The latest bulletin is attached and it is also on the AirportWatch website at   http://www.aef.org.uk/downloads//AirportWatch_Bulletin_36_14thJuly2010.pdf

Though things get a bit quieter in mid summer, there has still been a great deal going on over the past 5 weeks.  Yesterday the Office for National Statistics results came out, showing  a steep fall in the numbers travelling abroad last year, whether for holidays, or for business, or visiting friends and family.   http://bit.ly/9rtazs
 
Today a new report from the Institution of Civil Engineers has been published, and some (not many) of its conclusions are helpful. One thing the report calls for is a minimum carbon price to make flying more expensive.  One of the authors of the report said: ?One of the interesting things is where is the tipping point at which people would stop flying?  Air Passenger Duty is the nearest thing we have to passing the cost onto the consumer, but that doesn?t seem to have had a significant impact on demand.  That would suggest that it has to be far higher than the current rate.?  http://bit.ly/ankk9T   However, the report is keen to boost airport infrastructure and safeguard aviation's supply of fuel while planning for a peak oil scenario.

 

The latest climate data from the NOAA show the past few months have, globally, been the wamest on record.   http://bit.ly/9utr1T   June figures are still awaited. Meanwhile, the Climate9 at Aberdeen were found guilty of breach of the peace for their runway invasion at Aberdeen airport, to cut aviation carbon emissions.  And Philip Hammond has said domestic flights will be a thing of the past.

 

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

 

Best wishes

 

Sarah Clayton

AirportWatch coordinator

www.airportwatch.org.uk

The bulletin contains the following:

Page 1
   Comment from John Stewart, Chairman of AirportWatch   (copied below)

   Climate 9: Found guilty of breach of the peace at Aberdeen Airport

Page 2
   Post-trial thoughts from Tilly Gifford, one of the Climate9

Page 3
   Concern about anticipated Gatwick Airport expansion under GIP ownership

   Bristol Airport - The real fight starts now!

Page 4
   Gloucester airport: light plane crashes 5 metres from road

   Lydd Airport Action Group welcomes Pickles' decision on Public Inquiry

   Belfast residents call for independent inquiry into yet another roof tiles incident

Page 5
   City Airport Campaigners Go To Court

   Osborne postpones action on Air Passenger Duty or Per Plane tax till the autumn

Page 6
   Budget 2010: Air traffic control organisation NATS to be sold off

   Heathrow news updates:
       New talks on increasing capacity at Heathrow
       - and new government task force for south east airports set up

       Protection of runway alternation at Heathrow Airport - Theresa Villiers

       London Assembly opposes any increase in flights at BAA?s London airports.

       Heathrow expansion would give negative economic benefit (new NEF report)

       Heathrow Airport ? likely funding boost for 'Airtrack' rail scheme

Page 7
   Soundscape Project: by the AEF and over-flown West London Schools

   Birmingham Airport receives funding for expansion plans

   Transport Minister Philip Hammond predicts end to domestic flights
 

Page 8

   CAA figures May 2010 show UK passengers down - 5.1% & ATMs down - 6.2%
   ... but IATA says global air travel rebounded in May above pre-recession levels

   Air Freight growing significantly in 2010 globally and in the UK

Page 9
   Farnborough Airport month long planning appeal by TAG

   WWF report shows UK Government wasting millions on 'unnecessary' flights

   End Domestic Flights Now! Demonstrations in London and Manchester

   Useful Info

Lees het ganse rapport op

 http://www.aef.org.uk/downloads//AirportWatch_Bulletin_36_14thJuly2010.pdf


From the Chairman, John Stewart

It is becoming clear that the new Government is moving away from the aggressively expansionist aviation policy pursued by Labour. Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Transport, was quoted in the Financial Times as saying he would like to see domestic flights become a thing of the past. This provoked the predictable outrage from the aviation industry. It is surely a sign that the political ground is moving. The Labour Government was in bed with the aviation industry. What now seems to be happening is that the aviation industry, with a much less warm relationship with the new Government, is getting ready to frustrate the Government as it seeks to back away from expansion at any cost. It is likely to be the aviation industry, rather than the Government, will is going to be pushing the expansion schemes which AirportWatch opposes. It is the industry, therefore, which is likely to be the focus of our attention.

There will be two strands to AirportWatch's approach. We will be assisting groups fighting growth at their airports. We will also be working with the national environmental organisations to push for the tax breaks the aviation currently enjoys to be eliminated as quickly as is practicable. It is a nonsense that, at time when VAT has risen to 20%, the aviation industry doesn?t pay any. We will be seeking to meet with the new Government to encourage them to seek to remove these tax breaks where they can and to make sure that the new Plane Tax is used as an effective tool to curtail demand. We are also looking to work with organisations in Europe to make the same demands at a European level.