an important breeding ground for avocets and marsh harriers in summer, must be protected.

In his Autumn Statement, Chancellor George Osborne did not rule out a new hub and this was seen by many as a sign that the government was warming to the scheme. David Cameron is said to be supportive of Mr Johnson's alternative to expanding Heathrow in west London but will await the outcome of the consultation. The Lib Dems oppose airport expansion in south east England.

Passenger demand for London's airports is forecast to increase from 140 million a year in 2010 to 400 million passengers a year by 2050, according to a previous report by the Greater London Authority. Colin Matthews, chief executive of airport operator BAA, which runs Heathrow, said he was pleased the government was recognising the need for more airport capacity. But he warned that London "can't have two hubs" and a new airport would inevitably mean Heathrow getting much smaller:

"The consequences of closing Heathrow wouldn't just be big for my company. It would be big for 100,000 jobs in this part of London. It's a huge issue economically, a huge issue politically."

Mr Johnson - who is running for a second term as mayor in May - told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there would be plenty of sovereign wealth funds willing to invest in the project.

"The difficulty would not be the financing of the airport per se... the difficulty obviously would be in the infrastructure, connectivity between the airport and central London, and that's why the consultation is essential. We can't go on expecting Britain to compete with France, Germany and other European countries when we simply can't supply the flights to these growth destinations - China, Latin America. We are being badly left behind."

But other candidates for London mayor have all expressed their opposition to the idea. Labour's Ken Livingstone said:

"An airport in the Thames threatens a huge increase in noise, congestion and pollution for millions of people in the east and south east of London, especially Bromley, Bexley, Havering and Barking. It also threatens hundreds of thousands of the jobs in west London who rely on Heathrow."

Lib Dem hopeful Brian Paddick said Heathrow would be "closed down" if the estuary airport was built, causing "devastation" in the area.

"It's a complete fantasy, all the local authorities and the airlines are against the idea, it's just a cynical move by the Tories to try to make the mayor look credible."

And the Green Party's Jenny Jones said airport capacity should not be expanded at all in the south east:

"If we were to end unnecessary flights to short haul destinations, space would be freed up for essential long haul flights and there would be no need to build another airport."

The RSPB, Medway Council and Kent County Council have opposed the Thames Estuary idea, saying it is "undeliverable, unaffordable and unnecessary".

The GMB union's civil aviation industry national officer, Mick Rix, also said the estuary plan was "plain daft" and called on all parties to look again at the possibility of a third runway at Heathrow.

Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said a new airport in the Thames Estuary "would have a devastating impact on local communities and the environment".

In May 2010 plans for a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow were scrapped when the coalition government took office. BAA withdrew its plans for a second runway at Stansted at the same time and any expansion of Gatwick before 2019 has also been ruled out. A Department for Transport spokesman said "no decisions have been taken", adding:

"The government will consult on a sustainable framework for UK aviation this spring, at which time we will set out our long-term plans for the sector."

The idea for an airport somewhere in the Thames Estuary was first conceived in 1943, and many alternative locations and schemes have been proposed. One scheme would see runways built on artificial islands in the estuary and connected via rail shuttle links to terminals on the mainland.

Another recent, much larger concept devised by architect Sir Norman Foster involves an integrated air and high-speed rail hub built on reclaimed land near Grain in northern Kent.

The high speed rail link to London would traverse the river by a new barrier crossing, which would offer greater flood protection and generate power through tidal energy.

BBC online 18th Jan 2012

Boris shoots own foot in sympathy

NEWSFLASH: the real reasons Flybe quit Manston - click HERE

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'Boris Island' airport plan grounded over Johnson's briefing to Telegraph

An artist's impression of Norman Foster's design for a new four-runway airport on the Thames estuary

Downing Street told Boris Johnson on Wednesday that he had killed off any moves towards an airport in the Thames Estuary ahead of the next general election after an announcement by the London mayor was seized on by the Liberal Democrats. 

David Cameron and George Osborne, who have become alarmed by growing business anxiety about their opposition to expanding Heathrow, had indicated they were warm about a new airport which would assume Heathrow's role as a hub.

But the London mayor was told that he had handed a gift to the Lib Dems, who are opposed to any airport expansion in the south-east, when he briefed the Daily Telegraph that Downing Street had signed up to his proposal. A Whitehall source said:

"Boris is not going to get it. Yes to scoping on a new airport, but he won't get it. The way this has plopped out in the Telegraph, no doubt via Boris's team, has given people a chance to kill it."

The Lib Dems will support a consultation by Justine Greening, the transport secretary, on how to maintain a hub, but they will oppose any new airport. A Lib Dem source said:

"We are against airport expansion in the south-east. We are happy to go along with the consultation, but we have a policy which will not change."

Johnson was upbeat on Wednesday evening after he outlined his plans to a meeting of the Conservative 1922 committee.

"We must not count our chickens or over-egg this – to continue with a chicken metaphor – [but] the government is still looking at all the options. But George really gets the point about regeneration and jobs in the Thames estuary and the amazing capacity of a big transport hub to drive Britain's competitiveness for a long time to come."

The proposed airport would be an international hub that could open up new routes to south-east Asia and have capacity for connecting flights. At present, the British aviation industry says the nation is losing out to rivals airports such as Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles de Gaulle in Paris. The government has ruled out a third runway at Heathrow, as has Labour since leaving power, a current political reality that has been reluctantly accepted by the industry.

Colin Matthews, the chief executive of airports operator BAA, said he was "pleased there was an acknowledgement that there was a need" for more airport capacity, but it would take decades to construct a whole new airport.

"The recognition today is that it matters to the UK economy, to jobs and to growth. There's no reason why any option should be ruled out."

Greening, however, has also ruled out further runways at Gatwick and Stansted in answers to parliamentary questions. Johnson told the BBC:

"You can't go on expecting Britain to compete with France and Germany when we simply can't supply the flights to growth destinations."

Heathrow, he said, was "fundamentally in the wrong place". He said listening to the "Heathrow recidivists" who argue that other options for airport expansion take too long would only lead to paralysis.

In his autumn statement, Osborne indicated the government would consider all options for airport expansion, which he sees as an opportunity for economic regeneration.

The architect Norman Foster has drawn up plans for an airport on the Isle of Grain, the easternmost point of the Hoo peninsula, with four runways and which could handle 150m passengers a year – double the current number passing through Heathrow. It is the latest in a range of proposals dating back decades for the estuary, including a mooted "Boris Island" airport at nearby Shivering Sands.

Aircraft would, however, have to contend with the multitudes of birds that flock in the area – a hazard to aviation and an issue that has brought opposition from environmental groups. The RSPB said it was a vital habitat for wildfowl and wading birds. Balpa, the pilots' union, said it would seek reassurances on the dangers posed by birdstrikes, as well as potential air traffic conflicts with Brussels, Heathrow and London City airports.

Guardian 18th Jan 2012