Suppose you'd been appointed to run London's three big airports, at a time when your company had become a kind of PR joke, and your biggest customers wanted that company to be forcibly broken up....what would you say? New BAA CEO Colin Matthews gave his first big speech today and he chose to say this. Boy does he want that third Heathrow runway!


Matthews, correctly I think, homes in on the critical issue of the value that Heathrow's role as a hub, with its associated transit traffic, brings to the UK. Or doesn't bring. That's the question.

Regular readers will know it's an article of faith for me that improved air traffic management is the only way that aviation is going to improve its environmental act to any meaningful extent in the near future. Part of that needs to be the widespread adoption of what's called required navigation performance (RNP) techniques. And it's starting to happen.

Daniel Elwell of the US FAA was before the US Congress yesterday to update legislators on progress on cutting emissions. He talked up air traffic management advances, which I think is absolutely right, but rather spoiled the effect with some frankly flaky stuff about how US airlines had cut emissions more than EU carriers. Here is his testimony.

I realise he has to play to his audience, but this really doesn't help advance aviation's cause. No doubt US airlines will cut their emissions a whole lot more than EU carriers in future too - hard not to when you've still got a goodly number of DC-9s rattling around!

Elwell, by the way, is assistant administrator, office of aviation policy, planning and environment. And he was addressing the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation sub-committee. Other parts of the hearing were blogged by Evan Sparks, whose blog I've only just discovered.

In The Guardian today George Monbiot urges the world to investigate the possible use of hydrogen-powered airships for long-haul travel more closely.

There's no doubt it's an interesting area, but a lot of people have been pursuing various airship concepts for quite a while now - including the US Navy in quite a big way - and they haven't made a great deal of progress. Putting speed to one side, there really are some serious operational questions about making this practical.

On the other hand, it is the sort of technology that would benefit from some heavier weight research than it has so far had.

The organisers of last week's Aviation & Environment Summit have now put all the speeches and presentations online. Some very interesting material for everyone.

I drew attention a few weeks ago to a guest article in liberal UK newspaper The Guardian by Airbus CEO Tom Enders, noting his reputation for reasoned debate. Here in Geneva he was uncharacteristically tetchy, using a fair chunk of his presentation to express exasperation with at least some of aviation's green critics.

I realise it's not new, but British Airways' support of the European ETS is hugely important and I think it's a brave position for Willie Walsh to take. (Although it pre-dates his regime I think.)

James Leap is director general of WWF International and the sort of reasonable voice that the air transport industry likes to do business with.

Alexander ter Kuile, the thoughtful secretary general of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), is known for his concern over the industry's weak record on getting its message into the mainstream. (I'm completely with him on that.)

He still sees an "increasingly harsh and sometimes ill-informed debate" but tells delegates: "We have started the long road of seeking public approval for our plans to grow."

Like other speakers he notes that air transport growth is outstripping its ability to cut emissions in the near-term and urges everyone to be "transparent and ethical" about that and other matters. He says the industry should "by-pass governments and pressure groups and talk to the flying public" - although it's not at all clear what mechanism he has in mind.

Marion Blakey is next up - she's now the CEO of the US Aerospace Industries Association and also chairman of the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations. She also used to run the US FAA you'll recall. Unsurprisingly she believes technology is going to be important.

She quotes American aviation hero Eddie Rickenbacker saying: "Aviation is proof that we can achieve the impossible." (Which may be handy in the case of the environment). And draws analogies with the original blue-sky thinkers - the Wright Brothers.

"The need for experimentation is even more crucial," she declares. She points approvingly to UPS' work at Louisville, Kentucky using ADS-B and continuous descent approaches to slash approach emissions by 34% and cut noise below 6,000ft by 30%.

This is the start of something of a theme for the day - air traffic management and operational techniques are clearly offering the best hopes for near-term environmental gains.