SEVERNSIDE AIRPORT - THE DEBATE CONTINUES

As the debate over the future of airport services in South Wales continues, this time with the Institute for Welsh Affairs (IWA) putting forward a proposal for discussion for a new Severnside Airport, I though it was time to republish an article I wrote on the subject back in 2006. 

Despite the reaction from some quarters, I still believe that such a plan should not be dismissed without due consideration, especially given its job creating potential (which was one of the factors behind the plan when it was first discussed in the House of Commons forty years ago).

I am sure the debate will continue so here is my tale from seven years ago.

"With new legislative powers being devolved to Wales in May, there is increasing interest as to whether the Assembly will be less timid in its approach to economic development and transport issues than it has been during its first two terms.

In particular, the absence of any large major project in developing the potential of our nation means that we continue to prop up the UK’s prosperity league table with little prospect of any major change in the future. The fact that we have qualified for another round of European Structural funding as one of the poorest regions in Europe is testament to this.

One future cure for this economic malaise could be the attraction of imaginative large infrastructure projects that could, and should, make a difference to the Welsh economy.

A few months ago, I was sent details of a plan that has been doing the rounds for a number of years, namely the development of major international airport within Wales. No, I am not talking about Cardiff Airport, which continues to be a small regional airport at best. Rather, it is the development of a major international airport to the east of Newport that would serve the whole of the Wales and West England region. This was considered as part of the UK Transport policy three years ago but was, unsurprisingly, rejected as unworkable (although many suggested this had more to do with the interests of existing airports in the South east of England than any independent assessment of the benefits to Wales).

The White paper on the future of air transport has stated that by the year 2020, the number of passengers per annum in the UK will rise from 180 million to 501 million, despite the increasing worries about climate change. Not surprisingly, the report focuses solely on the development of the London complex of airports, a move that, according to the report, will increase air misses and, more crucially, increase the impact on the environment considerably.

Can we ignore such developments in Wales when a proposed Wales and West International Airport (WWIA) could cater for a catchment area of up to 30 million passengers per annum? Clearly, there would be little reason for individuals who live or have business in the Wales and West England region, and who require intercontinental facilities, to use one of the London airports and, in doing so, travel an average surface travel distance of 130 miles. With the WWIA, this would be reduced to an average of 40 miles, thus creating an attractive option for many passengers. With the M4 and the main Swansea-London railway line adjacent to the proposed airport, links into the UK road and rail network would be easy.

It would seem that in developing an airport strategy for the UK, there has been very little consideration of how to minimise the environmental impact of the growing air traffic over the next decade. In contrast, it has been argued that transferring Trans-Atlantic flights from London to the WWIA would save an estimated 6 million tonnes of air fuel every year. In terms of construction, the landside operation of the WWIA could be built on brownfield land and no part of the sites of special scientific interest in the Severn estuary would be affected by the development. The airside operation would consist of an offshore runway in the Severn estuary and therefore no person would live under the flightpath or within the noise impact footprint.

The benefits for the economy could be enormous, especially for the Gwent Valleys region which is the second poorest area in the UK. As many are no doubt aware, an international class airport which handles both passengers and cargo requires a substantial labour force to maintain an effective operation, and the report suggests that a new airport could create up to 45,000 direct job opportunities and generate at least £1.25 billion for the local economy.

Therefore, the proposal to develop an airport equivalent to that of Manchester or Gatwick for Wales to make most of this nation independent of England for its air transport seems very compelling, especially as it would bring all the economic benefits that the London-based airports are currently so keen to retain for themselves.

Rather than dismiss this out of hand, I would urge the Assembly to have the courage and the vision to at least consider such a plan themselves. This would enable many unanswered questions about this development to be thoroughly examined in detail, especially its overall environmental impact.

More importantly, it will demonstrate to the outside world that we in Wales can match our rhetoric for economic development with bold intentions for our future prosperity".

AER LINGUS AND THE GATEWAY TO AMERICA

With the University of Wales concluding a significant research agreement with a number of US universities this week, I was invited over to Boston to discuss the next steps forward with partners from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

My previous visits to the USA have always been out of London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic but this time, I decided to give Aer Lingus a go.

Why the Irish airline you may ask?

Well, the main reason is that, in conjunction with their regional partner Aer Arran, there is a service out of Cardiff that connects to the East Coast of the USA via Dublin.

There are a number of advantages to the flight, not least avoiding the three hour train journey to Heathrow followed by the two hour check in period. But it also means I can roll up at a relatively quiet Cardiff Airport around three quarters of an hour before departure, go quickly through security and start the journey relatively stress-free.

The Cardiff-Dublin flight took off at 1130am, landing 60 minutes later, giving me around an hour and a half before the connection to Boston.

Whilst I had looked forward to a smooth transition, there were a number of small problems. For example, there was was no-one at the transit desk at Terminal 1 to give me my ticket for the second leg of the journey as promised in Cardiff, so I decided to go over to the shining new Terminal 2 building at Dublin Airport and check in directly. Fortunately, my bags had already been checked through to Boston (or so I thought) so I could stroll through to my connecting flight.

Of course, one of the key advantages of flying through Dublin is that you go through US immigration in Ireland. And as anyone who has landed in any American airport will know, if you are unlucky, you could wait a further two hours to get through customs. In Dublin, it took around 15 minutes to do this, or would have done if my bags had turned up.

Apparently, US customs need to have a picture of your luggage before they can be put onto the plane as it is treated as US domestic flight. Unfortunately, the bags hadn't turned up so in the transit area so I had to wait, along with the other passengers travelling from Cardiff, in a holding area for about around half an hour.

About ten minutes before we were due to leave, a message came through that, thanks to a cock-up back in Wales, the luggage was still in Cardiff but would be sent through to us as soon as possible. That could have been the cue for a stream of complaints but the Aer Lingus staff were so apologetic that I felt guilty about asking when it would be arriving in Boston. And it has taught me to take carry on luggage the next time I go away for a four day visit.

However, on boarding the brand new Airbus 330-300, the staff couldn't do enough to help and the service was excellent and comfortable. More importantly, the cost was half of the normal price out of Heathrow. Landing seven hours later at Logan Airport in Boston, I walked straight out of the customs hall without going through immigration and I was in my hotel at 5pm local time. So the whole journey from my home in Cardiff to my hotel in Boston had taken 12 hours and I must admit was one of the more stress-free journeys I had taken to the USA, thanks to the relative efficiency of the connections and the excellent service on board.

Of course, it wasn't entirely trouble free given the loss of luggage but I have had that happen to me on numerous occasions previously on domestic flights. Also on booking the flight, Aer Lingus could have given better information on connections on arrival at Dublin but applying a bit of common sense solved any issues on that front. However, those are issues that can be easily managed in the future.

So does South Wales now have a proper link to the USA?

As readers of the business section of the Western Mail have no doubt noted, there has been some discussion on whether the Welsh Government should be subsidising a direct flight to America. Yet, as I discovered this week, there is a hidden jewel of a connecting route through Aer Lingus.

Certainly, if I were the managers at Cardiff airport, I would be promoting this option to businesspeople across South Wales and working with the airline to ensure a seamless service to the East Coast of America.

The Welsh Government, rather than paying millions of pounds to subsidise another airline to come to Cardiff, could also be promoting this route as a Gateway to Wales. In fact, why aren't the powers that be working with Aer Lingus to publicise this as the Celtic flight, linking both Dublin and Cardiff to major US cities including Boston, New York, Chicago and Orlando.

There can't be any harm in trying and I have certainly recommended this to our new academic partners in Massachusetts and Florida as the preferred route when visiting Wales in the future.