By Simon Warburton
The prototype Spitfire first flew from Southampton Airport. (L-R): Former Southampton Operations Director, Steve Szalay, Aviation Minister, Baroness Vere and Eastleigh MP, Paul Holmes. Image courtesy: Southampton Airport.
What’s in 164m (538ft)? A huge amount actually when it comes to Southampton Airport on the UK’s south coast.
The airport has been hampered for years by its short runway, but now that precious extra 164m of tarmac has finally been added as part of a £17 million redevelopment, it opens up the whole of Europe for business and leisure travellers, who can fly on Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 aircraft.
The runway extension was predictably met with a deluge of opposition and there is a genuine question to ask here: Just why does aviation attract such ceaseless criticism?
Modern aircraft tiptoe in and out of airports compared to when I was growing up, watching Boeing 727s or BAC 1-11s making your ribcage vibrate as they took off (I loved that) and spewing out vast exhaust plumes from thirsty engines.
Southampton’s runway extension will provide a shot in the arm for the city’s blossoming cruise industry returning after Covid. Image courtesy: Aline Dassel from Pixabay.
New aircraft are ever-quieter, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, but airports and aviation are an all-too-easy target for environmental extremists, who want to drag us back into some sort of bucolic idyll, which to those just looking to earn a living to pay the bills, is simply unrealistic.
Environmental activists are always the loudmouths – gluing themselves to roads preventing a chippy here, a sparky there, from going to work to earn money – or disrupting a production of Les Misérables in London’s West End for which punters had paid hard-earned cash.
Regional air connectivity crucial
The eco-activists offer no alternative solution other than to retreat into a world which almost none of us in the real one actually recognise and which has no relevance to ordinary people looking to work, conduct business and yes, fly off on a deserved holiday in the Mediterranean or visit friends and family in some far-flung place.
Now that the high-speed rail link from Birmingham to Manchester has been scrapped and a deafening silence continues to surround any possibility of the fabled third runway at London Heathrow, regional air connectivity is surging to the fore.
Airport bouncing back from Flybe collapse
Southampton Airport is candid enough to say when Flybe – which provided 89% of its passengers – finally collapsed, it placed its future “in doubt.”
That and the decimation in air travel caused by government-imposed travel restrictions during the pandemic, saw the Solent airport staring down the barrel.
But the airport is bouncing back and as Southampton is also a huge gateway for the UK cruise industry, with many passengers from far-flung corners of Britain opting to fly down to the South Coast and transfer onto one of the huge liners moored almost right in the city centre, the opportunities are there to seize.
Direct flights are greener
The runway extension will allow cruise passengers to fly direct from more places to Southampton – and why not from abroad too – taking advantage of larger aircraft usage.
Why should passengers in the far south be forced to endure poor transport links to Heathrow, Gatwick, or Bristol when there is an airport right on their doorstep?
Well, the runway extension will allow them to do just that and hey presto, here’s one immediate benefit to Southampton Airport and more importantly, the passengers and businesses which surround its significant catchment area.
Southampton Airport is a breeze to use. Image courtesy: Southampton Airport.
EasyJet – which only operates the Airbus A320 family – has unveiled plans to fly from Southampton to Belfast and Glasgow this winter.
Flights to Belfast International Airport will operate thrice-weekly from 29 October, while services to Glasgow will depart from 2 November, operating twice-weekly on Thursdays and Saturdays.
The Belfast route will operate using one of easyJet’s 186-seat A320 aircraft while a 156-seat A319 will be used on the Glasgow service.
No wonder then that Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, Solent Local Enterprise Partnership, Business South and the Eastleigh Business Improvement District (BID), all backed the runway extension; the development will stimulate new job opportunities and facilitate business exchange.
Just 99 steps from train station to airport
For those fed up with battling through the behemoths of Heathrow and Gatwick (from recent personal experience, Bristol Airport is also bursting at the seams), Southampton offers a calm, serene alternative.
I don’t have any skin in the game here – apart from hailing from the city – but Southampton is a breeze to use. Even passengers from London can shoot down on the train in a rapid 1h14min and be deposited a mere 99 steps from the airport terminal.
Levelling up
Which makes it mystifying why the eco-extremists are so anti-regional airport expansion. Far greener to use your local airport than clog up already saturated Bristol, Gatwick and Heathrow, while Southampton has also committed to funding local noise insulation measures “in all homes and noise-sensitive public buildings (schools, hospitals, and care homes) affected by 60 decibels, rather than 63.”
But of course, the real reason for the vitriolic opposition is self-evident. Those opposed to airport expansion view flying as the devil incarnate, despite it being one of the most empowering levellers-up in generations.
Just 164m of extra runway has opened up all of Europe to Southampton. Image courtesy: Southampton Airport.
The industry is obviously and acutely aware of its need to tread on eggshells when it comes to the environment and the advent of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is fast gaining traction as a greener alternative.
According to GE Aerospace, SAF can be made from: “Alternative sources and processes than those for fossil-based fuels, such as oils from plants, algae, greases, fats, waste streams, alcohols, sugars, and captured CO2.”
GE Aerospace adds: “Currently, SAF approved for use is a blend of petroleum-based Jet A or Jet A-1 fuel and a SAF component with a maximum blend limit of 50%. One of GE’s fuel experts chairs an international task force to develop standardised industry specifications supporting adoption of 100% SAF, which does not require blending with conventional jet fuel.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Southampton Airport’s expansion has been given enthusiastic backing from Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS).
Let regional airports expand
Group Customer Account Manager, Chris Myers said: “This is great news for the airport and owners, AGS Airports, who are to be congratulated for all their hard work and determination to deliver this important project.
“As General Manager at the time the plans were being developed, I know how much work and consultation has taken place. The £17m investment demonstrates the commitment by the airport to grow the business and improve the infrastructure.”
Instead of funnelling thousands of extra passengers through already-existing crowded infrastructure, regional airports offer convenience and a far less stressful experience.
This is the clincher for me though from Southampton Airport: “We estimate the runway extension will generate an additional 2.8% of economic growth in the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area by 2027.”
That means new job opportunities in a time of economic volatility.
With just 164m, Southampton has shown what can be done.
Let regional airports expand, take the pressure off busy hubs, generate jobs, improve connectivity and in a small way, add to the sum of human happiness.
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