Some airports get smaller and others...

There are plans for a new runway at Heathrow. Some people think there will be another one at Gatwick when the planning rules expire in about eight years time. In the meantime the crunch is hitting airports now. The extent was brought closer to everyday life with the decision of Prestwick airport to shed about 120 of its 452 workforce. To have to dismiss 25% of all your staff says something about either the downturn in air travel or the way the airport is managed.
Prestwick is a slightly odd airport. Nestling on the Ayrshire cost it is about a 45 minute train journey from Glasgow. As an airport with lots of potential passengers living nearby it is a bit like Manston in Kent. The sea rules out having a complete surround of people. So it has relied on cargo and no-frills airlines. But cargo has been more affected by the downturn than travellers. Cargo traffic at Prestwick is down by 21% and aircraft movements by 8%. Glasgow travel is down by 12%, Edinburgh by 8.6% and Aberdeen by 5.8% say its owners, BAA
So whilst it looks odd that some airports are planning to expand, the reality is that expansion takes years, at least 5 and often 10 or more so planners forecast when the upturn comes and start applying to build accordingly.
And forecasting at the moment may be an art in reading tea leaves rather than a science.

Gordon Brown & New Cities of Culture

Following on from yesterday's blog on the success of Liverpool as one of the 2008Cities of Culture, I thought which city this year.
As is now the custom there are two, Vilnius in Lithuania and Linz in Austria. Linz is twinned with Edinburgh but as far as I can see, Vilnius is not twinned with any UK city. As would be expected, both have a series of special events to celebrate the year.
But it is not only Europe that has cities of culture. Since the nineties the idea has been copied elsewhere and in the Americas, this is the year for Asuncion in Paraguay which is not that easy to get to from the UK. There is also an Arab City of Culture each year and this year it is Jerusalem, the Palestinian part although given what is happening in that area at the moment, I am not sure how many new tourists might be attracted. I can't see that Asia has adopted the idea yet but do correct me if I am wrong.
So when will it be a British or Irish city again? Since the European city idea began there have only been two cities, Glasgow in 1990 and Liverpool. Ireland has had just one, Cork. Decisions have been made for years in the future so the first time it could be a British or Irish city again would be 2020 which is a long way off.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister was in Liverpool. For the first time that I can remember he spoke about tourism (well it might have been a throw-a-way line but the word did pass his lips) He said that tourism was an area to be expanded so maybe, as a first step, he can encourage the tourism minister, Barbara Follett to sit down with Andy Burnham and make having a British city of culture happen.