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Friends of the Earth condemn new airport
Robin Hood Airport which opened today will add to carbon dioxide emissions from the region and “blight the lives of local communities”, Friends of the Earth claims.
The start of commercial flights from the former RAF base at Finningley near Doncaster will bring aircraft noise and traffic congestion, according to the environmental group.
The airport will have a ‘quota count’ for night flights which will permit thousands of night flights to be made every year, Friends of the Earth claims. The quota is 40% less than Heathrow’s, but its use of smaller aircraft means that this may permit more actual flights.
The attack came as Thomsonfly became the first airline to take off from the airport with a flight to Palma this morning.
Friends of the Earth aviation campaigner Richard Dyer said: “The government has said that tackling climate change is one of the world’s greatest challenges, yet they are encouraging a massive expansion in air travel, which is the fastest growing source of climate change emissions.
“The rapid increase in flights is driven by the falling cost of flights due to the UK air industry being effectively subsided by £9 billion per year, as it pays no VAT and aviation fuel is untaxed.
“We now have the ludicrous situation where it can be cheaper to fly than to travel by car or rail within the UK.”
Plans have been submitted to an airport railway station on the Doncaster-Lincoln line which runs close to the terminal building.
But Friends of the Earth says Doncaster council also plans to build a new road across open countryside from the M18 Junction 3 to deal with all the extra traffic generated by the airport.
Airport developer Peel Airports has been working for six years to establish Robin Hood as an international gateway with a catchment area in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Nottinghamshire estimated at five million people.
The airport’s managing director David Ryall said it had “the potential to be the fastest growing regional airport in the UK.”
He said: “We are aiming to become the airport of choice east of the Pennines for passengers and airlines alike. We hope to achieve that goal within the next five years, if not sooner.”
Report by Phil Davies
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