THE REVIEW ›› IN THE AIR Heathrow in pole position
NEW runways at Heathrow and Gatwick are the focus of the Airports Commission Interim Report, which shortlisted three options for boosting airport capacity in the South East. Published shortly before
Christmas, the report will take forward three proposals for further detailed study: a second runway at Gatwick Airport; a third runway at Heathrow, located northwest of the current site; and an innovative proposal to extend Heathrow's existing northern runway to at least 6,000m, enabling it to be operated as two independent runways. The Commission has not shortlisted any of the Thames Estuary options "because there are too many uncertainties and challenges surrounding them at this stage", but will undertake further study of the Isle of Grain airport proposal. The report has ruled out expansion at Stansted and Birmingham and concluded that there is a need for one additional runway to be in operation in the South East by 2030 and potentially a second additional runway by 2050. Sir Howard Davies, chair of the
IN BRIEF
• EUROPEAN aviation authorities are relaxing rules regarding the use of electronic gadgets on fl ights, meaning the likes of tablets and smartphones could now be used in 'fl ight mode' during taxiing, take-off and landing.
Commission, says, "The capacity challenge is not yet critical but it will become so if no action is taken soon and our analysis clearly supports the provision of one net additional runway by 2030. In the meantime we encourage the government to act on our recommendations to make the best of our existing capacity. "The Commission will now focus
on the challenge of appraising the three options, further assessing the case for a new airport in the Thames Estuary, and delivering a robust final recommendation to government in summer 2015." The report's findings were met with general approval from the
EDINBURGH'S GLOBAL ATTRACTION
Board of Airline Representatives in the UK and the Guild of Travel Management Companies, but the latter's chief executive, Paul Wait, bemoans the protracted decision- making process. Wait says: “Having a world-leading hub airport is critical for the UK’s role as a global business centre. While we support the options set out by the Commission we are united with other business represen- tatives in regretting that we will still have to wait another 18 months before the final report is received and then an unknown amount of time before the government of the day allows the favoured project to proceed."
BA DEPLOYS A380S & B787S
BRITISH Airways will deploy its Airbus A380 superjumbos on services to Johannesburg in February and Washington DC in September, following their launch on operations to Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Its new Boeing Dreamliner
EDINBURGH Airport will add a swathe of new flights this year, including services to Philadelphia, Doha, Oslo and Stavanger. US Airways will launch a daily service from the Scottish capital to its Philadelphia hub on May 23rd and, five days later, Qatar Airways introduces a five-times- weekly service to Doha. The latter service will be operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Qatar also operates five flights
a day from London Heathrow to Doha and ten flights a week from Manchester Airport. SAS Scandinavian Airlines will
add year-round services from Edinburgh to Oslo and Stavanger this spring, as well as flights from Aberdeen to Oslo, Leeds- Bradford Airport to Copenhagen and a summer service from Bristol Airport to Stockholm.
787 aircraft, meanwhile, will be deployed on services to Hyderabad (from March 30), Chengdu (from May 5), Philadelphia (from June 5) and Calgary (from July 5). BA's new schedule includes
increased frequencies to Chengdu (rising from three to five flights a week), Tokyo Haneda (from five a week to daily), Mexico City (from five flights a week to six) and to Cape Town (from a daily service to ten flights a week).
• BRUSSELS and Strasbourg are the latest destinations to join easyJet’s expanding network from London Gatwick. Using slots acquired from Flybe, the low-cost carrier will operate twice daily fl ights to Brussels and four services a week to Strasbourg from March 30th. The two destinations join recently announced services to Paris Charles de Gaulle, Jersey and Newcastle as the airline targets the corporate market.
• AMERICAN Airlines and US Airways has completed the merger that sees it become the world’s largest airline. The new American Airlines will operate nearly 6,700 daily fl ights to more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries, and boast nine hubs across the United States. US Airways will leave Star Alliance on March 30, immediately lining up alongside American in the oneworld alliance on March 31. Although the carriers are now one company, the process of obtaining a single operating certifi cate could take up to two years and the airlines’ respective websites, reservations systems and loyalty programmes will continue to operate separately in the short term.
• PASSENGERS can fi nally say goodbye to the scramble for seats that is synonymous with Ryanair fl ights as it introduces allocated seating this February. There's a ¤5 fee for those wishing to select a particular seat, but those who choose not to pay will be allocated a seat 24 hours bedfore departure.
• ABU Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has revealed a ‘step-change in business strategy’ as it reveals plans to target secondary markets throughout Europe. The airline has taken a 33.3 per cent stake in Swiss carrier Darwin Airline which, following the completion of the minority investment, will additionally brand its operations as Etihad Regional. The airline will subsequently align its network to connect passengers from secondary European markets with Etihad’s mainstream global network.
52 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
©COLIN BROUGH
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