Airport expansion options set out

17 December 2013 Last updated at 08:38 GMT Too many planes, not enough space New runways at Heathrow and Gatwick are among the options that have been short-listed by the Airports Commission for expanding UK airport capacity.

The three short-listed options include adding a third runway at Heathrow, lengthening an existing runway at Heathrow, and a new runway at Gatwick.

The commission, led by businessman Sir Howard Davies, will also consider a new airport in the Isle of Grain in north Kent.

A final report is due by summer 2015.

Sir Howard Davies sets out the airport expansion options

The commission has not shortlisted proposals for expanding Stansted or Birmingham, but said there was likely to be a case for considering them as "potential options" for any second new runway by 2050.

Sir Howard was asked in 2012 to investigate the options for expanding the UK's aviation capacity and try to come up with a plan.

He said the Commission's analysis showed one net additional runway was needed by 2030.

"The capacity challenge is not yet critical, but it will become so if no action is taken soon," he added.

Continue reading the main story Richard Westcott BBC transport correspondent

There are three interesting elements of today's report: it's Heathrow-heavy; it hasn't written off the ambitious, expensive idea of building a new mega-airport on the other side of London in the Thames Estuary; and it misses off Stansted.

When I first took over the transport job, around two years ago, the government told me straight away that they would not expand Heathrow.

One of the first things the coalition did when it came to power was to cancel Labour plans for a third runway at the airport.

I've gone through my old notebooks and found this phrase written down, "dead and buried".

But after a great deal of lobbying from the airport's owners, other business leaders, airlines and the unions, as well as support from the Transport Select Committee, Heathrow is emerging once again, as a front-runner in the fight to get a new runway.

Sir Howard has set a deadline of 2030. But believe me, there are plenty in the industry - like Willie Walsh at British Airways, for example - who still don't think that in the end, anything will actually ever get built.

The Commission has short-listed the following proposals to investigate ahead of its final report:

A new runway at Gatwick Airport more than 3,000m in lengthA new 3,500m runway at Heathrow Airport constructed to the north-west of the existing airportAn extension of Heathrow's existing northern runway to the west to at least 6,000m, enabling it to be used for both take-offs and landings

In other developments:

The commission has not short-listed the Isle of Grain option, but will look at it in the first half of 2014 and "will reach a view later next year on whether that option offers a credible proposal for consideration alongside the other shortlisted options"Stansted and Birmingham expansion will not be taken forward at this stage, although they could be options for expansion in 2050

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has said that putting a new runway at Heathrow would be a "catastrophe".

Following the commission's report, Mr Johnson said he continued to support the creation of the Isle of Grain airport in north Kent.

"A new airport in the inner estuary is the only credible hub option left. By keeping it on the table, Davies is saying you have a choice - between a damaging U-turn or a radical new vision for expansion," he said.

But supporters of Heathrow's expansion say it will be quicker and cheaper than other options and will help to maintain the UK as an international aviation hub.

Heathrow's owners submitted evidence to the commission arguing that a new runway could be in place by 2029, allowing 260,000 more flights.

Colin Matthews, Heathrow chief executive, told the BBC: "The case for Heathrow is strong. It's important that businesses can get around the globe to where economies are growing."

Heathrow is one of the world's busiest hub airports, handling 70 million passengers in 2012. A third of those travellers were transit passengers transferring to other flights.

But the airport operates at 98% of its capacity.

When the coalition government came to power in 2010, it scrapped the former Labour government's plan for a third runway at Heathrow.

The government said on Monday that it had not ruled out any options when it came to airport expansion in the south-east of England.

On Sunday, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that the government would stick to its pledge not to build a new runway at Heathrow before 2015.

He told the BBC: "We will not be building a third runway in this Parliament. We will stick by our manifesto commitment."

Possible options for new London hub airport looked at by Transport for London

View the original article here

College Coaches Use Transfer Rules to Limit Athletes’ Options

Then the transfer process started, producing the latest and perhaps an extreme example of what is occurring throughout the country this time of year as many college athletes try to move to different universities.

The Oklahoma State coach, Mike Gundy, ruled out nearly 40 universities as transfer options for quarterback Wes Lunt, an apparent show of gamesmanship and punishment toward a college athlete who wanted to take his skills elsewhere.

The forces at work were not new, but Gundy, like a growing number of coaches, chose to harness them to eliminate many, if not all, of Lunt’s preferred options and to keep a potential rival from gaining the services of a highly regarded quarterback entering his sophomore season. It was a powerful illustration of the big-business mind-set of college sports and the control that coaches have over players.

When an athlete chooses to transfer, three sets of rules can be involved: those of the N.C.A.A.; those of the conference in which the university competes; and those that accompany the national letter of intent, a contract that athletes sign while still in high school to announce their intention to attend a university.

“It’s entirely slanted to the coach’s side,” said Don Jackson, a lawyer who runs the Sports Group in Montgomery, Ala., and who has represented dozens of athletes attempting to transfer to a university of their choice. “Once the student-athlete signs that national letter of intent, it’s essentially a contract of adhesion. They have limited rights.”

Universities have long sought to block student-athletes from transferring to a rival program. Alabama’s football team, for example, would not be expected to let a star player go to Auburn. But the impulse to limit the student-athlete’s options has been heightened to the point that coaches are now blacklisting dozens of universities.

Proponents of transfer limits say that they are put in place to prevent coaches from continually attempting to lure athletes from other universities, which could create a never-ending recruiting cycle. Critics counter that the rules make it much too easy for coaches to act punitively, penalizing athletes for changing their minds about decisions made when they were teenagers.

Coaches cannot fully prevent athletes like Lunt from transferring to any university they want. But if a coach does not grant an athlete a release, the player must forfeit any scholarship opportunity, pay his own way to the new university and sit out the next season. Meanwhile, Gundy, whose contract pays him $30.3 million over eight years, and other coaches can routinely move from one college to another with minimal consequence, often for bigger contracts after arranging a buyout with the first college.

Lunt, who did not respond to requests for comment, is reportedly deciding whether to transfer to Louisville or Illinois, neither of which was blocked by Gundy, 45, who declined to comment and has not spoken publicly about the restrictions placed on Lunt.

The N.C.A.A. also declined to comment.

When Eugene Byrd worked for the Southeastern Conference, he oversaw the administration of the national letter of intent, essentially a one-year contract between a student and an institution with four yearly options to renew. As an assistant commissioner, he tried to simplify the often confusing process.

Byrd said the national letter of intent no longer served its original purpose, which was to stop the pursuit of high school players once they committed to a university. “It was supposed to end the recruiting once you signed,” he said. “It became a threat to limit the ability to transfer.”

In 2009, Robert Marve, who had started 11 games at quarterback for Miami before being benched, announced his intention to transfer. Randy Shannon, then the team’s coach, blocked him from transferring to any program in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which Miami belongs to; any program in the SEC; and any program in Florida, Marve’s home state.

Jack Styczynski contributed research.

View the original article here