It’s good news for British travelers, less so for the climate. The British government gave the green light on Monday to the expansion of London City Airport, east of the British capital, near Newham. This expansion aims to increase capacity from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers per year by 2031, by increasing the number of flights on weekends and early in the morning. But as the Financial Times reports, this announcement is not unanimous.
Local residents are the first to be disappointed. Last year, Newham Council, the local authority that administers the airport, rejected the request for increased traffic “due to concerns about the impact of noise pollution and other environmental impacts from the additional flights”. But the government has ruled in favour of London City Airport’s appeal against the decision, the business daily explains.
According to a joint statement from the Department for Equal Opportunities, Housing and Communities and the Department for Transport, which also referred to “improved soundproofing”, the extra morning flights would not cause “any detriment in terms of noise effects”. The government has also refused to approve extra flights on Saturday afternoons, from 12.30pm to 6.30pm, and has stipulated that quieter aircraft should be used for any additional morning flights.
An environmental “misstep”
Paul Morozzo, climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, called the move a “surprisingly clumsy misstep” by the new government. “It will mostly benefit a wealthy elite of frequent flyers, while shifting the environmental costs onto some of London’s poorest areas,” he said, according to the Financial Times. Smaller than Heathrow or Gatwick, Newham Airport is popular with business travelers because of its proximity to the financial districts of the City of London and Canary Wharf.
Environmentalists have raised questions about whether the move is consistent with Britain’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The government’s climate change advisory body has itself recommended that airport expansions should not proceed until a UK-wide framework is in place to assess and monitor aviation emissions. Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has been vocal in its commitment to limit Britain’s carbon emissions, in line with commitments made at the 2021 COP in Glasgow.
The London suburban airport said it was “disappointed” that it could not increase flights on Saturday afternoons, even warning that “this would lead to airlines introducing cleaner, quieter aircraft more slowly to the site,” the Financial Times reported. “Local residents would have had the added benefit of having these aircraft operating at the airport throughout the week, not just during extended hours,” added Alison FitzGerald, the airport’s general manager. However, local residents’ associations, including Hacan East, are calling it a “victory.”
The developments come as many UK airports are looking to expand. Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted are all trying to increase their passenger capacity by building new runways or expanding their terminals. So far, the Labour government has expressed an “open mind” about the new plans.
