Domestic flights

Rally against domestic flights at Manchester and London City airports

By Barry on 01/09/2010
Tags:

Campaigners opposed to the expansion of London City and Manchester Airports will join forces this Saturday in a protest against domestic flights.

The day will begin with a rally at London City Airport at 11am. Campaigners will then travel through London on an open top bus to Euston where they will board a train to Manchester. They will be greeted off the train at Manchester Piccadilly and travel for a second rally at Terminal 3 of Manchester Airport.

There are currently around 38 flights per day between Manchester and the London hubs. Climate activists argue that these are the most unnecessary flights of all because there are easily available alternatives such as the train, which produce a lot less carbon emissions.

Phil Thornhill from Campaign against Climate Change said "As unprecedented flooding devastates Pakistan, record temperatures stoke raging wildfires around Moscow and torrential downpours cause landslides that kill thousands in China - it’s time we got serious about the escalating threat from climate change before it’s too late.  Aviation symbolises the high-emission lifestyles of the developed world that are threatening billions, especially in the most vulnerable communities, around the world. We can start to get to grips with the growth in aviation by eliminating the shorter journeys that can be made in other, less carbon intensive, ways."

Local Manchester councillor Martin Eakins who will be attending the demonstration said, "Aviation from Manchester Airport contributes more greenhouse gasses than all other polluters put together in Manchester. Reducing our carbon output by ending domestic flights would go a long way to making our city environmentally sustainable."

Robbie Gillett from the ‘Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport’ coalition said "There are currently around 38 flights per day between Manchester and the London hubs. Airlines such as Flybe who promote these domestic flights are encouraging airport expansion and threatening the stability of the climate in order to line their own pockets. These flights are the most unnecessary of all and should stop immediately.  Instead, we need to create green jobs in sustainable transport networks such as rail."

Anne-Marie Griffin, Chair of ‘Fight the Flights’ at London City Airport said: "An end to unnecessary domestic flights for trips which could be taken by train, would have a hugely positive impact on the residents around London City Airport. Not only would they experience less flight noise and pollution from City Airports' domestic flights, but also from those heading to Heathrow. Travellers taking the train instead of the plane could help improve the lives and health of thousands of Londoners."

Short shelf-Life for Varsity

By Rosie on 13/03/2010
Tags:

In a rare but satisfying turn of events Varsity air services have realised the shortcomings of domestic flights, and suspended their Oxford-Edinburgh route just a week into its operation.

The reason for the suspension is not their sudden realisation of the climatalogical impact caused by flying people from Oxford to Edinburgh, but the rather mundane fact that Mr Halstead (the baby-faced entrepeneur who runs - or rather, ran - Varsity) had not paid his bills.

This shouldn't be seen as unusual. The aviation industry, who already get better tax breaks than non-doms, for the service of polluting our lungs, bulldozing whole comunities and driving the world ever closer to climate chaos. So why anyone thought they'd be paying pilot's wages and other costs is anyone's guess.

Halstead should have learnt from his past mistakes. In 2006 his other airline, Alpha One Airways, cut it's service between Edinburgh and the Isle of Man after 6 weeks. He also failed to deliver on the promised delights of that great missing link- an Oxford to Cambridge plane service.

This man is single-handedly grounding short haul flights across the UK, and Plane Stupid thanks him for his efforts, only adding that he needn't start the airlines to begin with; we're happy to provide him with some d-locks and harris fencing to achieve top quality results.