Today was the Airport Consultative Committee, which I attended via Teams . Here is the usual update.
Organisation - LBA has appointed a new Chief Finance Officer, Alex Tong. He started working at LBA on 7th June 2021. His predecessor was in the role on a temporary basis.
CEO Vincent Hodder provided an update - from Australia. He has had to return home briefly due to family matters but is still running the airport from there.
Relative to last year, LBA is currently seeing 'significant growth' in passenger numbers, although obviously only a fraction of those processed two years ago. For the entire month of May, LBA had 4,700 passenger throughput. However, last week saw 3,400 passengers pass through the airport, mainly due to Ryanair. Despite the amber status of all countries now, loads on Ryanair flights remain good, as they are on KLM to AMS, whilst Eastern are frequently operating with 100% loads to Newquay. I raised the question about Eastern's use of the Jetstream 41 and suggested that this aircraft is too small for the route - Vincent Hodder (and others) agreed and they are trying to persuade Eastern to upgrade to at least an ATR72. They are also hopeful of Eastern expanding its route network at LBA in the not too distant future (beyond Newquay and Southampton).
Passenger throughput in the whole of 2020/21 at LBA 299,000 instead of the previous 3.9 million. This year, throughput was 600 w/c 10th May, 1200 w/c 17th May, 1600 w/c 24th May and 3400 w/c 31st May, so progressing.
29 Departures per week are scheduled by Ryanair from next week. KLM should be 2 daily from July and 3 daily by August. Our AMS route has been commenced by KLM ahead of several other regional airports and is doing well. Stobart are carrying good loads on Belfast City and will be twice daily from July with Dublin also re-commencing that month all being well. Aurigny are selling strongly and better than most of their other UK destinations.
Passenger lounges in the terminal will re-open from July.
A new, landside, Greggs outlet will open on 21st June.
Head of Airside Ops presentation : during the lockdown period LBA has been training up staff and renewing necessary training across the board. In total 895 training courses have been conducted with individual staff members including re-training, re-testing and re-licensing airside drivers. Various works have been undertaken on the airfield and within the terminal in recent months including:
12 Concrete bays excavated and replaced on Alpha Taxiway.
Apron Drainage repairs/renewals
Asphalt repairs at Charlie Holding Point.
Airfield paint markings removed and re-applied.
Remove old Cafe Ritazza in terminal airside
Remove old ticket desk
Install new ticket desk for Jet2
Provide 79m2 of additional terminal space plus an additional 50m2 of floor space in Check in Hall B (Jet2)
Various other changes within the terminal, details of which I missed due to the Teams Connection dropping out - and returning just as the presentation was completed.
Completion of required detailed runway condition surveys.
A question was asked about Border Force and their performance. Vince Hodder advised that currently the processing time for each passenger at LBA is just 1 minute 14 seconds.
Terminal Update
Whilst awaiting the decision of Robert Jenrick, LBA continue to meet two weekly with Leeds Council to work through the conditions of approval and Section 106 requirements. It is hoped these will be sorted by the end of June with everything agreed. At this point, in the absence of a decision by Jenrick, Leeds Council will write to him to advise they are waiting to issue the planning approval although it is not known what impact this might have.
The S of S can defer the decision for 21 days at a time, which he has now done several times. There has been zero feedback from him to either LBA or the City Council so both are completely in the dark as to his intentions or timescales. LBA are therefore now re-examining their options linked to the 2019 Planning Approval, which expires on January 31st, 2022. They are aware that even if approved, a Judicial Review is quite likely at the insistence of GALBA.
GALBA
Vincent Hodder has invited GALBA for a private meeting to discuss LBA plans and their concerns. Their response was to issue a press release, stating they would only meet if LBA publicly set out their expansion plans (and turned it into something of a circus no doubt). The CEO is not prepared to agree to GALBA demands but the offer of a private meeting remains open to them. He re-iterated that LBA already have planning consent for a terminal development from 2019 which remains valid (until such time as the new terminal plans are approved).
PARKWAY STATION
Planning continues with LBA taking part. Surveys on the land around the station are being undertaken. The WYCA has acquired Owlet Farm, which includes the land on which the station will be built, including the Park and Ride and access road to the airport/Scotland Lane. They are also negotiating the purchase of some additional land near to Scotland Lane and at the same time progressing on the planned Employment Hub. An Outline Business Case is completed and the station/Park and Ride is still expected to be in use by 2024/5.
