Richard's blog

Who'd have thunk it? For years we've been fighting BAA, convinced by their public image of being anti-environment and pro-expansion. Then, just as we were settling in for the long term, they betray us all, revealing a serious eco-streak.

For all our antics, Plane Stupid's greatest impact on emissions was grounding a couple of planes at Nottingham East Midlands Airport back in 2006. This pales in comparision to BAA, who have been systematically monkey-wrenching Terminal 5. They're doing an awesome job - so far grounding over two hundred planes and stranding countless thousands of passengers, preventing them jetting about in an irresponsible manner.

Just think of all those emissions being stopped at source! Of course, as Schnews pointed out this week, all these cock-ups will be solved soon enough and the airports and airlines can get on with earning some serious bucks. But screwing up what should have been the biggest pro-expansion love-in casts a shadow over their ability to handle a bigger airport - and for that, we tip our hat. Trebles all round, gents!

While activists and residents across West London gear up for the mother of all battles over Heathrow's third runway, across the Channel dutch environmentalists are trying to block Schiphol's seventh! In an arms race to rival the cold war, the three main airports - Heathrow, Schiphol and Frankfurt - are all competing to out-expand each other.

Schipol may have six runways, but it carries 32% less passenger traffic, making it the twelth biggest international airport. Unlike Heathrow, which got privatised a while back, Schiphol is still owned by the Dutch government. Of course, like all governments, the Dutch seem to think that climate change doesn't apply to airports, and are plans to make Schiphol twice as big.

The decision on expansion is being taken on the 27th of March (this Thursday) - coincidentally the same day T5 opens and we pop down and flash mob it. Rest assured that campaigners won't go down without a fight - activists from across the Netherlands have already been taking action, including a runway invasion back in 2006. Watch the skies...

During World War II, when fuel was scarce, the govenment made a point of asking people to think twice before travelling. Now that everyone has woken up to climate change, how is the government reacting? Why, by flying as much as possible, of course!

Last year government departments flew a total of 300 million miles. While some of these trips were no doubt essential - it's no surprise that the Foreign Office is number one on the list - does every department need to be abusing their air miles? Why, for instance, did the Department for Work and Pensions fly 9 million miles? Is there really that much benefit fraud in Australia?

There's something about big infrastructure projects that get people all excitied. Personally I look at a new bridge, road or building and think "that could have been a playing field". But the recent hubub over Terminal 5 must take the biscuit, with correspondents lined up around the block to compare tales of airports they've visited on their travels. Honestly, you'd think there was a prize for passing through the most departure lounges!

The airport opens to the public this Thursday, so if you've nothing to do (or feel like taking a sickie) come to the T5 Flash Mob. Get a 'stop airport expansion' t-shirt by emailing stopairportexpansion@gmail.com or calling 0845 458 2564; when the clock strikes 11am, whip your jacket off and let everyone know you what you think. Wearing a t-shirt in public isn't a crime - it's about the only thing you can do in the Terminal that's not illegal!

11am, Thursday 27th March. International Arrivals (Ground Level), Heathrow Terminal 5.

Some very odd comments from a government Minister last week. Conservative MP Justine Greening spoke about the extraordinary collusion between the DfT and BAA, and demanded a debate in the House of Commons about the third runway. Harriet Harman replied that "The accusations of collusion are utter nonsense" and that "all decisions on adding capacity at Heathrow will be taken independently by BAA".

While it's normal for the inner circle to ignore all the evidence laid before them (seriously, did she even read the Sunday Times article?), her second comment was decidedly strange. Was she suggesting that BAA will take the decision as to whether to expand Heathrow or not? If so, what was the consultation all about? Or did she mean to say all decisions will be taken "independently of BAA", or "independently by the Government"? Or was this just a shocking display of just how right we were when we called Parliament 'BAA HQ'?

Times are hard for the world's airlines, amidst rising fuel prices and fears that economic downturn will keep bums off seats. Giovanni Bisignani, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that over-confident airlines bought too many planes last year, and now have too much capacity.

Bisignani told the Guardian that the industry faced stagflation, with the oil price driving up costs while a weak global economy pushed down earnings. "We have too much capacity. Yields [average ticket price] are down and we need to consolidate."

Music to our ears Gio! If airlines can't even fill the planes they have, why should we create more capacity by expanding airports? Perhaps we should be closing terminals instead...

Imagine you run BAA. You quite want a runway at your airport, but no one else does. Your runway will require a whole village to be flattened, including three schools, a graveyard and 750 houses. Building the runway will make it very difficult to meet our climate change targets. But you really, really want the runway, because then you'll make loads of cash. What do you do?

Simple - you hire lots of ex-Labour apparatchiks to work at your company, and use their contacts ruthlessly. Meanwhile your mates in government hire a whole bunch of your ex-employees, until you've created one big incestuous family and blurred the lines between your company and the people who run the country. Sorted!

So BAA Chief Stephen Nelson has been sacked - sorry, stepped down. He is being replaced by Colin Matthews of Severn Trent Water. He sounds like an honest kinda guy, doesn't he?

But hang on just a minute folks - a quick glance at Severn's website tells a different story. In November last year the Serious Fraud Office charged Severn Trent Water with three offences relating to leakage data supplied to Ofwat between 2000 and 2002. Under Matthews's watch Severn Trent was trying to hide how much water was pouring out of their leaky pipes. This in addition to a £50 million fine for missing leakage targets. I'm sure he's learnt his lesson though. Naughty naughty!