6.7 Million Jobs Supported by UK Aviation

 

 

 

 

 Aviation Foundation Group Issues Report

 

 

The group surprisingly consists of rivalsf British Airways and Virgin Atlantic plus Heathrow and Manchester Airports.  The report underlines the huge impact aviation has on the UK economy.  Basically three million people work in tourism related businesses whilst an additional 3.7 million work for overseas companies who presence in the UK largelyrelies on the UK's network of routes overseas.

The group published the following infograffic which gives a clear picture of the diversity of aviation's areas of influence on the UK economy.

 

 

APD gets the boot in N. Ireland -Wales likely to follow!



RIP APD ?

On 1st Jan 2013 it will be possible to fly direct long haul routes from N. Ireland without incurring the much disliked and expensive Air Passenger Duty due to new local legislation.  APD is charged on all flights leaving UK airports on a four tier scale based on the distance from London to the Capital City of the destination country.  There are two levels depending on the class of cabin - Economy and Premium  Its possible that the Welsh National Assembly will follow suit in due course when the Assembly is granted the right to determine local taxes.   This is likely after the Silk Commission  backed devolving a range of taxation powers to the Welsh National Assembly, provided Wales votes for it in a referendum.  

This underlines the fact that APD is seen by business as a tax on international trade and tourism at a time when it is obvious (that is except to certain Westminster politicians and Treasury manadrins it seems) there is a huge need to stimulate international opportunities and growth in these areas.  The need to reduce, or better still, cut entitely is something that I have personally, and on behalf of Cheapflights, been claiming since 2006!  With this latest news I am reminded of the old (Hong Kong) Chinese proverb: "If you are stuck behind a red traffic light,  you should honk your horn long and hard and the light WILL eventually turn green......!

If the Wesh do vote for the Silk Commission recommendations and APD is also eventually axed in Wales, its not difficult to see UK air passengers from the South and West of England heading up the M4 motorway for Cardiff.   Long haul flights from Cardiff rather than to Gatwick or Heathrow will cost hundreds less for families going for mid and long haul holiday destinations.    How long then before Scotland follows the Welsh and England is left alone in the UK with the regressive and anti-recovery Air Passenger Duty?

Trade War Averted? EU Aviation ETS Set Aside (pro tem)

The EU has bowed (temporarily at least) to international threats to retaliate with a trade war over the EU's unilaterateral attempt to impose its emissions carbon trading scheme (ETS) globally.  The EU intended to impose the ETS on on international airlines operating flights to and from non-EU countries at an estimated cost to aviation of 1.4 Bn Euros annually.  The Commissioner has now "stopped the clock" for one year accepting that the ICAO are working on a global version of the ETS.

Given the EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard's firm resolve originally to impose this unilateral legislation, this is an (albeit temporary) u-turn. What was so incredible about the EU's stance was that the ICAO has been promoting this international solution to world aviation's carbon emissions for sometime.

 My personal view is that the EU Commissioner appears to have a somewhat evangelical attitude to the climate stemming from her long involvement in environmental campaigning in her native Denmark. Whilst she is clearly committed to addressing climate change issues, it was somewhat naieve of her to think that she could impose EU legislation internationally.   At the beginning of 2012 she was absolutely determined to go ahead with the ETS in 2013 despite international opposition from the US, Russia, China, India and Saudi Arabia.  These and other countries have made it very clear they will not submit to her dictat.  Meantime they have banned their airlines from co-operating with the EU and threatened trade retaliations.

Its clear from her move that the Eurozone's present economic problems have injected a large dose of realism into the Commissioner's thinking.  This is not surprising given the threat by China to cancel its aircaft purchases with Airbus and sabre rattling by the other major economic powers.  Why risk a trade war when there has always been an internationally supported global emissions trading scheme for aviation? 

Aviation and airlines are in an international business.  It is unfortunate therfore that the Commissioner has only stopped the clock in respect of international flights in and out of the EU.  All internal flights will still be subject to the EU ETS legislation.  This will raise the odd situation that flights into EU countries from any Non-EU European country will not be required to comply with the 2013 deadline.   Unsurprisingly given the cost implications of the ETS for airlines, calls for an across the board delay are being made to level the playing field for all airlines using EU airports, at least until the ICAO have been given a chance to ratify a global solution...

World Weather - It worth checking your destination's climate before booking dates.



 

 

Venice suffered another flooding this week-end the highest tidal high water mark since 2008.  Heavy Rain plus high tides and strong winds rather than rising sea levels or sinking Venice are to blame we are told.  We will have to wait until 2014 I believe before the currently delayed opening of a flood gate system to protect the city. 

The US East coast and the Caribbean have had hurricane Sandy and follow up storms that have left the US East Coast in chaos .  However, at least the US Mid-West states are not claiming that the hurricane is  God's punishment on the "Blue" East and North East States for voting for President Obama's re-election!  Not yet anyway!

Closer to home, I was interested to hear from a Spanish waiter friend at my local cafe that he is delighted to be in drizzly, damp Chelsea, because where he comes from in Southern Spain the weather at preseant is absolutely foul!

I recall being in Mauritius and being told by the hotel management that the residents were "very lucky" to be there to witness a cyclone.  Hopeful marketing ploy perhaps?  I would describe the event more as being "interesting" as we watched the beach disappear under tumultuous surf and paddled through the open common parts of the hotel under wind bucking brollies.  Mauritius is a long way to go to experience something one can usually "enjoy" back home quite regularly.

Well I guess the point of these wanderings is to commend would be tourists to always check out independent weather overviews of the climate in any destination you are considereing visiting.  Don't rely on travel agents' brochures - do a little bit of online checking about local weather at the time of year you are planning to go before committing hard earned holiday funds to somewhere just because the beach or country looks great in the brochure.    Also just because a beach destination is in a region that you have always believed to be hot have a look at sea temperature charts  - The UK Met Office have a good one on :
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/monitoring/climate/surface-temperature/oceans-and-seas
Dubai and Taba have cold water in the winter months which came as a complete surprise to me when I tried out a dip.  A hot beach and sand does not always equate to warm sea water! Other water temp. sources are often found on Scuba Diving sites.

I was however expecting cold water when I went to stay in Cape Town. If you check out pics for famous C.T. beaches like Llandudno you will see that invariably whilst the beach is crowded the water isn't!    When asking where they swam in Cape Town......  Oh! they said "Warmer Water?" just go round the to Muizenberg on the other side of the "False Cape".  It's more protected there from the Atlantic.  Well I would have had to have gone several hundred miles up the East coast towards Plettenburg before anything like warmish water occured to tempt my toes.  Cape Town is a great place to visit but not for a traditional beach holiday.  By the way when we got to Muizenberg  beach, the beautiful silver beach sand was flying horizontally off the beach and covering the coastal road and car parks - I joked that if we had left the hire car there for a couple of hours it would have been sand-blasted back to the metal!

Muizenberg Beach (©South African Tourism )

Its definitely worth researching your proposed destination yourself rather than relying on adverts and brochures.   Check the seasonal weather patterns and water As they say in the Army, "Time in reconaissance is seldom wasted"!

PS Apologies for being "Off Air" since mid Oct...