NEWS RELEASE

Thursday 19th May 2005

Edinburgh Airport announcement:
Plans "incompatible with protection of the environment"

Responding to today's announcement by BAA plc regarding their expansion plans for Edinburgh Airport, TRANSform Scotland described the plans as "incompatible with protection of the environment".

Colin Howden, TRANSform Scotland Campaign Manager, said:

"BAA's insatiable demands for expansion are entirely incompatible with protection of the environment. It wants more of everything - airports, runways, terminals - while paying lip service to the notion of sustainability.

"An air transport policy based on ignorance of the real, growing and lasting environmental burdens of air transport would be a gigantic confidence trick. BAA's job claims pander to the understandable fear of missing out on inward investment – but these claims all too often prove illusory.

"We believe that plans to safeguard land at both Glasgow and Edinburgh for future new runway capacity should also be ruled out on environmental and sustainability grounds. We accept that there may be a case for the carefully controlled expansion of both major Scottish airports, but only within their present physical boundaries and in line with sustainability criteria."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

[1] Green Skies Alliance

TRANSform Scotland is a member of the Green Skies Alliance - http://www.greenskies.org

[2] Air transport growth trends

UK Government projections suggest that air passenger numbers may increase from 180 million per annum today to anywhere between 349 to 461 million in 2020, or as high as 600 million by 2030. Such projections reflect an old, discredited “predict and provide” model for this industry, and one that would entail uncontrolled environmental damage.

[3] Climate change emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft are uniquely damaging and are likely to increase substantially over the next 50 years. By 2050 global emissions from aircraft will contribute between 4 - 15% of predicted man-made climate change. Technological and operational improvements will not be sufficient to offset the effects of increasing emissions. We do not believe that emissions trading schemes as currently envisaged will be effective. We need to see clear evidence of real greenhouse gas reductions by this sector.

[4] Need for switch of short-haul air to rail

Rail travel is substantially less environmentally damaging than air transport when comparing emissions per passenger kilometre. For door-to-door journey times for distances up to 1,000 kilometres, rail can be quicker. We want the Government to urgently begin a 10-year programme to transfer all flights of up to 1,000 kilometres around the UK and to our near European neighbours from air to rail. Eurostar have confirmed that the Channel Tunnel Rail Link capacity could shift 40 million passengers from air to rail by 2030. We are confident that simply by encouraging an air to rail shift within the UK as well, NO extra runway capacity would be needed, permanently removing up to 30 million internal UK air passengers from planes to trains.

[5] Need for removal of existing subsidies to the air transport sector

We need to see the early and progressive removal of inappropriate subsidies to the air transport sector. The immediate imposition of a tax on kerosene (or emissions charging), and the introduction of VAT on ticket sales and aircraft purchases would go some way towards removing the tax advantages that lead to the current massive over-supply of aircraft seat capacity.
The best current estimate for the external costs of air transport - the climate change, health, accident, noise, air pollution, landscape, nature loss and so on – presently unaccounted for and unpaid, is about 44 Euros (£28.39) per 1000 passenger kilometres (UK figure, European Environment Agency TERM 2001 report, INFRAS/IWW study). So, for instance, on a return flight from Luton to Glasgow each passenger should pay an additional £28 for the external costs of their environmental impacts. We believe these figures may be on the low side.

END OF NEWS RELEASE