Rachel Reeves’s bid to expand Heathrow airport could add £40 to the cost of an airline ticket, according to the Treasury’s own analysis.
The chancellor’s proposal to minimise the carbon emissions of a bigger Heathrow include the use of sustainable aviation fuels, which experts say are expensive and unlikely to reach the scale needed for aviation expansion.
A Treasury cost-benefit analysis seen by the Guardian shows that sustainable fuels could increase the cost of a single economy airline fare by £37.80 by 2040. There are no plans to ensure frequent flyers, or those in first or business class, shoulder more of the cost, with ticket prices expected to go up across the board.
So it’s not, in fact, the expansion of Heathrow that would put up prices. It’s the insistence on flying on chip oil that will. Ho Hum.
When I lived up that way, I was completely opposed to the new runway.
1. Because the head of BAA at the time had lied to the public inquiry about no further expansion after T5.
2. There really is no room. Heathrow is a bloody stupid place for an airport. Well it wasn’t stupid in the 1950s obvs, but it is now. The plans make no sense.
But I don’t live there anymore and have used that hell hole once in a dozen years. So now, my Monkey Quotient on this subject is tending towards zero.
The dumbest, most inumerate bit of the “analysis” is surely where it says there are no plans for frequent fliers to shoulder more of the costs: if ticket prices go up, those who buy more tickets will pay more.
That said, where is the stupidity coming from, the Treasury or the Guardian? Or both?
Would it be a flat forty quid levy? Surely flight levies are a percentage, so frequcnt fliers and business class *would* shoulder more of the cost.
googles…. yes. Air Passenger Duty *is* not a flat tax, it is banded – so fairly crap – but banded by distance and travel class. So, frequent fliers and business class *DO* shoulder more of the cost. But, typical Guardian ignorance.
It’s always a pleasure to see that wonderful epithet “sustainable” tagged on to something which by its nature is not.
‘using biofuels made from feedstocks, cooking oils or crops’
I really don’t want my flight to be powered by recycled cooking oil or rotten garbage.
But I suppose we could synthesise kero from atmospheric CO2 using nuclear energy. I’d love to hear the Greens’ opinions of that one.
Making aviation fuel from recycled chip fat would seem to require an absolutely massive increase in consumption of deep-fried food in order to produce enough used chip fat to recycle.
Has anyone told the food fascists and NHS gauleiters?
And flying planes on food crops, like driving on biodiesel just invites the question: ” How many miles do you get per Biafran?”
Are we sure that sustainable oils are better for the environment? Weren’t diesel cars once the best thing for the environment?
sustainable fuels could increase the cost of a single economy airline fare by £37.80 by 2040
A price hike of £2.52 a year.
As already mentioned, Heathrow is in the wrong place. What is needed is a new hub airport with 4 to 6 runways and all the necessary transport links and terminal infrastructure. The last proposal along those lines was Boris Island. Regardless of where you put it, the investments will be north of £50 billion and decades of planning and construction.
There are other things we could consider. One would be to make Heathrow passenger only and move the freight to another airport. Perhaps make Stansted and Luton freight only.
I’m impressed by the pithiness of the comments today, chaps.
East Midlands is essentially the freight airport, and pretty well-placed for it too. That’s why HS2 goes right underneath it, without stopping.
Apparently chip fat produces slightly less soot than kerosine, so is slightly less contrail-forming. Oh good.
Aviation fuel is a dreadful waste of chip oil. Use it on your garden fence or other exposed woodwork. Vastly extends its life.
Frying temperatures are similar to the temperatures used to polymerise the oils used to make paint. And the oils used to make paint are the same as the vegetable oils you use for frying. QED used frying oil is paint. Just doesn’t have the dryers, fillers & dyes they put in Dulux. So it soaks into the wood better.
Tim
In fairness Murphy has an indirect mention of this in one of his posts. I have to say it’s a rare moment where he made me nearly fall off my chair as he was nearly on the same wavelength as me. The Labour government is the worst in British history and probably human history – so for him to say its the worst in the last 15 years might give me pause for thought on the grounds that the enemy of all humanity’s enemy is my friend? But then again – maybe not.
Yesterday, it became clear that labour really will allow the expansion of three London airports. As the FT summarised it:
Rachel Reeves says growth trumps ‘Net Zero’ as Heathrow runway decision looms
Worse, as the Guardian noted:
Legal Challenges to UK infrastructure projects to be blocked in push for growth
Our right to protest against the despoilation of our planet is to be curtailed. Growth comes first, even if it will kill us all.
A hangover from my military flying days, I had an awful vision of fighters being refuelled by the NAAFI van.
“And decades of planning and construction”
Given the WEF’s drive to force people into 15 minute cities, and drastically reduce our ability to drive & fly, why would any potential investor consider backing a new airport?
I had an awful vision of fighters being refuelled by the NAAFI van.
Sounds like the sort of wheeze Grytpype-Thynne would rope Neddy Seagoon into.
NAAFI van? Several Soviet-era bombers use the equivalent of high-proof vodka as a coolant. You can see where this is going…
It’s easy enough to power a jet engine using anything that will burn in air (I think even coal dust has been demonstrated). Making a liquid fuel that won’t turn to wax at -50°C is the tricky bit.
I had an awful vision of fighters being refuelled by the NAAFI van.
Paging Mel Brooks…
Well if that ain’t nominative determinism at work
I really should learn to defeat autocorrect. No excuses.
Tim the Coder…given the amount of ghee and cooking oil that ends up in Bradford Beck and then theRiver Aire. The Islamic Republic of Bradistan could once again become one of the world’s richest cities recycling the waste products of all the fried chicken shops.
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