Agenda for Public KIACC meeting

KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE

MEETING IN PUBLIC - in the Airport Departure Lounge

Friday 30^th November 2012 6.30pm

AGENDA

1. Chairman's welcome & opening
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Matters Arising
4. Short introduction to the public part of the Meeting by P Twyman, Chair of KIACC
5. Short presentations from Community Fund recipients
6. Report from the Airport Management - a presentation on the airport and its future (Charles Buchanan, CEO Manston Airport)
7. Thanet District Council – an update on the Council's position on the airport and its development; the work of the Airport Working Party; and views on the future (Cllr Hart, Leader of the Council has been invited to speak)
8. Questions from the public and discussion

KLM-Manston: news reports

Reports from the national and local press, and a couple of interesting takes on the story from the trade press.

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Charles Buchanan's brave face

Every now and then Charles Buchanan reports to KIACC (the airport's consultative committee).

These reports are usually a rattling good read, if only to pick out the bits where a favourable gloss is put on the less than lovely truth.

The airport sale seems to be in the doldrums. The Olympics were a wash-out, although some planes parked at Manston. Posh people's planes.

Click to read more ...

BBC Radio Kent airport debate in Rochester

BBC Radio Kent is hosting a debate on airport expansion.

A panel will come together at Cliffe Memorial Hall near Rochester on 30th October with doors opening at 18:00 GMT.

The panellists will be:

• Daniel Moylan, the Mayor of London's Aviation Advisor
• Councillor Alan Jarrett, Deputy Leader of Medway Council
• John Grant, Executive Vice President of aviation experts, OAG
• Charles Buchanan, Chief Executive, Manston Airport
• Sue Armstrong-Brown, Head of Conservation Science at the RSPB
• Clive Lawrence from Demand Regeneration in North Kent

If you would like to be in the audience, you can request tickets by emailing radio.kent@bbc.co.uk or writing to: BBC Radio Kent, The Great Hall, Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1QQ.

Admission is by ticket only. Tickets are free but are limited to a maximum of two per person and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Applications for tickets close on 19 October.

All aboard the 4.20am flight to Amsterdam?

Let's have a quick look at the latest exciting news to come from Manston airport. The suggestion is that KLM's decision as whether or not to run a twice a day service between Manton and Schipol will be influenced (but not decided) by the response to Manston's online survey.

• Charles Buchanan says that KLM would have a plane parked at Manston overnight, ready to fly to Schipol each morning.
• Charles Buchanan has often said that planes only make money when they are in the air, so it follows that KLM would want their "Manston" plane back in Schipol bright and early so that it has plenty of working (flying) hours ahead of it through the rest of the day.
• Schipol Airport is effectively closed between 10pm and 6am, and Amsterdam is one hour ahead of us (at the moment).
• The flight time from Manston to Schipol would be about 40 minutes.
• To arrive in Schipol at 6am (local time), KLM's "Manston" plane would have to leave at 4.20am (local time).

Click to read more ...

Night Flights vote - press coverage

Vote against Manston Airport night flights plan

BBC 25th May 2012

Plans for night flights from Manston Airport in Kent have been opposed by Thanet District Council. At a meeting on Thursday, the Labour-controlled council voted against all night flights to or from the airport. Charles Buchanan, the airport's chief executive, said:

"We are disappointed the council is not supporting the airport as much as it could."

In March, owners Infratil announced plans to sell Manston and Glasgow's Prestwick Airport.

Click to read more ...

Night Flights vote

TDC listened, and said "No" - will Mr Buchanan get the message?

On the face of it, it looks like a straightforward example of democracy at its best.

If only.

Click to read more ...

Crunch vote on Manston night flights coming soon

A crunch vote on night flights will take place this month as Thanet council prepares to give its final views. Councillors have to choose whether to support plans for up to eight flights a night between 11pm and 7am.

Last week, the Labour cabinet was accused of being "anti-airport" when it agreed that, in response to the airport's consultation, it would not support night flights.

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Location matters more than night flights

Night flights are not "make or break" for Manston airport, it will struggle regardless - that's the claim from Phil Rose of the No Night Flights group, which is campaigning against proposals to introduce scheduled flights between 11pm and 7am from Manston airport.

Mr Rose poured scorn on claims by the district's Conservative group that ending restrictions would improve the airport's fortunes.

Click to read more ...

Thanet Airport Working Party 4th April

Like pushing your own face into a bacon slicer. Slowly. It was shambolic to a degree I would once have found shocking.

Charles Buchanan had been invited to speak by Cllr Gideon (chair), at Madeline Homer's suggestion, to "clarify" a number of points relating to the AWP's draft response. This led to some confusion as to whether the current draft report would need to be returned to Parsons Brinckerhoff for rewriting in the light of whatever Mr Buchanan might be about to say. Eventually they decided to play it by ear, and if only minor adjustments were required, they could go straight to the next stage of the process (Overview & Scrutiny) without the AWP needing to meet again.

[An aside: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

Click to read more ...

Manston closure full of surprises

It was nothing to do with night flights, it was an investment decision (surprise, surprise), Labour feels vindicated and criticises Tories (surprise, surprise).

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Airport boss calms jobs fears after Manston is put up for sale

Manston airport boss Charles Buchanan has insisted it will be "business as usual" at the airport, following the shock announcement of its sale last Thursday.

A statement from the airport said it was a decision that had arisen from operator Infratil "refocusing" its investment profile.

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Airport CEOs upbeat

Two minds with but a single thought

Iain Cochrane, chief executive of Glasgow Prestwick Airport:

I believe this is an excellent opportunity for us to attract new investment into the airport to provide the stimulus for future growth.

STV 8th March 2012

Charles Buchanan, chief executive of Manston Airport:

This represents an opportunity for Manston to ... attract new investment into the airport and stimulate the growth needed to make it a success in the future.

kentonline 8th March 2012

Reality hits home, Infratil leave town

Delusion has finally been swept away by the onslaught of reality and Infratil are throwing in the towel. This has been a long time coming, and Nostrildamus predicted it in November 2010.

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Manston Airport has been put up for sale. Bosses at Kent International Airport told staff at 10.30am yesterday (Friday) morning. The shock decision was made by owners Infratil. The New Zealand-based company also plans to sell its airport at Prestwick near Glasgow.

Click to read more ...

Manston Pickle

The already deprived residents of one of the poorest local authorities in England may soon be deprived of sleep, too — thanks to the ineptitude of Thanet council.

Thanet's Manston airport, owned by Kiwi conglomerate lnfratil, wants to operate flights throughout the night — mostly old, noisy freight 747s. The airport's boss, Charles "Manston" Buchanan, says this will somehow help create more than 3,000 jobs, as well as, one presumes, raging insomnia for the thousands of council taxpayers who live under the flight path.

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Mixed reaction to consultation

Thanet council's public consultation on Manston airport's night flight proposals has attracted 700 responses. The views given will help the council form its response to plans by airport operators Infratil to host an average of eight flights a night at Manston.

The authority's consultation was scaled back from plans to engage market research experts MORI and ask for views from other districts when Thanet council took legal advice that it was only a "consultee" on the plans and had no legally binding say in the matter.

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Caption competition

(L-R) Charles Buchanan, horse, Lady Suzy Gale

Elephant in the room: the biggest lies hide in plain sight

Charles Buchanan (Manston's CEO) recently published his night flights manifesto.

He had a page of his own in the Isle of Thanet Gazette to tell the world how important and wonderful night flights will be. He opened with:

"Firstly, I would like to make clear we are asking for limited, managed and mitigated night-time operations policy - not unlimited night flights."

Let's look a bit more closely at the last four words of that sentence, the ones that sound quite reassuring.

We all understand the word "not", so that's OK. And we all understand what Mr Buchanan means when he says "flight", so that's fine.

What about "night"?

Click to read more ...

Open letter, simple question

Dear Charles Buchanan (CEO Manston), Maxim PR (Manston's spin doctors), Infratil (Manston's owners), and anyone who believes Manston's job forecasts:

Click to read more ...

Manston in damage limitation mode

Charles Buchanan doesn't think that the independent report into the effect of development at Manston "challenged" his claims over economic benefit and noise pollution. No, it rubbished them.

Click it to big itCharles Buchanan says "we employ a lot of people in Margate". According to the proposal, 17.1% of the "about 110" staff... 19 people.

Bob Bayford says "the people most motivated to respond are those who have a negative view".  Oh dear, Bob, what's happened to your faith in human nature? Surely you don't believe that people with a positive view (i.e. have fallen for the sales pitch) are all going to be apathetic?

Cllr Bayford continues: "there will be activists going around encouraging people to respond negatively"... Hmmm, I expect there will be airport executives (and maybe councillors?) going round encouraging people to respond positively, too... but that doesn't seem to bother Bob.

I wonder if Bob has tripped into the pre-determination trap.

Click to read more ...

Olympic meddling

Update on those 44 Olympic night flights - Charles Buchanan accepts the reality of supply and demand! Let's see how much demand there is for Manston...

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Regional airports prepare for Olympic flight rush

Hundreds of flights will be allowed to take off and land at Kent's airports - including Manston - every day during this summer's Olympics. Manston, Lydd and Rochester have been asked to take a share of the 500,000 international visitors expected during the Games.

In total, the airports will have to accept up to around 370 flights a day, as all three will be regulated between 21 July and 15 August to prevent overcrowding at Heathrow.

Manston could operate round the clock and could accommodate a maximum of 192 arrivals and departures every day, of which 44 could be at night - however, Charles Buchanan, chief executive of airport owners Infratil, stressed:

"That is a maximum figure - what transpires will clearly be a case of supply and demand"

Kent Messenger Thanet