Even Manchester Airport itself admits to being "a major consumer of resources" and "simply not sustainable", not quite in accord with its published development strategy "to develop and refine its corporate environmental policies in order to minimise the environmental impact of the airport's operations". Can't you just feel the sincerity in those words?

This case illustrates the ridiculousness of the old jobs argument: in 1991 it was predicted that 50,000 jobs would be created; in 1995 this was revised to 19,000; at the public inquiry a figure of 9,000 was offered; Manchester Chamber of Commerce estimates 5,000. And only 10% of current airport employees come from the local community of Wythenshawe (which suffers from 30% unemployment).

If you want to help or find out more contact CAR2 (Coalition Against Runway 2), Manchester Friends of the Earth office, One World Centre, 6 Mount Street, M2 5NS. Tel.: 0161 - 834 8221. Fax.: 0161 - 834 8187.

Manchester Airport is owned and run by Manchester Airport plc, which is 55% owned by Manchester City Council, and 5% each by the other 9 councils in Greater Manchester.

The construction contract was recently awarded to a joint venture between Tarmac (not so green now, eh Johnny?) and Amec.

Heathrow Terminal 5
Judging by the PR you might imagine that our entire sense of national pride rested on the further expansion of Heathrow - already the world's largest and busiest airport.

The public inquiry into the proposed Terminal Five (T5) is still under way with 90% of the 10,000 letters sent to the inquiry opposed to the development.

Heathrow already carries 1000 flights a day (one every 46 seconds), and disturbs half a million people with noise. Although it should be limited to 38m, it takes 51m passengers per year, which operator BAA plc claims will increase to 80m when T5 is built. T5 will bring 47,000 extra vehicles per day. The planned T5 is 3 times the size of T4, and would be the 3rd largest airport in Europe IN ITS OWN RIGHT, after the rest of Heathrow and Frankfurt.

The list of environmental destruction associated with such a huge project is depressingly long. Thousands of acres of green belt will be concreted (T5 is the UK's largest ever development on green belt land). The new dual-carriageway link to the M25 will defile the precious Colne valley, in which BAA's environmental survey somehow failed to notice the rare species of water avens and cowlips. BAA admits that surface run-off will have a "potentially significant impact" on water quality of the River Colne - which just beyond the site flows through the Staines Moor SSSI, and then into the Thames just above the point of drinking water extraction for London. The vast extra air pollution will all blow London-wards). And the new terminal will bring increased pressure for a 3rd runway, then a 6th terminal, ad nauseam.

Still the œ1.6bn budget for Terminal Five and its necessary infrastrusture will create 6,000 jobs (what extraordinary value!), and stop the Germans, French, and other dirty foreigners taking business from us. A third of passengers using Heathrow only land there to change flights, and don't go to London at all; 100,000 tonnes of cargo are flown in to Heathrow each year, ready to be trucked around Europe. Contact West London Friends of the Earth on 0171 566 1678 or 0181 759 0549, or Hounslow Green Party on 0181 755 2806.

British Airports Authority
Heathrow is owned and operated by BAA plc, which was privatised in 1987. As well as five other airports in the UK (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Prestwick and Southampton) and several overseas, it also owns Gatwick and Stansted, and so has a monopoly over air travel to London. The regulatory body, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is governed not by the fair trading acts like most monopoly regulators, but by the Airports Act 1986; the CAA is thus not required to encourage competition, nor is it bound by the views of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (which incidentally can only recommend the break-up of BAA if the company is shown to be operating against the public interest, quite a strong condition to fulfil), and it semi-guarantees BAA's profits. Not that they really needed protecting: BAA's share price has quadrupled since 1987.

There has been much criticism of BAA's monopoly, with suggestions that Gatwick or Stansted, or even Heathrow 5 should be handed to a different company; however BAA feels that this would damage the national interest, as it would make it less competitive than operators of airports on the continent. And anything less than its current œ418m profit would be just unfair. In 1994 BAA took on Burson-Marsteller's (see issue 2) Des Wilson, one of the UK's top lobbyists, as director of corporate and public affairs, mainly to ease the passage of the Terminal 5 application.

The CAA's remit is to cap BAA's charges in order to safeguard users' interests, promote efficiency and encourage investment. However with demand for air travel on the increase, and no-one wanting either a new or a bigger airport in their backyard, it would seem to be more sensible to raise rather than lower prices, through greater taxation.

Some basic facts about air travel
Aircraft emit 35-65% more CO2 per passenger mile than cars. CO2 emissions need to be reduced if we are to avoid catastrophic climate changes soon. -Dr. John Rickard, Chief economic advisor to the DoT.
Flying is the least energy efficient means of travel (per passenger mile), and accounts for 13% of total transport fuel used worldwide.
Emissions from high-flying aircraft cause damage to the ozone layer.
Air travel is expected to double in the next 10 years.
Airports are responsible for making it possible for food distribution corporations to import foreign foods when adequate food can be grown in the UK. Often the producers are poor third world countries that are exploited and become dependent on growing cash crops.