A marketing campaign group for a 3rd runway at Heathrow that will get funding from the airport has been distributing “extremely deceptive” info to households in west London, in keeping with opponents of the growth.
The group, referred to as Again Heathrow, despatched leaflets to individuals residing close to the airport, claiming growth might be the path to a “greener” airport and suggesting it will imply solely the “cleanest and quietest plane” fly there.
It comes because the airport prepares to submit its planning utility for a third runway forward of the 31 July deadline, following the federal government’s assertion of support for the expansion.
A aircraft lands over homes close to Heathrow Airport. Pic: PA
Again Heathrow calls itself a “native marketing campaign group of over 100,000 residents” and doesn’t point out the funding it receives from the airport within the publication.
Its web site additionally doesn’t point out the present monetary help and says it “initially launched with funding from Heathrow Airport however now we have since grown”.
Again Heathrow additionally advised Sky Information it had “at all times been open” in regards to the help it receives from the airport.
On the backside of each net web page, the organisation says: “Again Heathrow is a bunch of residents, companies and neighborhood teams who’ve come collectively to defend the roles that depend on Heathrow and to marketing campaign for its safe future.”
Heathrow Airport stated it had at all times been clear about funding Again Heathrow, however wouldn’t disclose how a lot it offers.
Parmjit Dhanda in 2009 on the hustings to be Speaker of the Home of Commons. Pic: Reuters
Who’s behind Again Heathrow?
The group’s govt director is former Labour minister Parmjit Dhanda, who was MP for Gloucester from 2001 to 2010 and sits on the National Policy Forum – the physique liable for creating Labour coverage.
Newest accounts for Again Heathrow present it had 5 staff, together with its two administrators, within the monetary yr ending 30 June 2024. The second director is John Braggins, a former marketing campaign adviser to Tony Blair.
The enterprise had £243,961 in money, the accounts present.
What are the group saying?
Within the publication, govt director Mr Dhanda stated individuals ask if Heathrow is sustainable. In answering the query, he appeared to recommend the airport can dictate what varieties of planes use Heathrow.
“We are able to construct a cleaner, greener and smarter airport – utilizing extra sustainable aviation gas, making certain solely the cleanest and quietest plane fly right here, cut back stacking in our skies and modernise our airspace to chop emissions in flight,” he wrote.
When requested by Sky Information what Again Heathrow meant and what the supply for the declare was, the organisation pointed to the airport’s visitors gentle system of noise and emission measurements for the 50 largest airways serving Heathrow.
“The scheme helps to see what areas sure airways are excelling in and the place enhancements will be made,” a spokesperson stated.
However these “cleaner and greener” claims have been dismissed as “myths” by one campaigner.
Again Heathrow’s spring 2025 publication
Finlay Asher is an aerospace engineer and co-founder of Protected Touchdown, a bunch of aviation staff and lovers in search of local weather enhancements within the trade.
He stated the emissions financial savings from sustainable aviation gas (SAF) have been “extremely debatable” – however added that even when they have been taken at face worth, use of those fuels is “comparatively low” and so solely offers small emissions reductions.
“Air visitors progress at Heathrow will wipe this out,” he stated.
Mr Asher additionally disputed the declare that solely the cleanest and quietest plane will fly at Heathrow. “There isn’t a coverage in place which prevents older technology plane from being operated out of any airport,” he stated.
As for decreasing “stacking” – the place plane wait over an airport to land – Mr Asher stated if that is the purpose, “including extra plane to the sky will not make this simpler”.
Opposition to Again Heathrow’s claims additionally got here from Rob Barnstone, founding father of the No Third Runway Coalition, which is funded by 5 native authorities surrounding Heathrow Airport.
He stated that no matter gas efficiencies or new quieter engines, having the extra 260,000 flights Heathrow has stated will likely be created with an additional runway – along with the airport’s present cap of 480,000 – would create “an terrible lot of noise”.
“For all the perfect will on the earth, Heathrow is a really, very, very noisy neighbour… Once you’re including 1 / 4 of one million extra flights, that is going to create an terrible lot of emissions, even when they’re utilizing planes which are ever so barely much less environmentally damaging than earlier planes,” Mr Barnstone stated.
Inexperienced claims
Below the heading of “UK sustainable gas trade for Heathrow”, Again Heathrow stated “advances in electrical and hydrogen powered plane can guarantee we meet our environmental targets”.
Elaborating on this, Again Heathrow advised Sky Information: “Zero-emission electrical and hydrogen plane are very a lot the tip purpose for civil aviation and nations like Norway have set 2040 because the yr that every one of their short-haul flights will likely be by electrical planes.”
The assertion was referred to as “extremely deceptive” by Dr Alex Chapman, senior economist on the left-leaning assume tank New Economics Basis (NEF).
“There’s simply completely no confidence that these plane are going to have any significant affect on emissions and industrial aviation in any cheap time-frame. And, yeah, we are able to all speculate as to what might not occur in 50 years’ time. However I feel the individuals residing across the airport needs to be given the details about what’s really life like.”
Even when the know-how have been out there, the runway might not be prepared for it, Dr Chapman stated.
“Maybe extra importantly, there’s been no indication thus far that the proposed new runway is being constructed to cater for these varieties of plane, as a result of a runway that caters to electrical, hydrogen powered plane can be very completely different to 1 that was for typical gas, significantly when it comes to the fuelling infrastructure round it that might be required: pipes to pipe hydrogen, large charging energy amenities.”
Heathrow CEO on growth plans
Whereas work is below option to develop electrical plane, there are at present no industrial electrical flights happening. The most effective-case situation is battery-powered flights which may be appropriate for short journeys.
However as a significant worldwide airport, greater than 40% of Heathrow’s flights are long-haul and medium-haul.
And whereas airways akin to easyJet have referred to as for presidency funding to develop hydrogen flying appropriate for short-haul flights, there are obstacles to creating common industrial flights a actuality.
Offering sufficient hydrogen for the aircraft journeys from renewable sources will likely be difficult, as will transporting the gas, and remodeling airport infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling.
Plans for hydrogen plane are a minimum of a decade away, with Airbus saying it needs to get a 100-seat hydrogen aircraft within the air by 2035 – though Again Heathrow’s estimates for a 3rd runway have flights taking off in 2034.
For now, rising emissions from flying are risking the UK’s local weather targets, in keeping with the impartial authorities advisers of the Local weather Change Committee, who discovered flights contribute extra greenhouse gasoline than the whole electrical energy provide sector.
Again Heathrow’s spring 2025 publication
Increasing at ‘full capability’
On the primary web page of the publication, Again Heathrow says “Heathrow is at full capability”, however the firm advised Sky Information the airport has been “working at 98% capability since 2005”.
Regardless of its 98% capability, Heathrow Airport has damaged passenger quantity information yearly for the previous 14 years – excluding the pandemic years of 2020 to 2023.
Dr Chapman stated Heathrow is at capability relating to the government-imposed flight cap, not on the capability of the present runway infrastructure.
“So if the federal government have been, for instance, to elevate that cap on the variety of plane actions, it is fairly seemingly that they may really fly 10% to twenty% extra flights out of the present infrastructure,” he stated.
As aeroplanes have expanded to hold extra passengers, the airport has welcomed extra individuals, he added.
The airport earlier this month introduced plans to extend its capability by 10 million passengers a yr, earlier than a 3rd runway is constructed, and to lift the cost paid by passengers to fund the funding.
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How have the group and the airport responded?
A Heathrow spokesperson stated: “Again Heathrow represents tens of 1000’s of native individuals who wish to make their views recognized on the significance of Heathrow to their communities and livelihoods immediately and into the long run.
“Now we have at all times been clear that, alongside particular person residents, native enterprise teams and commerce unions, we offer funding for Again Heathrow to offer a voice for native individuals who traditionally haven’t been heard within the debate about increasing Heathrow.”
Talking for the marketing campaign group, Mr Dhanda stated: “At Again Heathrow we’re happy with our hyperlink to Heathrow Airport (the clue is within the identify).
“Now we have at all times been open about the truth that we obtain help from the airport and that they helped set the organisation as much as steadiness the talk about growth at a time when the voices of strange working individuals from the varied communities round Heathrow weren’t being heard.”
“Again Heathrow additionally receives help from commerce unions, native companies and residents from amongst the 100,000 registered supporters it now has,” he added.
“We would like an finish to the dither and delay. Again Heathrow supporters wish to see financial progress and the 1000’s of recent jobs and apprenticeships a brand new runway will create.”
