March 2012 Archives

Rumours were flying around over the weekend that the government is planning a u-turn on its decision to rule out building a third runway at Heathrow. But the FT yesterday quoted one of George Osborne's aides as saying "there is no softening" of the government's position. So what's going on?

The rumours seemed to kick off (not for the first time) on Saturday after Tim Yeo, Tory chairman of the energy and climate change select committee, said he had "completely changed his mind" and now believed a third runway at Heathrow was the only way to tackle the UK's capacity issues. 

Speculation was already growing: some had interpreted David Cameron's recent comments on the need to expand capacity in the southeast of England as a sign that the government's stance was weakening, even though he quite clearly excluded Heathrow from the list of options.

John Stewart, a transport and environmental campaigner, argues in the Guardian today that the rumours are simply spin on the part of the aviation industry - as if, by using the power of suggestion, lobbyists could somehow pave the way for a u-turn. 

Perhaps he's right. Nevertheless, shouldn't the government listen to the third runway yay-sayers - some of whom are, apparently, senior Tories - and keep all options on the table?

Lufthansa's CEO is the latest industry leader to call on the European Union to suspend the inclusion of aviation in its controversial Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) - despite the EU's insistence that this is not a legal possibility.

Talking to the media as Lufthansa released its annual report for 2011, Christoph Franz said any system for regulating aviation carbon emissions "must be introduced worldwide" rather than at a national or regional level. Otherwise it would distort competition for European carriers and put them at risk of retaliatory action from nations opposed to the scheme, he said.

Franz was one of nine chief executives, including the CEO of Airbus, to write joint letters to European leaders earlier this week asking them to step in and stop the escalating trade conflict, after Airbus warned that the unilateral European position was already threatening deliveries of its long-haul aircraft to China.

Franz said this kind of punitive action against European businesses was "exactly what we had feared". He added that, in the face of paying EU ETS charges, German carriers should no longer be required to pay air passenger taxes.