Using EMAS for runway ‘like putting lipstick on a pig’

Deputy Adrian Gabriel gave a withering assessment of the arguments put forward by Deputies Simon Vermeulen and John Dyke in their proposal to use an EMAS area at the eastern end of the runway to accommodate larger aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737.

Although complimentary about their ‘laudable attempt’ to attract larger aircraft, Deputy Gabriel said their plan was flawed because of regulatory and safety restrictions which would make the improvements irrelevant.

‘What about the existing runway, the existing infrastructure, runway 27/09, the taxiways, the apron, the stands?’ he said

‘An airfield – not the airport or terminal building – an airfield’s capacity is not only measured in length of runway.’

He said that any carrier would be influenced by several factors when deciding whether to use larger aircraft. These included the thickness of the runway and aprons, the tyre pressure of the aircraft and the regularity of service.

The length of the runway – or, more specifically, its landing distance available and take-off distance available – was only one factor considered by the Civil Aviation Authority.

He claimed that new carriers would have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis and the frequency of flights would inevitably be heavily restricted.

During this summer’s Island Games, larger planes flew into Guernsey than those which usually use the runway. But Deputy Gabriel said that was no indication that a carrier would be able to operate such planes on a commercial basis locally.

He told the States that the airport’s pavement classification number and each aeroplane’s aircraft classification number would determine whether the CAA would allow its use – and that one A320 would have a different number to the next, depending on its configuration.

Deputy Gabriel concluded that a carrier using larger planes would be permitted only 800 movements a year compared to 900 undertaken by Aurigny during the first six months of operation of its Embraer jet.

He asked whether Deputy Vermeulen really wanted to cut Guernsey’s links with Gatwick to just two flights a day.

‘It will be a white elephant. We may as well dig a hole and bury 22 million pound notes in it,’ said Deputy Gabriel.

Deputy Aidan Matthews said France and other European countries had seen the risks of trying too hard to attract low-cost airlines.

‘The French countryside – and that of other European countries – is littered with regional airports improved at the behest of one low-cost airline or another, on the promise of cheap flights and bumper economic benefits, only to be left high and dry years later when the airline pulls out’.