Tag: aviation

• A small error

  A baffling announcement from the transport secretary has shone a light on her department’s determination to make the facts (or predictions) around carbon emissions fit Labour’s policy of expanding aviation in a climate emergency.

  A written statement to parliament from Heidi Alexander begins:

  On 19 February I wrote to the judge hearing the above claim in respect of my ongoing duty of candour in those proceedings.

  

  There is no reference before this, or indeed anywhere in the statement, to any claim or proceedings, although Alexander does later make equally baffling references to:

  an order of the court from 10 December 2025

  and to having

  apologised to the court and the parties and submitted a statement from a senior official in the department to explain the error and correct our position.

  At no point does she say which court but, unpicking all this, it looks as if the case is the legal challenge to Alexander’s decision to back expansion of Heathrow. You can tell this because she protests that

  (more…)

  2026.03.03

• Heathrow “struggling” with record passenger numbers

  Heathrow airport reported record September passenger numbers, which some might think is a bad thing in a climate emergency, but the (London) Standard thinks is inadequate.

  The airport announced that:

  Heathrow welcomed nearly 7.4 million passengers last month, making it our busiest September ever and rounding off a record-breaking summer. It’s a clear sign that Heathrow is the UK’s hub for global travel.

  

  It may be stating the obvious, but passengers and flights are not the same metric and more passengers can fly on the same number of flights (or fewer), particularly if planes are getting bigger.

  But the Standard reported the same “record-breaking summer” as very much glass half-full:

  (more…)

  2025.10.13