I have not attached it this time, so as to avoid
filling your mail boxes with a large attachment.
As the consultation draws to a close, the
aviation industry seems to have managed to get a huge number of stories into
the media on a range of aviation stories - APD, ETS, hubs, Boris Island, more
runways, how the UK is destined to failure unless we fly more, and now "Heathwick"
among them. This has been a public relations flourish, to try and brainwash
everyone with half truths and a degree of misinformation.
The threat of a second runway after 2020 has not
gone away, and the airport hopes for as many as 45 million passengers on its
one runway.
Thomson has managed its first flight using
biofuels, this time with one engine using 50% used cooking oil, which is a
transparent bit of greenwash, as there can never be enough used chip fat to
make more than a token gesture. And now Virgin has plans for low carbon fuel
produced from waste gases that emerge from steel making plants. At least
that's not a biofuel.
The October bulletin contains the
following items:
Page 1
- Comment from John Stewart, Chair of AirportWatch
- New report shows Heathrow has better business connectivity than any European
rivals and is “In a Class of its Own”
Page 2
- Party conferences: Industry gung-ho for growth
Page 3
- BAA’s desperate battle to delay the forced sale of Stansted continues
- SSE’S 2012 community calendar launched
- Campaigners condemn Thomson Airways' chip fat biofuels flight as greenwash
Page 4
- Heathrow runway trial will relax noise limits and cause more noise for many
- AirportWatch response to the Aviation Scoping Document Consultation
Page 5
- Gatwick master plan consultation launched, with runway in prospect after
2020
- Official opening for new 124 metre extension of Aberdeen Airport runway
- John Stewart barred from entering US on speaking tour
Page 6
- Residents around Luton fear airport development plans will increase noise
- European Court of Justice preliminary opinion rules that EU ETS is legal and
does not infringe sovereignty
- APD cut on long haul flights from Northern Ireland due to Dublin competition
Page 7
- Airlines continue to lobby for reductions in Air Passenger Duty
- NI Environment Minister considering modifying the noise regulations
governing Belfast City Airport
- Lydd Inquiry ends and airport says it 'could take strain off Gatwick and
Heathrow'
Page 8
- BA buys 6 pairs of take off and landing slots at Heathrow from bmi
- French campaigners against a huge new airport at Nantes to hold rally for
cycles and tractors in Paris on Saturday 12th November
- London Southend Airport train station opens on line to London
Page 9
- Safety worries after block of ice lands on house in Bisley, Surrey
- Birmingham airport to get subsidy out of public funds for its runway
- Tourism Deficit in the UK over the past 5 years
- September 27th 2011. Earth Overshoot Day. We are now operating in
overdraft in our use of the natural world
- Plug for John Stewart's New Book: "Why Noise Matters"
Page 10
- GACC's comment on "Heathwick"
- Soundscape Project for children around Heathrow to experience peace & quiet
- Useful Info
Hope there are bits of interest. Your feedback
with thoughts, comments, ideas or complaints - always welcome.
Kind regards
Sarah Clayton
AirportWatch co-ordinator