Third runway nonsense...

As the debate over Heathrow's proposed third runway heats up, with the airlines and the British Airports Authority (BAA) plaintively claiming that the UK economy will implode without it and we'll all be forced to return to a crude hunter-gatherer existence, grubbing out a living amongst the ashes of despair...(well, I paraphrase but its not far from their claims of doom and disaster)...an interesting and viable alternative was mooted this week. The good old train.

In a written Parliamentary answer posed by the liberal question machine-gun that is Norman Baker MP, Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick was forced to reveal that 2.5 million transfer passengers at Heathrow arrived on flights from within the UK! So what's the beef?

Well, the pro runway crew argue that the third stretch of tarmac is essential to create new slots in Heathrow's crammed schedules. The counter-point is that most of these intra-UK journeys could be made by high-speed rail, freeing up existing valuable space at Heathrow for long haul flights, and the argument therefore goes that this is where we should be investing public money.

The real agenda at play here is revealed in a quote from British Airways Chief Exec (and the man largely responsible for the hilarity of the Terminal 5 debacle) Willie Walsh who warned that backing high-speed rail at the expense of a third runway would be a mistake as 'there are very few destinations where a rail alternative is feasible from London for passengers wanting to travel and return the same day'. So much for slower travel eh Willie? We must continue the trend for ever more cross-country twanging and the climate be damned.

Ed Zeppelin...

...OK, got to contain my excitement but just got confirmation of my trip in the Star Over London in a week or so's time. I'll be getting a flavour of what it's like to float sedately over London suspended in a wee gondola beneath the vast bulk of a giant 75m long helium balloon. Mental. I'll be writing a piece about airship travel for the Observer following the flight and can't wait!

Airship joy?

Wow. Following this blog I wrote on Futerra's website the other week I've since found out through my good buddy Jamie at www.loco2travel.com about the forthcoming airship that's a coming to good old London town this summer. Sponsored by Belgian superbrew Stella Artois, as the beer ad goes the trips through the skies above London will be reassuringly expensive starting at £185 a pop (though that's still a little cheaper than Branson's space twanging flights in his new rocket that will rob you of around £100,000). That said there's a huge visible message that will be sent by the very presence of the swollen blimp above our heads. Salience (the conspicuous or obvious nature of something) is key to changing environmental attitudes and behaviours (as we found whilst researching our 'New Rules' of communicating climate change) and hopefully seeing an airship floating sedately above our city will trigger a few moments of curiosity and intrigue...the first tentative steps in generating demand. The official website for the airship 'Star Over London' is here. I am now frantically trying to blag my way onto a flight!

Tears for Ryanair?

Don't you just love him? That cuddly Oirish fella with the airline whose pockets we so gleefully fill with our money for the dubious privilege of being twanged around Europe like so many veal cattle in a flying crate, whacked repeatedly with hidden charges (airport tax, luggage fee, meals, drinks...even wheelchairs if you have the commercial liability of being mobility challenged) and all wrapped up in a customer service package that makes even Woolworths in Brixton resemble a world class example of corporate best practice. Ahhh, Michael O'Leary where would we be without you eh?

Following news that rising oil prices threatened doom for the budget aviation industry, O'Leary's response whilst presenting the airline's annual results yesterday was 'bullshit!'. He then called the airports regulator 'haplessly stupid and incompetent' and suggested green protestors to 'get over it'. Nice. Claiming that high fuel costs will help Ryannair's business model he then predicted a bounce-back for the airline once oil costs drop again. During this year Ryannair carried 51 million passengers (a 20% increase) and opened 201 new routes. We're obsessed with aviation and numpties like O'Leary are profiting from it...

Read the full article in the Guardian here

Nude planes?

Friends of the Earth's Big Ask campaign, having successfully lobbied in support of the Climate Change Bill in the UK parliament (the first of its kind in the world) has now moved its focus onto making sure that aviation is included in the bill...for some reason at present its not in there. Now why might that be?

; )

Could it be because the UK's addiction to short-haul flights means that aviation actually makes up 13% of UK carbon emissions, as opposed to the 2% of international emissions the industry would prefer you to think about? Either way it seems somewhat bonkers to exclude aviation as one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions from the Bill.

Almost 200,000 campaigners have already signed up in support and you can book your seat on the 'virtual' flight to lobby parliament here. I'm in seat 200G if you want to sit nearby (!) and fellow passengers include Thom Yorke, Vic Reeves and KT Tunstall - although you'd be hard pushed to get a spot close enough to touch thighs with these popular types.

There's also a slightly weird series of viral clips including this bizarre 'stripper plane' visiting Parliament...not sure WHAT that's all about...

You can also watch the video below...

Flying on a wing and a prayer...

Well there's yet more corroboration today for some of the issues I've been banging on about in regard to the climate impacts of aviation as reported here on the BBC. The news item covers a report issued by the UK's Sustainable Development Commission on the future of aviation called 'Breaking the Holding Pattern'.

The essence of the report focuses on the 'over-egged' economic justifications for airport and aviation expansion and how much these really benefit the UK and casts doubt on the ability of technological innovation in the aviation industry to reduce carbon emissions in the face of wildly spiralling demand. Crucially however it cites the massive gap opening up in the UK economy due to the 'tourist deficit' whereby fuelled by the growth in cheap flights UK holidaymakers spend £18 billion more abroad than incoming tourists spend in the UK...a huge drain in the context of the current credit crunch. It would seem that 'Buying British' while holidaying on our wonderfully diverse set of islands is not only good for the country its good for the whole planet.

100 Best Travel Blogs...

Well, I'm mighty proud to have been included in this here list of the Best 100 Travel Blogs...someone has clearly been busy googling...

; )

My only slight concern is the name of the host domain 'www.airlinecreditcards.com' (I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of a live link) which is a site entirely dedicated to giving people free air miles on their credit cards...the fact that they list www.lowcarbontravel.com on the top 100 just goes to show these folk have no sense of irony. Spend your way to climate oblivion with us!