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Belfast airports lock horns over City’s breach of passengers cap deal
Friday, 27 November 2009
The row between Northern Ireland’s two Belfast airports intensified this week as it emerged that George Best Belfast City Airport breached a two million passenger cap agreed last year.
The airport’s own figures show that it has already gone through the two million limit set down in last year’s Planning Agreement with the Department of the Environment, recording 2,335,501 passengers to date this year.
Belfast International Airport said the City’s planning application to extend its runway by one third pledged to adhere to the terms of the 2008 Planning Agreement, yet last month the City’s chief executive Brian Ambrose wrote to Environment Minister Edwin Poots asking for the seats for sale cap to be removed.
This limit had already been increased from the previous Planning Agreement which imposed a 1.5 million seats for sale cap, while air traffic movements per year was raised from 45,000 to 48,000.
In a submission to Stormont’s regional development committee this week, the International’s |managing director John Doran expressed concern that the seats for sale limit had already been breached, saying: “We believe it has been drawn to the attention of the Planning Service but a decision has been taken not to enforce the terms of the Planning Agreement.”
The International is calling for a public inquiry into the application and warns that Northern Ireland needs an aviation strategy that will put some shape around how regional economic considerations are balanced against environmental concerns.
Mr Doran said that in the 2008 agreement, the City had undertaken to have a noise monitoring system operational by no later than December 31 2008.
“This system only became operational in recent weeks. Yet not-withstanding this, we are led to believe the Planning Service proposes to make a decision on the application to extend the runway by the end of this year,” he said.
“We are at a loss to understand how the noise impact of the extended runway is to be assessed if the noise baseline is not known — because the noise monitoring system has only started operating.”
Mr Doran said the Planning Service’s own consultants estimated that if the runway extension is approved another 3,000 residents will be brought within the crucial 57DB leq noise contour.
“Therefore, if City Airport is |already in breach of a Planning Agreement, and has already applied to change the terms of the agreement despite pledging in its planning application to adhere to these terms, it is clear we are in grave need of an over-arching aviation strategy,” he said.
A spokesperson for the City Airport said: “Under the terms of the 2008 Planning Agreement, the Planning Service reiterated their public position that the seats for sale restriction was not an effective control mechanism and it would not be in a position to consider removal of it until it was satisfied an effective noise management system is operational, including integrated noise and track keeping equipment.
“These systems have now been operational for over six months and the airport have written to the minister seeking confirmation that this restriction is no longer applicable.”
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anyone notice that BCAW /save aldergrove group have droped the slate gate from their website??
Why is this?
Is it because it was all a fake and the tiles did not fall off due to a plane??
As for seats for sale, What differance does it make if a plane has 100 or 150 on board?
And how come planes make more noise over the posh areas than over the less posh ones??
Come on tell the truth for once
Posted by planespotter | 30.11.09, 12:20 GMT
The drop off at the city airport is great
10 min free unlike BFS and if you need help there is a PRM team to help you and if you have a blue badge they let you up the front and give lots of help
So able bodied people cant get up the front and hae to walk for the great length of about 100 feet!!
Also Belfast city have improved their security so we dont have another Glasgow style attack when will the international start to improve safety for their customers?
Posted by CITY TRAVELER | 30.11.09, 10:53 GMT
Frankie
Have you read the report? Do you know where to find it
It was not writen by the airport as you will see if you look at the front cover but by many experts!
Anyway do you only breath air poulted by planes? Not by cars and home heating oil and other city fumes? And as for the planing it shows the airport can cope with more than 4million a year easy
I live under the fligt path and I dont get woken by planes nither do the rest of the family,
Aldergrove have a 24/7 flight path over the city and you dont say a word about them
Anyway where is the noise report BCAW did? Trying to hide the facts that it found? Did it show the noise contours were righ
Posted by plane spotter | 29.11.09, 11:43 GMT
Fed up with everything being in Belfast. What about the rest of us - I prefer to fly from Aldergrove and avoid Belfast city like the plague. You cant even drop a passenger off near the door. Aldergrove is more central but an improved transport network to link the city might please the townies . Cant see logic in their thinking one way in one way out of city airport where as all roads lead to Aldergrove
Posted by west of the bann | 28.11.09, 22:08 GMT
Well, I hope that the Belfast International Airport will be shut down and the G.Best airport becomes the main airport of Belfast! The BIA is a third-world airport, I no longer fly through it. I use the Dublin airport.
Posted by Maria | 27.11.09, 20:27 GMT
Like Trevor I also live in Stranmillis & I am also fed up with 6.30 flights and the late landings which are an increasing problem.
If the Airport has broken a Planning Agreement then Planning Serviceare duty bound to reflect this in their judgements & enforce it. Perhaps City Council Noise enforcement out to be involved iro flights outside authorised hours!
Perhaps anyone ever refused retrospective planning approval for anything ought to appeal to the planning service & quote City Airport as a precedent.
Lets be clear the pressure here is all from the boss of Ryanair who thinks the world owes him a living - regardless of the envirionmental damage his company causes.
Posted by Alan | 27.11.09, 17:05 GMT
We have been spoilt with the city airport being so close to the city centre. Much closer than in other British and European cities. LHR, AMS, CDG all just as far out as Aldergrove. Just that BFS has no train link.
What we need is better infrastructure to Aldergrove, and then nobody should feel inconvenienced. Oh and agree with those posts regarding BFS security. "Ideas above station" springs to mind...
Posted by Natalie | 27.11.09, 16:22 GMT
Dave - The thousands of us whose lives are disrupted 7 days a week from 6.30 am by the noise from these jets would beg to differ! It is frankly outrageous that an extension is even being considered given the massive public opposition coupled with the City Airports flagrant disregard for the terms of the planning agreement. With an election looming our political parties need to wake up to the depth of feeling there is in the various areas effected by this ongoing torture! The electorate of East/South Belfast and further afield will be most interested in how this particular planning application is handled!
Posted by Deafened | 27.11.09, 15:03 GMT
Dave, with respect, as an ardent capaitalist I should be tempted to agree. But, I live in Stranmillis (not exactly on the doorstep of this airport) and am tired of my 2 children being woken up at 6:30 in the morning and anything up to 12 at night (despite a 9:30 deadline) by the noise of jet engines. The noise of these planes is horrendous. I am a regular user of airports but see no reason why the city airport cannot be restricted to being an intercity airport, with International serving as the longer flight, larger plane international hub. I agree with the view that International airport itself (and the linkts to it need to be developed) but who'll do this when there is no strategy for airports in NI. The sitation is getting worse - BCA are constantly pushing for more passagers, later hours and a longer runway. Meanwhile they disregard current restrictions showing they cant be trusted. Why should we let a business owned by people from outside NI to put their profit before our welfare
Posted by Trevor | 27.11.09, 14:05 GMT
Totall agree with Mike's comments. I fly regularly for work and pleasure and avoid Aldergrove like the plague. I do not appreciate being screamed at by a couple of jumped up sergeant majors . Going through security is one of THE most unpleasant experiences ever and the cafes/restaurants are not what I would expect.
Posted by Nicola | 27.11.09, 13:23 GMT
Regardless of whether the International Airport is mentioned in this article, it's the apparent willingness of Belfast City Airport to break a Planning Agreement which they signed up to just over a year ago that is so disturbing...
It makes me wonder what else they don't tell us or lie outright about - and as for believing anything they put in about noise and air pollutant forecasts in their environmental statement, I have serious reservations about what is the real truth...
Posted by Frank | 27.11.09, 11:49 GMT
Just want to say I agree totally with what Mike has written below.
Posted by Matt | 27.11.09, 10:16 GMT
The George Best City Airport was the best thing to happen to Belfast, and what nonsense that a limit is put on the number of passengers who can use the facility. Todays modern jets are so much quieter that the noise is minimal. Extend the runway and let it operate longer hours.
Posted by dave | 27.11.09, 06:47 GMT
When is International airport going to sort out the staff? I've been to airports all over the globe and have never came across such rude and aggressive people as those security apes at International. They are like bouncers for some seedy nightclub. Where do they find them. Were they bullied at school? And I'm not the only one who thinks this. There have been numerous comments on this website from people in this country and visitors saying the same thing. Sort it out.
Posted by Mike | 27.11.09, 05:06 GMT