U E C N A

Airport watch bulletin - Juillet 2010

John STEWART — 2010-07-14T17:33:06Z

- United Kingdom

Nights flights are not necessary

PAGO — 2010-06-28T13:27:18Z

- Germany

TAKE OFF July 2010

John STEWART — 2010-06-11T13:17:28Z

The journal of HACAN

Airport watch bulletin June 2010

John STEWART — 2010-06-11T13:17:23Z

See below the bulletin - United Kingdom

Annual Report 09/10 Schutzverband Basel

BURRI Liselotte — 2010-06-03T13:35:49Z

Annual Report 2009/10

Board

The board of the Schutzverband was extended to 15 regular members. They have met to monthly meetings, and have been involved in the following topics (among many others):

A cantonal citizens' initiative to limit plane movements to 100'000 flights per year has been formulated but not launched yet.
The launching of a second initiative to extend the ban of take-offs and landings to between 22:00 h and 07:00 h (from the present 00:00 h to 05:00 h) is being discussed with the boards of our community members.
A motion to restrict landings from the south via ILS33 to weather conditions, where tailwinds exceed 10 knots/h has been placed with the parliament of the canton Basel-Landschaft. If implemented, this precondition would reduce the number of these landings to about one third.
Together with the „Verkehrsclub Schweiz” (VCS) we have communicated to the media our vehement opposition to the plans of constructing a railway terminal at the airport („relocation of traffic from the rail into the air”)
We have financially supported a VCS petition to ban helicopter skiing in Switzerland
Prof. Eberhard Greiser has been able to prove the detrimental health effects of living near airports by statistically evaluating the health records of over a million insured inhabitants of the Köln/Bonn area. We have succeeded in persuading him to present his findings to the public in Allschwil/Basel on May 7.
After more than two years of intensive searching we have been unable to find a successor to my presidency. The upcoming assembly of members will decide on our proposal to reward the (hitherto honorary) presidency with a monthly salary of approximately CHF 1200/month.

Finances

The year 2009 ended approximately as budgeted, with income of CHF 37'000 exceeding spending of CHF 34'000

Monitoring Flight Paths

With extensive support of Horst Weise and the „Deutscher Fluglärmdienst”, we installed 3 km from the beginning of runway 33 a station receiving transponder radar signals from starting and landing planes. These data are transmitted by DSL to the Deutsche Fluglärmdienst, where they are worked up such, that most attributes of the flight in question can be retrieved, either graphically or numerically. Horst recently presented the workings of this installation at a press conference in Basel. The echo in the regional media was very satisfying. All data can be accessed both at www.dfld.de and www.schutzverband.ch

Landings from the South via ILS33

In 2008, our monitoring equipment has registered 844 landings from the south, which were in violation of the agreement between the French and the Swiss air safety authorities concerning the use of this flight procedure. After many attempts by parliaments, cantonal governments and airport officials to ignore our findings, we are finally invited to a May 5 hearing on this subject by the Swiss federal government agency BAZL („Bundersamt für Zivilluftfahrt”).

Related Organizations

Some of the communities of canton Basel-Landschaft, most of them situated closely to the airport, responded to the pressure of their inhabitants by forming a loosely structured association (so-called Interessensgemeinschaft), calling itself „Gemeindeverbund gegen Fluglärm”. The board is composed of community executives, and the association is funded rather lavishly by tax money. The board member and its president claim to have a stronger negotiating position than the Schutzverband vis-à-vis government officials. All our attempts to join this organization have so far failed. All we could agree on was the consensus to pursue identical goals in different ways.

Airport Business

The concentration on low cost carriers and charter operators has continued. In the wake of the recession, movements in 2009 have decreased by 9% compared with 2008. The passenger numbers have decreased by 11%, and the air freight volume has suffered a setback of 24%. A recovery has started in the first quarter of 2010.

Conclusion

The recession has by no means facilitated the fight against short getaway flights, night flights, and heavy air transports. Growth of the air industry is supposedly needed to salvage just some of its places of work. Continuing fuel price increases might some day stop this unfortunate trend.

Kaspar Burri, President

April 14, 2010

Geschäftsstelle: Höhenweg 47, 4102 Binningen – PostFinance-Konto 40-3048-3 Tel./Fax 061 / 302 8289 – www.schutzverband.ch – Email: schutzverband@intergga.ch

Very good news from the UK

PAGO — 2010-05-14T15:40:12Z

By the way of John STEWART

BBC

Heathrow runway plans scrapped by new government

Plans for a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport have been scrapped by the new government.

Councils, residents and green groups had opposed the expansion scheme which Gordon Brown said was needed for economic reasons.

John Stewart, from Hacan ClearSkies, which campaigned against the runway said he was "absolutely delighted".

Airport operator BAA said it would work with the new government to provide strong trading connections.

The decision to cancel the plans came in a joint Conservative-Liberal Democrat policy agreement.

The new government said it would also refuse any additional runways at Gatwick and Stansted airports.

BAA, supported by airlines and commerce in the capital, had argued that Heathrow needed extra capacity and without it London - and consequently the UK - would lose out to rival European cities as a place to visit and do business.

Such a runway was envisaged in the government's 2003 aviation White Paper and the green light was given by the then Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon in January 2009 despite the fact that the village of Sipson would effectively have disappeared during the construction project.

The Tories opposed the plan, preferring improved rail links to and from Heathrow including a direct link to a new London to Scotland high-speed rail line.

In a statement on Wednesday BAA said: "We will work with the new government to ensure that airport policy provides the strong international trading connections on which the UK's jobs and future competitiveness depend."

Mr Stewart said: "The third runway is dead in the water. Residents under the flight path are delighted and people who stood to lose their homes are relieved.

"It is also good for London as a whole as it would have been bad for the environment and it was not essential for the city's economic well-being. I'm absolutely delighted."

But Dr Adam Marshall, from the British Chambers of Commerce, said this decision would diminish London and the South East's "attractiveness to investors with potential consequences for the UK economy as a whole".

Ben Stewart, from environment group Greenpeace, added: "A third runway at Heathrow was always a bizarre proposal that made no sense to anybody who understood the impact aviation has on our climate.

"Corks will be popping for a few days after this announcement, though probably not at BAA headquarters."

Geraldine Nicholson, chairman of the No Third Runway Action Group, said: "Our task now is to regenerate Sipson and the other villages which have lived with so much uncertainty in recent years."

ANALYSIS

Tom Edwards, BBC London's Transport Correspondent

That unlikely alliance of campaigners - the councils, the residents and environmentalists - have won.

It was always common ground between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to oppose the third runway.

A campaigner I've met many times over the years said she could not stop crying when she heard the news this afternoon.

There will be parties tonight in Sipson, which was due to be demolished under the plans.

But there is caution from campaigners because of previous "broken promises".

Empty skies proved that airports cause pollution

PAGO — 2010-04-22T13:55:32Z

Empty skies proved that airports cause pollution, say researchers By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor and Phil Boucher

Independent Newspaper Thursday, 22 April 2010

Scientists have used the no-flying period caused by the ash cloud to show for the first time that airports are themselves significant causes of pollution. Although long suspected, the fact that mass take-offs and landings are large pollution sources could never be proved before, because aircraft pollution could not be measured as separate from the pollution caused by vehicles operating near by.

But an analysis of the first three days of the unprecedented closure of UK airspace, at Heathrow and Gatwick, shows that there is a definite air pollution caused by air traffic in the vicinity of airport hubs.

Pollution near both airports dropped significantly during the first three days of the shutdown. During last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, levels of two major pollutants, NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) and NOx (the generic term for oxides of nitrogen, taken together) fell virtually to zero.

Such nitrogen pollutants can exacerbate breathing difficulties in older people and those suffering from cardiac conditions, and can react with sunlight to form an even more damaging pollutant, ozone, which causes the sort of "urban smogs" seen in Los Angeles. NOx and NO2 are particularly associated with jet aircraft, as they are produced by the high-temperature mix of aviation with fuel.

The new analysis has been produced by Ben Barratt and Gary Fuller of the Environmental Research Group at King's College, London. The group said yesterday: "This period of unprecedented closure during unexceptional weather conditions has allowed us to demonstrate that the airports have a clear measurable effect on NO2 concentrations, and that this effect disappeared entirely during the period of closure, leading to a temporary but significant fall in pollutant concentrations adjacent to the airport perimeters."

"We have always been fairly confident that there was this 'airport effect' but we have never been able to show it," Dr Barratt commented. "The closure gave us the opportunity to look at it, and there is a very strong indication that it is the case."

The researchers are also going to study the pollution effects of the fall in airport motor traffic during the shutdown. Ed Dearnley, of Environmental Protection UK, which specialises in air quality campaigning, said yesterday: "This has been an excellent opportunity to find out exactly what the environmental impact of airports really is."

Press Release dated 20/4/10

PAGO — 2010-04-20T20:15:43Z

Press Release for immediate use

Judge Confirms Heathrow Campaigners Win in Court

He orders Department for Transport to pay 60% of campaigners' costs

Lord Justice Carnwarth confirmed the campaigners against Heathrow expansion scored a significant win in the High Court last month. In a short court hearing today to apportion costs the judge said “Frankly you are entitled to say you have won substantially.” He ordered the Department for Transport to pay their own costs plus 60% of the opponents' costs. Transport for London, who had been represented separately, was asked to pay its own costs.

The Department for Transport was also asked to sign an undertaking that it would carry out the terms of the judgment. Last month Lord Justice Carnwarth ruled that the decision in January 2009 by Geoff Hoon, then Secretary of State for Transport, could not stand because it did not take account the latest policy on climate change and the price of carbon. The Government had also failed to carry out sufficient work on surface access – how the extra passengers would get to and from the airport. If the Government still wants to go ahead with a third runway it now needs to do a significant amount of extra work on climate change, the cost of carbon and surface access. The judge also ruled that the 2003 Air Transport White Paper was out-of-date because it, too, failed to incorporate new government policy, particularly on climate change.

John Stewart, Chair of HACAN, said, “The judge's remarks underlines the fact that we won and gives a lie to the spin put out by Lord Adonis and the Department for Transport last month that nothing had changed. Everything has changed. The Government has to go back to square one on the third runway.”

The Judicial Review was brought by a coalition of organisations including the 2M group of local authorities, HACAN, No Third Runway Action Group (NoTRAG), Greenpeace, WWF and Campaign to Protect Rural England.

For more information:

John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650

Press Release dated 20/4/10

Airport watch bulletin April 2010

PAGO — 2010-04-16T10:21:49Z

Find below this bulletin in PDF - United Kingdom

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PAGO — 2010-03-20T16:08:52Z

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U E C N A

Airport watch bulletin - Juillet 2010

Nights flights are not necessary

TAKE OFF July 2010

Airport watch bulletin June 2010

Annual Report 09/10 Schutzverband Basel

Very good news from the UK

Heathrow runway plans scrapped by new government

ANALYSIS

Read More

Empty skies proved that airports cause pollution

Empty skies proved that airports cause pollution, say researchers By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor and Phil Boucher

Press Release dated 20/4/10

Press Release for immediate use

Airport watch bulletin April 2010

How to write an article

First send an email to: jp.pago @ free.fr to get back a LOGIN and PASSWORD.