Sustainable Aviation Progress Report 2011 Published

Commitment to Sustainable Aviation Remains Strong, Despite Economic Challenges to the Industry

The third progress report from Sustainable Aviation (SA) is launched today by its Chair Jill Brady.

The 2011 Progress Report sets out SA’s achievements over the past two years in working collaboratively towards its goals on the environment, climate change, noise, air quality and waste.

It also outlines the new work programme already under way in SA, a unique coalition of UK airports, airlines, engine and airframe manufacturers and air traffic management, set up six years ago by the industry to address its long-term sustainability.

In a speech to the UK Aviation Club, Jill Brady said: “Despite the most challenging couple of years in the industry that I can remember, members’ commitment to Sustainable Aviation has not wavered. Real progress has been made in many areas, not least in the management of aircraft waste and local air quality, identifying and proving new sustainable fuels, initiatives in air traffic management and airport procedures, and in offering a realistic assessment of the inter-dependencies between noise, CO2 and local air quality.”

She highlighted an initiative last year testing a “Perfect Flight” between Heathrow and Edinburgh. Every stage of the journey was calibrated to achieve optimal performance. The flight used around 350kg less fuel and one tonne of CO2 (about 11%) on the norm for the route.

“This shows that collaboration between Sustainable Aviation signatories can deliver tangible positive results and demonstrates the potential for future environmental improvements,” said Jill.

“With the Government set to develop a new policy framework for aviation, Sustainable Aviation will continue to play a crucial role in proving the industry’s commitment to addressing its environmental impacts. It will also be an opportunity for us to demonstrate how our sector can grow sustainably while maintaining its position as a critical part of the UK and global economy.”

The Progress Report has been endorsed by Sustainable Aviation’s Stakeholder Panel, a group of recognised independent sustainability experts.

–ends–
Notes to Editors

  • A world first, Sustainable Aviation was launched in 2005 and brings together a broad coalition of UK airlines, airports, engine and airframe manufacturers and its main Air Traffic Management provider. It published Progress Reports in 2006 and 2009 and a CO2 Roadmap in 2008. All publications are available on the SA website www.sustainableaviation.co.uk
  • SA is unique in the transport sector, established specifically to find industry solutions to the aviation sustainability challenge. There is no equivalent in road, rail or shipping. Solutions require the cooperation and collaboration of all parts of the industry working together.
  • SA aims to inform aviation policy development to ensure a balanced approach for meeting sustainability criteria while safeguarding the future development of an industry critical to the health of the UK economy.
  • SA’s work is overseen by a Council comprising senior representatives from industry associations and signatory companies which have adopted SA’s goals.
  • An independent Stakeholder Panel monitors SA’s progress and works with the SA Council to ensure that relevant priorities and challenges are tackled. The Panel includes representatives from the Aviation Environment Federation, University of Leeds, the Department for Transport and Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.
  • Jill Brady is Director of HR and External Affairs at Virgin Atlantic.

 

BATA Comment on Economic Growth Speech by Prime Minister

Comment on PM’s Speech about Economic Growth, January 2011

Simon Buck, Chief Executive of BATA, commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech about economic growth, said:

“It really is quite remarkable then that, unlike the Irish Government which recently slashed their tax on flying to help promote tourism, the UK Government seems set on making Britain one of the most expensive countries in Europe for tourists to come and visit as well as penalising British families taking annual sunshine holidays. For example, it costs a Chinese family over £600 in Air Passenger Duty and visa costs alone to visit the UK compared to just over £200 to visit France. Maybe that goes some way towards explaining why in 2008, France received 688,000 Chinese tourists compared to just 108,000 visiting the UK. Tourism is a key driver of the UK economy and is credited with creating one in five new jobs over the last 10 years and the Prime Minister rightly wants to boost the numbers of tourists visiting Britain. But the UK now has the highest taxes on flying in Europe and is losing market share to other countries that are investing heavily in expanding their own airports unlike in the UK. We really need to see some joined-up thinking from the Government on this.”

 

‘Fair Tax on Flying’ Campaign Launched Today

BATA Supports ‘A Fair Tax on Flying’

The British Air Transport Association (BATA) supports the ‘Fair Tax on Flying’ campaign, an alliance of more than 25 airlines, airports, tour operators, destinations and trade associations who have today announced they are uniting to call on the Government to make aviation taxation in the UK fairer.

Simon Buck, Chief Executive of BATA said:
“The UK tax on flying is the highest in the world, raising over 15 billion pounds in the next five years – more than the tax on banks. Not one penny of this is used to help the environment. Instead it threatens jobs and economic growth. We hope the Government takes note of the five tests the ‘Fair Tax on Flying’ campaign is setting them today and gets to grips with the points the campaign makes about this ever increasing barrier to UK travel, trade and tourism.”

Notes to Editors

  • BATA is the trade body for UK-registered airlines, with members representing all sectors of the industry.
  • In 2009, BATA members employed 76,000 people, operated four-fifths of the UK commercial aircraft fleet and were responsible for some 93% of UK airline output, carrying 121 million passengers and 1 million tonnes of cargo.
  • The Fair Tax on Flying campaign members include: ABTA, ANTOR, AOA, British Airways, BAA, BAR UK, BATA, BMI, Bristol Airport, ETOA, Gatwick Airport, Jet2, Lastminute.com, Leeds Bradford Airport, London City Airport, Luton Airport, Manchester Airport Group, Manston Airport, Monarch, Newcastle Airport, The Caribbean Council, Blackpool Airport, The co-operative travel, Thomas Cook, Tourism Alliance, TUI Travel PLC, ukinbound and Virgin Atlantic
  • The alliance have set five tests that they are asking the Government to take into account as they review the overall structure or level of aviation tax:
  • 1. Will any revision increase the overall amount travellers pay to fly to and from the UK?
    2. Will any change be designed to be offset by the income from the UK’s inclusion in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)?
    3. Will a new approach remove the unfairness that travellers buying a premium economy ticket for a few extra inches of legroom are classed the same as first class travellers and pay double the rate of tax?
    4. Will any new policy address concerns that defining bands by national capital cities creates unhelpful exceptions that are unfair to passengers and damage destinations?
    5. Has the policy’s impact on destinations, trade and tourism been adequately understood and considered?

Comment about Parliamentary Questions to Treasury Regarding APD and Premium Economy Seats

Comment on APD & Premium Economy Parliamentary Questions
In response to two written Parliamentary Questions to the Treasury answered yesterday on the issue of Air Passenger Duty (APD) and premium economy seats, Simon Buck, BATA Chief Executive, said:
“The UK Government doubled the tax on flying from 1st November last year and I warned at the time that this sounded the death knell for many long haul premium economy services. Many airlines are now reviewing their fleet plans a nd the loss of this service would be very much against the consumer interest. We look to the Treasury to correct this anomaly in its review of APD in March.”ENDS

Comment on Aviation Report from Mayor of London – January 2011

Comment on Aviation Report from Mayor of London, January 2011

Simon Buck, BATA Chief Executive, said:

“We are pleased that the Mayor and his team recognise the huge importance of aviation to London’s economy and the need for increased capacity at our airports to accommodate future growth. There needs to be a proper debate about the UK’s airport capacity as the Government has yet to be persuaded of the need for new development in the South East of England.”

ENDS

Aviation – the Cinderella of the Coalition’s Transport Strategy?

Aviation – the Cinderella of the Coalition’s Transport Strategy?

Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association today described aviation as the Cinderella of the Coalition’s Transport Strategy.

“Following publication of the spending review, we have seen a stream of spending announcements from the Department of Transport. These include over £2bn on railway station upgrades, £750m on a national high-speed rail network, and commitments to 24 road and public transport schemes. These spending commitments are to be welcomed and it is noteworthy that the government sees transport investment as a key driver of economic growth, both nationally and in the regions, despite the inevitable environmental cost in terms of land use, noise and increased carbon emissions: around 90 per cent of UK domestic transport emissions already come from road transport.

But what about aviation? As a sector, aviation plays a key economic role for our island trading nation, representing around 1.5 per cent of the UK economy, providing jobs for a quarter of a million people, and transporting most of our manufactured goods by value to countries beyond the EU. Surely the government is investing in that too? The simple answer is no. Unlike other modes of transport which receive public subsidies of many billions of pounds per year, aviation infrastructure is not funded by the government but by the industry itself. Perhaps more surprisingly, the coalition government has yet to develop any tangible aviation policy, and is unlikely to have one finalised within the next 18 months.

In the meantime, however, government is dramatically increasing the tax on flying from November 1 this year, with increases of up to 50 per cent. After one of the most disastrous years on record for aviation, this is a kick in the undercarriage that the industry can ill afford. Aviation already more than pays for the environmental costs of the six per cent of total UK CO2 emissions it produces through the imposition of air passenger duty (APD). Britain now suffers from the heaviest tax on flying in the world; as much as £170 on a single ticket. Indeed, the Treasury now makes more money from the tax on flying than it does from the Bank Levy or from duties on alcoholic spirits, intending to raise almost £3bn in the next financial year. This level of taxation is especially damaging to regional airports, where some routes have been lost over the last few years to our near-continental competitors who impose little or no similar tax on flying and are actively building new runways to accommodate new traffic. There must be no more tax increases on our industry if we are to play our part in boosting Britain’s economic recovery.

The only significant policy announcement the government has made to date was to ban the construction of a new runway at Heathrow, Britain’s principal hub airport that is full to bursting point for much of the day, Gatwick or Stansted. It is estimated that a new runway at Heathrow would yield around £30bn of benefits to Britain’s depressed economy, and that around £1bn of benefit is foregone by every year that construction of the new runway is delayed. Tourism is Britain’s third-highest export earner. But 75 per cent of tourists visit Britain by air. The prime minister wants to boost the number of visitors to Britain and our important earnings from tourism. But with high taxes on flying and limited runway capacity in the most-visited region of the UK, the government’s strategy seems less than joined up, and aviation remains the Cinderella that has yet to go to the ball.”

ENDS

 

Gates and Partners Appointed BATA Honorary Legal Counsel

Gates and Partners Appointed BATA Honorary Legal Counsel

The British Air Transport Association and Gates and Partners, the specialist aerospace law firm, are delighted to announce the appointment of Gates and Partners as the Honorary Legal
Counsel of the British Air Transport Association.

Simon Buck, chief executive of BATA said: “BATA is very pleased to have appointed Gate and Partners as our Honorary Legal Counsel. The expertise that Sean Gates and his team can offer will significantly enhance our association’s effectiveness in responding to the growing regulatory and operational challenges the UK airline industry faces at both national and international level”.

Sean Gates, Senior Partner, commented: “We are delighted with this appointment underlining, as it does, our commitment to the industry and are very grateful to the British Air
Transport Association for placing their trust in us in this way”.

Gates and Partners’ main office is in London and it also has offices in Singapore and Paris.

Response by UK Airlines to CBI Aviation Report

Response by UK Airlines to CBI Aviation Report

BATA, the trade association for UK airlines, welcomes the important contribution the CBI report “Green Skies Ahead” makes to the debate on aviation and the environment. Although aviation contributes only about 2.5% to global CO2 emissions, it is important that aviation continues the excellent record it has achieved in recent years in developing a sustainable future.
BATA welcomes CBI’s recognition that a global problem is best addressed with a global solution, such as a ‘cap and trade’ scheme to replace the Government’s tax on aviation. Further increases in the Government’s tax on flying planned for November risk pricing ordinary families out of flying.

The rates of Air Passenger Duty have more than DOUBLED in the last four years.

Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association (BATA), said:

“There is no justification for any increase in the current APD rates or overall tax take which is already providing £2 billion a year for the Treasury – an amount forecast in the June 2010 emergency Budget to increase to £3.8 billion by 2015/16

Hard working families planning to go on holiday or travelling to see friends and relatives will be affected most by any further increases in tax. For example, a family of four flying on a sunshine holiday to Florida now pay £180 in tax on top of their air fares. This will increase to £240 from November. If they were travelling premium economy, this rate would increase to £480. Such dramatic increases risk pricing ordinary families out of flying altogether.” 

BATA and its members recognise that airlines should meet the assessed cost of their environmental impact.

The UK Government regularly assesses the climate change costs of UK aviation (all departing flights). In July 2008, the DfT published figures (“Aviation Emissions Cost Assessment”) which
demonstrated that Air Passenger Duty (APD) income more than covered the full climate costs, including an allowance for non-carbon effects. Despite this assessment, the Government plans to further increase APD rates in November 2010.

APD or any replacement tax should be phased out from 2012 when aviation enters the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Imposing a unilateral UK national tax on air travel when the industry will be paying for its emissions through the ETS at a European level will simply be taxing passengers and the industry twice

Aviation supports over half a million jobs across the UK and any increase in taxation on air travel puts these jobs under threat as services and routes become uneconomic or unviable. Increased tax in the UK also puts Britain’s international businesses at a competitive disadvantage as the UK struggles to emerge from recession.

ENDS

BATA Gets New Chief Executive

UK Airline Trade Body Gets New Chief Executive

Simon Buck has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the British Air Transport Association (BATA), the trade body for UK airlines. He will take over from Roger Wiltshire, who is retiring on 6th July 2010, after being with BATA for ten years.

Dr Barry Humphreys, BATA Chairman, said of Simon’s appointment:

“I am delighted that Simon has agreed to join BATA. Our industry continues to be under considerable pressure from government and regulators. With his experience of senior positions in First Choice Holidays, Air 2000 and the Department for Transport, Simon brings immense experience to the role of Chief Executive as well as an obvious enthusiasm for the industry. While after a decade in the role, Roger Wiltshire will be a difficult act to follow, I am confident that BATA will be in good hands in the future.”

Simon is currently head of public relations for the leading general qualifications awarding body AQA and a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Simon Buck Biography:

After graduating with a BA Hons in Economics and Public Policy from Leeds Metropolitan University, Simon endured early training as a chartered accountant before joining the Department of Transport as a graduate entrant in 1983. After holding various roles both in Westminster and the regions, he served as private secretary to the Minister for Aviation and also within the Department’s Civil Aviation Directorate before leaving to take up the role of External Affairs Manager at Air 2000 in 1995. He was subsequently promoted as Group Head of Industry Affairs at First Choice Holidays plc where he served until 2006.

During his time with Air 2000 and First Choice, Simon became a leading industry spokesperson on a range of consumer and aviation infrastructure issues, regularly appearing on local and national radio. He was also involved with BATA, sitting on the organisation’s Executive Committee for some ten years.

Since 2006, Simon has been head of public relations for the leading general qualifications awarding body AQA.

Simon is a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

In his spare time, Simon is a Justice of the Peace and enjoys classic car motoring and outdoor leisure interests including cycling, and walking. He lives in Surrey.