UK Airport News
France has banned domestic short-haul flights where train alternatives taking under two and a half hours exist, in a bid to cut carbon emissions. Connecting flights are unaffected. Services, linking Paris Orly airport with Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyons, had already been stopped by Air France under a 2020 agreement. However, they are allowed to continue to use Charles de Gaulle...
In Geneva, 100 climate activists supporting Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and other climate movement groups from 17 countries have disrupted Europe’s biggest private jet sales fair, the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), demanding a ban on private jets. The action follows a series of protests against private jets, including at Amsterdam Schiphol airport and...
The head of Boeing has warned that biofuels will “never achieve the price of jet fuel”, expecting that this central pillar of the aviation sector’s strategy to slash emissions is not likely to be successful. Airlines say that so-called “sustainable aviation fuels” (SAF) — made from food wastes, agricultural and forestry waste, and domestic rubbish, could enable lower CO2 from...
In January the High Court ruled that the airport’s major expansion plans could go ahead following a lengthy legal battle, but local group Bristol Airport Action Network appealed against the decision. Now that appeal has been “refused on all grounds”. by the Court of Appeal. A ruling found that there was not “real prospect of success” of the challenge and...
The European Parliament voted late last week to support new rules to improve product durability and combat greenwashing. The proposal for a new directive on empowering consumers for the green transition was voted in plenary by an overwhelming majority of 544 votes in favour, 18 against and 17 abstentions, opening the way for talks with EU member states to finalise the...
Liverpool John Lennon Airport has increased turnover and reduced losses in the year to March 31, 2022, its latest accounts at Companies House reveal. Turnover in the year to March 31, 2022, rose to £15.126m, compared with £8.012m the previous year. A pre-tax loss of £4.874m was an improvement on the pre-tax loss of £12.060m a year ago, again, linked to...
Heathrow Airport and separately 3 major airlines (Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Delta Air Lines) have been granted permission to appeal the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)’s decision on the Heathrow price cap. The airlines have been locked in a fierce dispute with Heathrow over the amount the airport can charge per passenger. Both sides launched rival appeals in April against the CAA’s...
The Government is currently consulting on proposals to introduce a target for airports to achieve zero emissions without offsetting by 2040. But the target doesn’t include the emissions from flights, despite these being responsible – according to the Government’s own consultants – for 95% of airports’ emissions. The government’s target would actually require a massive reduction, or complete cessation, of...
Ministers may have to rethink their plans for meeting net zero for a second time after green campaigners took the first step towards a legal challenge over inadequate action on climate change. Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, was forced last month to publish a revised version of the government’s net-zero strategy, after the High Court ruled the original was unlawful. The...
UK Export Finance (UKEF), a UK government agency, has financially supported the aviation industry with billions of £s since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, despite it being a high carbon emitter. The effective subsidy for new airports abroad, aircraft and maintenance comes despite the agency believing the oil-dependent sector is unlikely to begin cutting emissions “materially” before the next decade....
