Night flights do not mean jobs, says report

Night flights from Manston Airport will not create the 3,000 jobs promised by operators Infratil, an independent report says. The final document, compiled by specialists Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd, was submitted to the council's Community Services Manager Madeline Homer on Thursday (19th Jan).

As exclusively revealed by the IoT Gazette on Friday 20th Jan, the report cast doubt on the economic argument for an average eight flights a night and claimed the environmental impact had been understated. The report said that if a night flying ban was to remain, the airport would only be excluded from 9 per cent of the scheduled freight market. It went on:

"Given that Manston Airport currently employs a proportionately large workforce for a small throughput, growth of passengers and freight in the short term may not necessarily lead to a significant employment and hence economic impact.

The report also said the analysis of the noise generated by airport had "resulted in an underestimation of the potential impacts on residents in the area".

The reported also recommended that Infratil's night flight proposal not be treated as a planning application meaning the decision on whether to adopt them could go before a full council.

thisiskent 23rd Jan 2012

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Full details and analysis on this website when the report is made public.

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44 flights a night at Manston?

On the bright side, these figures are for the upper limits allowed - it's unlikely that Manston will actually take this many, simply because it's in an inconvenient location.

However, if it gets anything like this number, it would be a useful "experiment" to show everyone what full-time scheduled night flights would be like. Perhaps it would be a good idea to hold the public consultation on night flights after the Olympics...

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Pssst - want to buy an airport?

The airport's global infrastructure owners have told the Chief Executive to prepare for a sale this year. The current market for airports is rather glum, so they'll be using some cunning financial ploys to ensure they're ready for when the market picks up.

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TDC's update on night-time flying proposal

The findings of an independent assessment of the proposals and technical details for night time flying at Manston Airport have been received by the council.

The final report was submitted to the council’s Community Services Manager, Madeline Homer on Thursday 19 January and was completed by specialists, Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd.

Before starting any public consultation on the proposals, the council had committed to carry out an independent assessment of the information it received from airport owners Infratil. 

This was so that the council could review the technical detail supplied by the airport and so that we could consider the environmental and economic impacts in the proposal.

A copy of the full report will be available to view from Monday 23 January.

from the TDC website

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As soon as it's available, you'll be able to download your copy from this site.

Soon after that, you'll be able to read our "Readers Digest" summary of the key points and what it means for you.

Flybe, Manston, night flights and the truth

We wondered whether night flights would have made a difference to Flybe's decision to quit Manston.

After all, Charles Buchanan's constant message in the media is that night flights are essential to the airport's long-term commercial success, and Flybe is exactly the kind of high volume passenger carrier that Manston wants to attract (and keep).

So had the lack of scheduled night flights made Manston less attractive? Would scheduled night flights have persuaded Flybe to stay?

So we asked them...

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KCC says Manston is the short term answer to airport shortage

The county council says it will still object to a Thames Estuary airport. Kent County Council has said a public consulatation into the idea of a major new airport in the Thames Estuary will put an end to the speculatuion over proposal. The scheme has been in the headlines this week after it was revealed it would form part of an inquiry into airport capacity in the South East in March.

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Doing battle with a naked Emperor

Medway Council are ready for battle. CPRE Protect Kent are ready to grab the opportunity to point out that the Emperors of Aviation are naked, and (quite brilliantly) want to inject a little democracy into the process. Best of luck guys.

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Cllr Rodney ChambersA fierce opponent of a Thames Estuary airport has vowed to fight all the way to the top as controversial plans take a step forward. Medway Council leader Cllr Rodney Chambers wants to work with the Towns' MPs to secure a crisis meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron or Chancellor George Osborne. Mr Cameron was set to announce preliminary backing for a huge airport potentially off the Kent coast - which would dwarf the size of Heathrow - earlier this month, according to a national newspaper.

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Estuary Airport - hot potato, fig leaf, or white elephant?

Wise words from Paul Francis on the awful consequences of realpolitik and the persistence of dumb ideas. The sudden (re)launch of the estuary airport idea has more to do with Boris' mayoral election bid and recent unemployment figures than strategic infrastructure planning. And then there is the blind faith that an airport automatically translates into employment and regeneration. These apparently impulsive pronouncements from politicians rarely mention the downsides of aviation, and never touch on the fact that aviation itself does not have a long-term future - when the oil runs out, what use is an airport?

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Formal consultation on UK aviation

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.

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Boris shoots own foot in sympathy

'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.

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Cameron shoots everybody in the foot, himself first

How NOT to make a decision on Boris Island

There is a right way and a wrong way to make decisions on airports. The right way:

Set out the need for the development and options in a draft aviation NPS;

Carry out an SEA and consultation;

Choose an option and put the NPS to parliament;

Minister makes final decision.

Cameron has shown that he is is own worst enemy when it comes to major policy decisions. The rules aren't that complicated - they can be written on the back of an envelope.

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More airport expansion

Well, well - here's another airport in the south-east that's looking to expand. Their proposal for 57% growth will be rushed through public consultation in just 4 weeks. They are promising to continue to be a "good neighbour". They say that the impact on the environment noise and road traffic flows will be "fully evaluated".

They even say that they will be submitting a planning application. Ahem. Nudge, nudge. Wouldn't it be nice if all airports had planning permission?

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Manston villagers only got half the story

It makes sense to hear both sides of the story, and to hear some of the facts that Mr Buchanan might not tell you. If any other parish councils, residents associations, or other community groups are thinking of discussing night flights, do please feel free to invite the NoNightFlights group to send along someone to speak.

The parishioners of Manston voted in favour of night flights having heard one side of the story from Charles Buchanan. I have no idea why the parish Council didn't let the parishioners hear a balanced view.

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CAA: exemplary regulator or lickspittle lackey?

You decide...

The nice people at AirportWatch say:

The CAA (owned by airlines) produces advice to government to increase capacity in the south east. The CAA has now produced the third of its three “Insight Papers” for the DfT.  It hopes these will influence the formation of new UK aviation policy, on which a public consultation will start in March.

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Trevor wants a Parkway

Kent Online's business editor Trevor Sturgess argues for a Parkway station and high speed rail links, but I think he's missed a few relevant points [my comments are bracketed in italics].

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Flybe’s decision to pull out of Manston is another blow to the airport, especially disappointing at the turn of the year. However attractive we in Kent think Manston is, it seems that not enough people agree.

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Man moves house, Manston issues press release

This seems to be another fine example of PR puffery in action. It appears that Mr McQuarrie was already "Group Manager Freight Development for both airports" - so it's unclear what he'll be doing that wasn't already in his job description. The only bit of news appears to be that is moving house from Scotland to Margate. Rather poignantly, he is another employee who tries to play up Manston's lack of business as an advantage: "no congestion".

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Manston Airport’s ability to attract freight operators has been given a boost with the appointment of an experienced freight development manager - Allan McQuarrie, 46, joined Infratil in 2007 and until recently, has been based at their airport in Prestwick, Glasgow.

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CPRE says night flights at Manston will not boost business

The campaign group says night flights could actually damage Thanet’s economic growth. Protect Kent, the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s county branch, says there is little evidence that night flights at Manston Airport will significantly help the local economy. Campaigns manager Andrew Ogden said:

“The fact that Flybe are pulling out in March because they cannot fill planes is damning proof of the lack of demand for flights out of Manston.

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CAA wants more runways

Once upon a time, I thought the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was independent. Hah! Fool.

I had assumed that as the regulatory body for the aviation industry, the CAA would be knowledgeable about (but independent of) the industry, and probably linked to the government (Dept of Transport?) in some way. No.

The CAA is entirely funded by the industry it regulates, and doubles up as an official-sounding (and well-funded) mouthpiece for the nation's propellor-heads. This explains why they keep churning out unquestioningly pro-aviation agitprop...

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Foley's folly

I've never met David Foley, but I assume in my usual good-natured way that he is a decent guy. I have been interviewed with him on BBC Radio Kent, when he rather irritatingly talked across me, but that's hardly a hanging offence.

A quick search on the Internet reveals that Mr Foley is active in a number of local organisations ranging from the National War Memorial to the Royal Society of Arts, which is commendable – community involvement is "a good thing".

I assume that Mr Foley has experienced business head on his shoulders, which makes the apparent naivete of some of his comments in the press all the more surprising.

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David Foley backs night flights

As part of the continuing PR offensive, Manston airport has roped in David Foley to bang the drum for night flights, as if they're not noisy enough already. The local papers are describing David Foley as "business leaders", despite the fact that there is very obviously just one of him. More of this in another post.

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News that the airline operator Flybe is scrapping Edinburgh service sparks new demands for more flexible flight schedules. 

Business leaders in Thanet have demanded that night flights be given the go ahead at Manston airport in order to attract passenger airlines after Flybe confirmed it was to scrap its service to Edinburgh in March. The firm said the route was not proving financially viable – thus delivering the latest blow to the terminal as it looks to establish itself within the mass market.

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