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Airport expansion:
End of the runway
Editorial, Guardian
London’s airports are an environmental and economic mess, made worse by government indecision. Ministers are not brave enough to rule out the massive expansion of Heathrow and Stansted, as they should …
Everyone knows the government wants a third runway at Heathrow. This is the moment for it to think again. Policy has been shaped by an airline industry that expects to go on expanding. But the rapid rise in air travel, fuelled by cheap oil, shows signs of levelling off.
… At some point a decision has to be taken. Does the government want to surround London with mega-airports, whatever the environmental cost?
(10 July 2008)
Das Ende des Billigfliegens
Götz Hamann und Claas Tatje, Zeit (Germany)
Urlaub, Arbeit, Liebe: Billig fliegen zu können hat das Leben vieler Menschen geprägt. Jetzt wird Mobilität wieder zum Luxus
—
… Fliegen ist alltäglich geworden, so schädlich es auch für die Umwelt ist.
Dennoch setzt sich schleichend die Erkenntnis durch: Die Zeit der massenweisen Billigfliegerei geht zu Ende. Der Preis für Flugbenzin steigt täglich. Die Fluggesellschaft TUIfly muss heute für die Tankfüllung einer Boeing 737, die von Köln nach Palermo fliegt, 12.000 Euro zahlen. Vor drei Jahren waren es noch 5000 Euro.
Es ist ein epochaler Wandel. Ein seit mehr als hundert Jahren währender Trend wird gebrochen: Seit Erfindung der Eisenbahn hat jede Generation mehr Mobilität zu geringeren Kosten erfahren als die davor.
(9 July 2008)
The end of cheap flights. “It is an epochal change. A trend that has lasted more than 100 years has been broken: since the invention of the railway, every generation has experienced more mobility at less cost.” -BA
Meet the man in charge of cutting American Airlines’ fuel bill
James Segelstein, MSNBC
As he strides through Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Scott Turner may not look like the weight of crushing oil prices rests squarely on his shoulders.
But Turner is the man American Airlines has tapped to make sure its fleet of 700 aircraft uses every drop of jet fuel as efficiently as possible. With a title of manager of flight operations efficiency, he’s painfully aware of the sight and even the sounds of fuel use.
“When you hear jet noise, that’s money being spent,” he says.
Turner runs a program called Fuel Smart. Its mission is nothing less than to transform the mind-set of the nation’s largest carrier.
As Turner watches 20,000 gallons of fuel being pumped into a jet, he says, “this is what we are trying to do as little of as we can.”
At the recent market price of roughly $3.85 a gallon, that means it costs about $77,000 to top off a Boeing 767.
(10 July 2008)
