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August 3rd, 2013:

隔牆有耳:垃圾圍城 兩害如何取其輕  長洲居民反焚化 製造致癌氣體

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隔牆有耳:垃圾圍城 兩害如何取其輕


長洲居民反焚化 製造致癌氣體

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【隔牆對論】
環境局局長黃錦星警告香港很快出現「垃圾圍城」,但三個堆填區擴建撥款申請仍全數墮馬。碰了一面灰之後,政府在焚化爐的司法覆核案中獲得勝訴。
垃圾為患,應該堆填還是焚化?
容忍了堆填區垃圾臭味20多年的下白泥村村民杜錫譽認為,建焚化爐勢在必行,「等如火葬同土葬,點解香港市民接受火葬,唔接受去焚化呢?」長洲居民Martin Williams則認為,焚化垃圾的飛灰不是無毒,「若焚化爐在石鼓洲或屯門兩個選址二選其一,很大機會形成長洲與屯門居民對立的形勢」。
記者︰蔡建豪 潘柏林

http://static.apple.nextmedia.com/images/apple-photos/apple/20130803/small/03lp2p1.jpgMartin指英國用等離子技術轉廢為能,不明白香港的廢物處理技術為何如此落後。朱永倫攝

記:《蘋果》記者
M:長洲居民Martin Williams

記:擬建焚化爐選址與長洲近在咫尺,居民最憂慮甚麼?
M:我由英國來港定居長洲已20多年,選擇居於長洲是因為這是一個美麗的小島,能吸一口新鮮空氣。政府選址石鼓洲興建焚化爐,長洲居民最憂慮的當然是空氣質素變差,在焚化廢物過程中產生的灰塵不是無毒的,隨風飄到長洲,肯定直接影響居民健康。上屆政府選取遠離民居的石鼓洲興建焚化爐,實情不知道該處也是一個美麗的小島,擁有該處獨有的蛇及蜥蜴。至於運載廢物的船隻造成海洋污染,以及魚排等生態環境受影響,更是無可避免。
政府一直宣傳焚化爐不會造成污染,更一面倒推銷焚化爐有很多好處,其實是誤導廣大市民。外國已有很多資料及研究顯示,焚化爐會製造重大污染,指明焚化爐與癌症和先天缺陷有關。香港過去也曾關閉所有焚化爐,就是知道釋出氣體有毒,今天焚化其實是一個落後的廢物處理方法。

記:政府現時的廢物政策,傾向由三數個區域承擔全港廢物帶來的惡果,你有何看法?
M:這安排對居於堆填區或將來焚化爐附近的居民,當然是不公平。我想強調,焚化及堆填均不是正確的廢物處理方法,若焚化爐在石鼓洲或屯門兩個選址二選其一,很大機會形成長洲與屯門居民對立的形勢,這是我不想看到的情況。我要說的是不論選址石鼓洲或屯門都不可接受,香港根本不應興建焚化爐。
焚化爐以外,現時已有一種先進的等離子體氣化技術(Plasma arc treatment),可處理有機廢物及過多的廚餘肥料。將有機廢物加熱至數千度後,再爆破分子,可化成用作飛機燃料的氣體,名副其實是轉廢為能。我的老家英國已沿用有關技術,但環保署卻一口否定引入技術的可行性,偏執於興建焚化爐。若廢物產量大減,更可挖掘已填滿的堆填區抽出有用的金屬,修復堆填區可作休憩用地,對居民是一項德政。

記:如何評價今天本港的源頭減廢成效?
M:不少城市如美國三藩市,已朝堆填區零廢物為目標的方向進發,三藩市回收率已達80%水平。我質疑香港回收率已達到48%的準確性,大家只要留意,就會發現很多可回收的廢物四處丟棄。政府定出每年減廢1%的目標是太低了,徵收垃圾費也不完全正確,何況最快也要2016年才推行。我經常問,為何香港作為一個現代化國際城市,廢物管理策略如此落後?為何政府不斷以荒謬的方法處理廢物?台灣及日本在回收方面做得很出色,為何香港未能做到?

記︰香港在減廢方面有空間做得更好嗎?
M︰當然,香港政府有充足儲備,不少香港人也願意付錢減廢。不過,我們不應該花費逾百億元去建造全球最貴的焚化爐,這只是走一條回頭路。可惜的是,不同組織向政府提議,任何焚化爐以外的技術及減廢方法,政府都一概以不可行推卻,未有深入加以考慮。或是口頭上說會考慮不同的意見,轉頭即加以否定,堅持焚化爐方案以外,別無他法解決本港的固體廢物問題。

記:你對環境局局長黃錦星有期望嗎?
M:上屆政府的環境局局長邱騰華已浪費了港人太多時間。坦白說,本是綠色建築師的黃錦星上任初期,我是對他有一定期望的,希望他帶來改變。不過,事隔一年,他表現是低於期望,政治環境已令他吃不消,公務員也存在不願改變的根深柢固文化,推行環保政策要收到美滿成效,是一件非常困難及艱巨的工作。

mailto:pf_lee@appledaily.com

A new record was set for food wastage last year as 703,200 tonnes were generated – a 26 per cent spike from the 558,900 tonnes produced in 2007.

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Image: Down2earthmaterials.ie

From the factory right down to the dining table, more food is being dumped in Singapore.

A new record was set for food wastage last year as 703,200 tonnes were generated – a 26 per cent spike from the 558,900 tonnes produced in 2007.

This far outpaced the 15.8 per cent growth in the local population over the same period.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that besides population growth, a rise in tourist arrivals and increasing affluence had contributed to the problem.

Mr Jose Raymond, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, said the “ease of accessibility to food and increased food variety” could also have worsened the wastage.

The problem has permeated every link of the supply chain. In a statement to The Straits Times, the NEA noted that food wastage “is being produced in homes, as well as food manufacturing and catering industries, foodcourts, restaurants, supermarkets and hawker centres”.

But the amount of food being recycled each year remains low.

Last year, only about 12 per cent of the total output in food waste was recycled, up 1.7 per cent from the previous year. This comprised mainly clean food waste like spent grains from beer brewing and bread waste, which are converted to animal feed.

The NEA said it is studying other recycling methods, taking into account cost-effectiveness, practicality and sustainability.

Through these methods, fertilisers and biogas – which can be used to generate electricity – can be produced.

For now, restaurants said it is difficult to track food wastage, though there have been efforts to minimise the problem. At WaWaWa Bistro and Shin-Sapporo Ramen, diners who are unable to finish their meals are encouraged to pack the food to take home.

Customers at Peach Garden restaurants are also advised against over-ordering, and at its buffet outlets, excessive food waste is chargeable.

But those in the catering business said they are in a quandary. They typically provide slightly more food for customers, just in case the amount is insufficient.

“We don’t want a situation where there is not enough food,” said Mr T.C. Ho, assistant director of sales and marketing at Peach Garden, which also provides catering services.

Meanwhile, most supermarkets here provide discounts on perishable items to clear stock.

Dairy Farm, which owns Giant and Cold Storage, also has an ordering guide and wastage monitoring system to track stock orders and wastage at each store daily.

Similar systems need to be adopted by other food-related businesses, said Mr Raymond.

“There is no legislation that addresses this issue and most companies either do not track or do not reveal the amount of food wastage generated in their premises,” he said. “At times, a lot of wastage occurs even before the product reaches the consumer.”

Infant Mortality rates in Electoral Wards Around Kirklees Incinerator

Download PDF : kirklees

Download PDF : tyseley

Incinerator plans leave Lantau split

Rainbow Wong is naive.

There is no such thing as non-polluting incineration. Hong Kong’s proposed incinerator will emit 2 million kilos of toxic POPs, heavy metals, sulphur, oxides emissions into the air per day – no modern technology can catch the PM2.5 and PM1 respirable suspended particulates that carry heavy metals like mercury and cadmium + dioxins and furans. These particulates will eventually drop onto the land and into the sea, thereby polluting our food chain. These toxin laden particulates enter deep into your body unhindered by nose hairs or cilia.

Lantao and its surrounding islands within 10 kms of the site will be most affected by these emissions. Given the height of the proposed chimney stack the emissions would reach and affect as far as 25 kms negatively.

IT IS A PEER REVIEWED FACT THAT BIRTH DEFECTS, CANCERS AND DEATHS INCREASE WITH PROXIMITY TO WASTE INCINERATORS.

ASH

One third of what is burned each day remains as toxic ash. Hong Kong will have to build mega islands in the sea near Lantao and Cheung Chau to become the new ash lagoons.

At any time in our tropical cyclone region we could face mega waves that would wash this ash into the seas causing environmental disasters that would spread with the currents.

The incinerator would destroy any possible Lantao tourism increase .

43% of HKG’s daily MSW is ultra-wet (90% moisture) food waste. You cannot burn water without adding additional fuel . Our food waste could be handled by pulping the food waste and sending it into the existing sewage drainage system to Stonecutters that will have a capacity of 2.76 million cubic meters per day by 2016. Currently it handles 1.4 million cubic meters per day so 3300 cubic meters of food waste would be a negligible increased load.

Goldman Environmental Award 2013 – Rossano Ercolini

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hjgoimXaOY

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22039871

‘his campaign to encourage recycling and waste reduction has led to 117 municipalities across Italy closing incinerators and committing to zero-waste strategies.’

Some food for thought

http://news.newclear.server279.com/?p=7039

Ming Pao – Plan B

http://news.newclear.server279.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/32opinion_local.pdf

SCMP Online comment: Aug 3rd 2013 7:40am

ON-GOING HEALTH RISKS FOR COMMUNITIES LIVING IN THE PROXIMITY OF INCINERATORS – NO SUCH THING AS A “CLEAN” MODERN INCINERATOR.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23160082

Cancer mortality in towns in the vicinity of incinerators and installations for the recovery or disposal of hazardous waste
Javier García-Pérez, , Pablo Fernández-Navarro, Adela Castelló, María Felicitas López-Cima, Rebeca Ramis, Elena Boldo, Gonzalo López-Abente.
Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Center for Epidemiology, Carlos III Institute of Health, Avda. Monforte de Lemos, 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain
www.facebook.com/pages/Clear-The-Air/367584435467

Sint Niklaas Belgium incinerator
www.gainscotland.org.uk/feature_Sint-Niklaas.shtml


Risk of adverse reproductive outcomes associated with proximity to municipal solid waste incinerators with high dioxin emission levels in Japan
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15242064

CONCLUSION: Our study shows a peak-decline in risk with distance from the municipal solid waste incinerators for infant deaths and infant deaths with all congenital malformations combined

Risk for non Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the vicinity of French municipal solid waste incinerators
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18959776

CONCLUSION: This study, in line with previous results obtained in the vicinity of the incinerator located in Besançon (France), adds further evidence to the link between NHL incidence and exposure to dioxins emitted by MSW incinerators

Incineration and Health Issues – Friends of the Earth

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/incineration_health_issues.pdf

Clear the Air – incinerators – 359 news items

http://news.newclear.server279.com/?cat=59

Health Effects of Waste Incinerators

http://www.ecomed.org.uk/publications/reports/the-health-effects-of-waste-incinerators

http://www.ecomed.org.uk/content/IncineratorReport_v3.pdf\

Pollution and health impacts of waste incinerators – Greenpeace

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/MultimediaFiles/Live/FullReport/3809.PDF

Dancing for clean air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJBhZCS7YE

San Francisco Zero Waste by 2020

http://www.sfenvironment.org/zero-waste

http://www.sfenvironment.org/zero-waste/recycling-and-composting

Are rubbish incinerators killing our children? AN INVESTIGATION is to be launched into incinerators after claims they are linked to cancer and high death rates among babies and children. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/243962/Are-rubbish-incinerators-killing-our-children

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People gather on Pui O Beach to protest against a proposed incinerator near the island. Photos: Jonathan Wong

South China Morning Post

Published on South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com)

Home > Incinerator plans leave Lantau split



Incinerator plans leave Lantau split

Friday, 02 August, 2013, 12:00am

Lifestyle

Charley Lanyon charley.lanyon@scmp.com

A huge incinerator that will be visible from pristine South Lantau has enraged some residents. But with tourism booming and a third runway on the cards, other locals want development

It was a perfect day when a crowd gathered on Pui O Beach in South Lantau. The sun shone from a clear blue sky, and the gentle swell – ideal for novice surfers – provided a picturesque backdrop. Casual onlookers could have easily mistaken the gathering for a celebration, if not for the people shouting into megaphones.

Sporting bright red “The Naked Islands Project” T-shirts, some protestors formed a circle while others carried a large model of an incinerator decorated with a skull and crossbones and belching dry ice from its stack. The July 22 gathering, known as “Motion in the Ocean”, was based on a traditional Hawaiian surfer’s funeral rite, and held to protest against plans for a massive waste incinerator off nearby Shek Kwu Chau.

To make Lantau more attractive to tourists we must develop

Jeff Lam Yuet, District Councillor

But for the residents and activists, a feeling of desperation hung in the air, with many believing the incinerator was the latest sign of growing pressure on South Lantau from the government and developers.

It was as if they were symbolically mourning the death of Hong Kong’s environment and their way of life on Lantau.

Also joining the protest were activists from South Lantau’s Living Islands Movement, a group that promotes the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s islands with a focus on Lantau, established 10 years ago by Lantau resident Bob Bunker. The group sees the problem as a two-pronged attack – one from developers keen to take advantage of the growing number of tourists and residents on Lantau, the other from a government that sees relatively remote South Lantau as an ideal dumping ground for facilities and projects unpopular with residents in more populated areas.

Bunker describes a decade spent protecting the area’s environment from planned government projects, ranging from super prisons and drug rehabilitation centres to container ports. He says Lantau already shoulders an unfair share of Hong Kong’s unpopular sites. “Radioactive waste is dumped on the Soko Islands, there is an explosives dump in Mui Wo and there are already seven prisons on Lantau,” he says.

But for Bunker, and other activists including The Naked Islands Project founders Lindsey Price and Michael Raper, the mega-incinerator is the most audacious government plan yet. Living Islands Movement’s treasurer John Schofield speaks for them all when he says: “It’s a travesty.”

If it goes ahead, the incinerator will be the largest of its kind in Hong Kong, at an estimated cost of more than HK$15 billion. It is being considered for a man-made island off Shek Kwu Chau, and will be visible from some of the most popular beaches in South Lantau. The area is also an important marine habitat for finless porpoises. It is expected to take eight years to build.

The government, which says the incinerator will be state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly, sees it as an urgently needed solution to the city’s waste crisis.

Rainbow Wong Fuk –kan, Mui Wo’s representative on the Islands Council, supports the incinerator. “Hong Kong needs a place to handle rubbish. And incinerator technology is now very hi-tech. It won’t pollute the environment like incinerators from the past.” He says half of his constituents support the incinerator.

Environmentalists, however, claim the incinerator will pollute the air, and spoil one of Hong Kong’s last pristine coastal areas. They believe the waste crisis can be better addressed through public education, with an emphasis on recycling, and argue that newer, less-polluting alternatives have not been fully considered. They believe their concerns are falling on deaf ears and claim the government’s environmental assessments of the project are flawed and incomplete. Most of all, they feel confused and shocked that, with constant encroachment into Hong Kong’s natural areas, the government would consider such a large waste-disposal project in sight of one of the city’s most beautiful areas.

On July 26, just days after the Motion in the Ocean event, the islanders suffered a defeat when the courts rejected all eight objections to the incinerator brought by neighbouring Cheung Chau residents. The government will now retable the project in the Legislative Council.

But for activists on Lantau, the incinerator is just the latest addition to a growing list of projects which they feel are threatening their way of life.

While the island has been largely spared from the development boom seen on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, things started to change in 1997 with the airport opening and a link connecting Lantau to Hong Kong Island. At first, development came slowly and the population influx was mostly limited to airport workers. But with developments such as the Ngong Ping 360 cable car and Disneyland, Lantau was transformed into a tourist spot in its own right.

Development on Lantau has so far been dictated by a widely understood but unwritten rule: North Lantau, led by Tung Chung, would be open for development while South Lantau, with its natural beauty and important ecosystems, would be kept largely untouched. But now, with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge under construction, the island is bracing for an unprecedented influx of mainland tourists – and with it an influx in tourist dollars – fuelling fears that any agreement to leave South Lantau undeveloped will be ignored.

Residents point to two newly proposed developments in Mui Wo as proof. Schofield says the developments – home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats earmarked for government land – will provide housing for 2,000 people, and that one will be 18 storeys high, making it by far the tallest building in the village. While the development is small by Hong Kong standards, residents say it will have a big impact on Mui Wo. The 2011 census recorded 5,485 people living in Mui Wo and the surrounding area, meaning the development would increase the population by about 40 per cent.

Wong disputes these numbers. “The HOS will be low density and 13 or 14 storeys high. … after it is built, it will only have 400 new households. So with one household having four people, there will just be around 1,000 new people at most in Mui Wo.”

But District Council documents seen by the South China Morning Post show the planned HOS developments would house 1,420 and 500 people, respectively.

Residents also claim Mui Wo’s infrastructure will not cope with the influx, saying schooling, waste services and parking in particular are already tight. They also claim their concerns are not being addressed by their representatives in the Islands District Council.

When Schofield attended a District Council meeting, he was surprised to find the push to develop Mui Wo was coming from council members representing Tung Chung. Wong disputes this. “That North Lantau people dictate the development of South Lantau is not true; South Lantau people support development too, they just want slow development.”

Wong and Jeff Lam Yuet, the council member representing Tung Chung North, dispute claims the infrastructure in Mui Wo is inadequate.

“There are enough government facilities: there is a government building, a market and a pool, but they don’t have a big enough population. By building a home ownership scheme, or even public housing, they can fully utilise their resources and re-energise the community,” Lam says.

Mui Wo has lots of infrastructure so there’s no problem in accommodating 1,000 more people,” says Wong.

Tung Chung representatives, however, make no secret of their desire to see the development of South Lantau. “The whole of Lantau is one big community and South Lantau is in recession now … [North Lantau] is under pressure from tourists. If we develop the south it can alleviate some of the pressure,” says Lam.

He sees big changes for Lantau: “With the third runway and terminal three coming soon, we want to make Tung Chung a hub connecting all of the attractions on Lantau. To make Lantau more attractive to tourists we must develop.”

Lam also supports opening the South Lantau Road to the public, which is currently open only to drivers – mostly residents – with special permits. However, many residents in the south feel permits are given too freely – the number has recently swollen to more than 10,000 – and that the system is insufficiently enforced. They fear opening the road will result in a massive increase in tourists and that South Lantau lacks the roads and parking to deal with it.

Today, things are calm in Mui Wo. The buffalo still roam and the tourists visit on weekends. But the area’s future is uncertain and local opinion is deeply divided. While Lam sees a golden age of tourism, Price and Raper say they and their two children will leave if the incinerator is built.

Schofield has no plans to move, but has some choice words to describe development around the south of the island: “It stinks.”

charley.lanyon@scmp.com [1]

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LIFE



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[1] mailto:charley.lanyon@scmp.com

Blocking protests only delays the inevitable

Saturday, 03 August, 2013, 12:00am

NewsChina

PEARL BRIEFING

Guangzhou officials showed new sophistication in halting a campaign against a planned rubbish incinerator but such opposition can’t last long

Guangzhou’s rubbish problem is again in the spotlight after more than 10,000 residents living in Huadu district rallied against a planned incinerator, one of the largest protest turnouts in the city in years.

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The show of strength came at a heavy price – authorities are growing more efficient in cracking down on large demonstrations and are responding with numerous arrests.

Residents held three protests last month, with the first coming in July 15. It was targeted at the Shiling township government after the district government announced Qianjin village in Shiling had been selected as the site location for the city’s fifth incinerator.

Participants estimated the turnout was at least 10,000, while others said the figure was double that. Police officers were seen clearing a path for protesters who marched around the township. The event was peaceful.

The Shiling government is also against the incinerator proposal. The area is a leather goods hub responsible for making half of the world’s non-luxury handbags, and officials fear the project will drive away potential investors – and future tax revenue.

A number of villagers said the Shiling government backed their first protest. Days before the event, villagers communicated with Shiling officials, notifying them of the expected turnout and the route. This explains why such a large rally, with many participants holding banners denouncing a government project, was allowed to go ahead.

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“Permission to protest had been granted,” said a Shiling resident who refused to be named. “I cannot elaborate any more but let’s just say it is also in the Shiling government’s interest to see the incinerator relocated elsewhere.”

Residents escalated their effort on July 19, targeting the district government. Residents staged a big rally outside the district government headquarters and also marched along its busiest streets, bringing traffic to a standstill. At least four people were injured in clashes with the police. The protest was broken up just before 6pm but authorities entered Qianjin village in Shiling that night and arrested at least nine suspected organisers of the event.

When it emerged residents planned to take their campaign to downtown Guangzhou, authorities stepped up their efforts. They targeted other suspected organisers, key players and village leaders, detaining some, confiscating mobile phones and tracking social media messages, residents said.

Several hundred residents who made the journey to downtown Guangzhou on July 23 were caught in a police dragnet. Stringent identity checks were carried out in public areas, especially outside city government offices.

Police took down the personal details of anyone with identity cards bearing a Shiling address. Officers immediately broke up any small crowds lingering outside government offices. Those who were detained were taken groups to a sports stadium at Yuexiu Mountain and put on coach buses that took them back to Shiling.

One has to applaud the efficiency and execution of the city government in pre-empting a large protest over a genuine grievance. The government appears to be growing more skilful at “maintaining social stability”.

Qianjin villagers and Shiling township residents were taking action out of fear for their health and their jobs in the leather goods hub. They said they were never consulted before the project was announced.

They have heard horror stories of hazardous emissions and underground water pollution from Likeng villagers in Baiyun district, which has the city’s first and second incinerators. Likeng villagers blame the incinerator for rising cancer rates in the area.

Protests like the ones by Huadu residents and the ones in Jiangmen against a uranium processing plant are part of a growing trend triggered in part by the Guangdong government’s obsession with drumming up economic indicators to protect its status as the mainland’s gross domestic product leader.

Solving the province’s environmental problems and addressing residents’ needs have to be tackled at some point. Clever tactics to head off protests is just putting off the inevitable.

mimi.lau@scmp.com [1]



Links:
[1] mailto:mimi.lau@scmp.com

Incinerator plans leave Lantau split

Friday, 02 August, 2013, 12:00am

Lifestyle

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eople gather on Pui O Beach to protest against a proposed incinerator near the island. Photos: Jonathan Wong

Charley Lanyon charley.lanyon@scmp.com

A huge incinerator that will be visible from pristine South Lantau has enraged some residents. But with tourism booming and a third runway on the cards, other locals want development

It was a perfect day when a crowd gathered on Pui O Beach in South Lantau. The sun shone from a clear blue sky, and the gentle swell – ideal for novice surfers – provided a picturesque backdrop. Casual onlookers could have easily mistaken the gathering for a celebration, if not for the people shouting into megaphones.

Sporting bright red “The Naked Islands Project” T-shirts, some protestors formed a circle while others carried a large model of an incinerator decorated with a skull and crossbones and belching dry ice from its stack. The July 22 gathering, known as “Motion in the Ocean”, was based on a traditional Hawaiian surfer’s funeral rite, and held to protest against plans for a massive waste incinerator off nearby Shek Kwu Chau.

To make Lantau more attractive to tourists we must develop

Jeff Lam Yuet, District Councillor

But for the residents and activists, a feeling of desperation hung in the air, with many believing the incinerator was the latest sign of growing pressure on South Lantau from the government and developers.

It was as if they were symbolically mourning the death of Hong Kong’s environment and their way of life on Lantau.

Also joining the protest were activists from South Lantau’s Living Islands Movement, a group that promotes the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s islands with a focus on Lantau, established 10 years ago by Lantau resident Bob Bunker. The group sees the problem as a two-pronged attack – one from developers keen to take advantage of the growing number of tourists and residents on Lantau, the other from a government that sees relatively remote South Lantau as an ideal dumping ground for facilities and projects unpopular with residents in more populated areas.

Bunker describes a decade spent protecting the area’s environment from planned government projects, ranging from super prisons and drug rehabilitation centres to container ports. He says Lantau already shoulders an unfair share of Hong Kong’s unpopular sites. “Radioactive waste is dumped on the Soko Islands, there is an explosives dump in Mui Wo and there are already seven prisons on Lantau,” he says.

But for Bunker, and other activists including The Naked Islands Project founders Lindsey Price and Michael Raper, the mega-incinerator is the most audacious government plan yet. Living Islands Movement’s treasurer John Schofield speaks for them all when he says: “It’s a travesty.”

If it goes ahead, the incinerator will be the largest of its kind in Hong Kong, at an estimated cost of more than HK$15 billion. It is being considered for a man-made island off Shek Kwu Chau, and will be visible from some of the most popular beaches in South Lantau. The area is also an important marine habitat for finless porpoises. It is expected to take eight years to build.

The government, which says the incinerator will be state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly, sees it as an urgently needed solution to the city’s waste crisis.

Rainbow Wong Fuk-kan, Mui Wo’s representative on the Islands Council, supports the incinerator. “Hong Kong needs a place to handle rubbish. And incinerator technology is now very hi-tech. It won’t pollute the environment like incinerators from the past.” He says half of his constituents support the incinerator.

Environmentalists, however, claim the incinerator will pollute the air, and spoil one of Hong Kong’s last pristine coastal areas. They believe the waste crisis can be better addressed through public education, with an emphasis on recycling, and argue that newer, less-polluting alternatives have not been fully considered. They believe their concerns are falling on deaf ears and claim the government’s environmental assessments of the project are flawed and incomplete. Most of all, they feel confused and shocked that, with constant encroachment into Hong Kong’s natural areas, the government would consider such a large waste-disposal project in sight of one of the city’s most beautiful areas.

On July 26, just days after the Motion in the Ocean event, the islanders suffered a defeat when the courts rejected all eight objections to the incinerator brought by neighbouring Cheung Chau residents. The government will now retable the project in the Legislative Council.

But for activists on Lantau, the incinerator is just the latest addition to a growing list of projects which they feel are threatening their way of life.

While the island has been largely spared from the development boom seen on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, things started to change in 1997 with the airport opening and a link connecting Lantau to Hong Kong Island. At first, development came slowly and the population influx was mostly limited to airport workers. But with developments such as the Ngong Ping 360 cable car and Disneyland, Lantau was transformed into a tourist spot in its own right.

Development on Lantau has so far been dictated by a widely understood but unwritten rule: North Lantau, led by Tung Chung, would be open for development while South Lantau, with its natural beauty and important ecosystems, would be kept largely untouched. But now, with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge under construction, the island is bracing for an unprecedented influx of mainland tourists – and with it an influx in tourist dollars – fuelling fears that any agreement to leave South Lantau undeveloped will be ignored.

Residents point to two newly proposed developments in Mui Wo as proof. Schofield says the developments – home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats earmarked for government land – will provide housing for 2,000 people, and that one will be 18 storeys high, making it by far the tallest building in the village. While the development is small by Hong Kong standards, residents say it will have a big impact on Mui Wo. The 2011 census recorded 5,485 people living in Mui Wo and the surrounding area, meaning the development would increase the population by about 40 per cent.

Wong disputes these numbers. “The HOS will be low density and 13 or 14 storeys high. … after it is built, it will only have 400 new households. So with one household having four people, there will just be around 1,000 new people at most in Mui Wo.”

But District Council documents seen by the South China Morning Post show the planned HOS developments would house 1,420 and 500 people, respectively.

Residents also claim Mui Wo’s infrastructure will not cope with the influx, saying schooling, waste services and parking in particular are already tight. They also claim their concerns are not being addressed by their representatives in the Islands District Council.

When Schofield attended a District Council meeting, he was surprised to find the push to develop Mui Wo was coming from council members representing Tung Chung. Wong disputes this. “That North Lantau people dictate the development of South Lantau is not true; South Lantau people support development too, they just want slow development.”

Wong and Jeff Lam Yuet, the council member representing Tung Chung North, dispute claims the infrastructure in Mui Wo is inadequate.

“There are enough government facilities: there is a government building, a market and a pool, but they don’t have a big enough population. By building a home ownership scheme, or even public housing, they can fully utilise their resources and re-energise the community,” Lam says.

“Mui Wo has lots of infrastructure so there’s no problem in accommodating 1,000 more people,” says Wong.

Tung Chung representatives, however, make no secret of their desire to see the development of South Lantau. “The whole of Lantau is one big community and South Lantau is in recession now … [North Lantau] is under pressure from tourists. If we develop the south it can alleviate some of the pressure,” says Lam.

He sees big changes for Lantau: “With the third runway and terminal three coming soon, we want to make Tung Chung a hub connecting all of the attractions on Lantau. To make Lantau more attractive to tourists we must develop.”

Lam also supports opening the South Lantau Road to the public, which is currently open only to drivers – mostly residents – with special permits. However, many residents in the south feel permits are given too freely – the number has recently swollen to more than 10,000 – and that the system is insufficiently enforced. They fear opening the road will result in a massive increase in tourists and that South Lantau lacks the roads and parking to deal with it.

Today, things are calm in Mui Wo. The buffalo still roam and the tourists visit on weekends. But the area’s future is uncertain and local opinion is deeply divided. While Lam sees a golden age of tourism, Price and Raper say they and their two children will leave if the incinerator is built.

Schofield has no plans to move, but has some choice words to describe development around the south of the island: “It stinks.”

charley.lanyon@scmp.com [1]

Topics:

LIFE



Links:
[1] mailto:charley.lanyon@scmp.com

Airspace management reform urged

http://www.chinadailyapac.com/article/airspace-management-reform-urged

Airspace management reform urged

By Xin Dingding
October 30, 2012 – 9:35am http://www.chinadailyapac.com

http://www.chinadailyapac.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/content/images/20121030/0013729e477111f95e2e18.jpg

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Airplanes taxi at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport in 2011. (Zhang Bin / for China Daily)

The Pearl River Delta is one of the most congested parts of China’s airspace, with five major airports in the region, and none of them more than 200 kilometers apart from each other.

That’s a rare situation in the world, industry insiders said.

Yet, the region has a new runway under construction, another runway approved, and a new airport under consideration.

Civil aviation experts worried that the soon-to-be-added facilities will worsen congestion problems, given that only a small part of the Chinese airspace is for civil use, and called for a reform of the airspace management mechanism.

The new runway under construction at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport came after the National Development and Reform Commission approved the expansion plans in July.

The expansion project – which also includes plans for a new terminal and two more runways – aims to prepare the facility to handle 80 million passengers a year by 2020, up from 45 million passengers last year.

Guangzhou has been appointed as one of the country’s three main international aviation gateways, according to the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). The capital city of South China’s Guangdong province will mainly connect Oceania and Southeast Asia.

Guangzhou’s plans have clearly put pressure on Hong Kong International Airport, currently the busiest airport in the region. It handled 54 million passengers and 3.97 million tons of cargo last year.

As a way to secure the airport’s leading position in the region, the Hong Kong government has this year agreed in principle to a third runway, though some industry insiders believe that the runway won’t be ready for use until 2023.

Meanwhile, media reports said that Guangzhou is mulling a new airport in the Nansha New Area, a State-level development zone.

The city’s leadership believes that Nansha needs an airport to increase its appeal to investors, said Ouyang Jie, a professor at the Civil Aviation University of China who specializes in airport studies.

“Otherwise, air passengers, upon their arrival at Guangzhou Baiyun airport, will have to travel through crowded downtown Guangzhou in order to get to Nansha, which is situated at the southernmost edge of Guangzhou,” he said.

City officials also believe that because Nansha is at the geographical center of the Pearl River Delta region, the new airport will be able to cover the population of the whole region, which the Baiyun airport, located at the north of city, is unable to do, Ouyang added.

Experts are not optimistic about the future of a second airport in Guangzhou, though.

“If the military and the local government cannot reach a consensus and expand the airspace for civil use, the second-airport project cannot possibly be approved,” said Li Kun, a researcher with the Comprehensive Transport Institute, which is affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Congested airspace

The region’s sky has been so severely congested that the International Air Transport Association has said that the situation in the Pearl River Delta is one of the top three global air traffic control problems.

In the past few years, even though new runways were added, they failed to fuel traffic growth because of the congestion problems.

The congestion also increases fuel consumption. Researchers at the Aviation Policy and Research Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong estimated that the congestion costs more than HK$1 billion ($130 million) a year in fuel alone.

The most direct cause behind the congestion problems is that four of the five airports – in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao – are all packed at the mouth of the Pearl River, forcing planes to make detours to ensure safe take-offs and landings, professor Ouyang said.

The Guangzhou Baiyun airport is a little up in the north, but flights leaving the four airports for northern destinations all have to fly over Baiyun airport, adding to the problems there, he said.

Many people wonder why the airports were built so close to each other. Ouyang said that is due to complicated factors, involving “historical reasons”.

“Shenzhen, a pioneer of China’s reform and opening-up efforts, which started more than 30 years ago, tried to cooperate with the Hong Kong airport, but the different social systems and border policies made it impossible,” he said.

Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. Shenzhen, unable to wait for an airport to boost economic development, built an airport that opened in 1991.

It was a similar case in Zhuhai, which opened its airport in 1995, though it had mulled cooperating with Macao, which did not return to China until 1999, he said.

Ouyang believes that the only way for the five airports to survive in the region is if they have different functions, like the five airports in the Greater London area.

Zhuhai airport has the weakest performance among the five airports in the Pearl River Delta, as its planned scale is found to have surpassed the actual needs of the city’s population of 600,000.

A blessing in disguise for Zhuhai is that its redundant capacity has allowed it to host a biennial air show and develop general aviation flights, which refers to all civil aviation activities except for scheduled flights, he said.

However, the competition between Guangzhou and Shenzhen airports needs more attention, he said.

As the Hong Kong airport is an international air hub and the Macao airport aims to attract leisure tourists, intense competition exists mainly between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with both seeking development in passengers and cargo transportation, he said.

Coordination between the two airports will be difficult, since the two are run by two separate and independent corporations, he said.

Expansion needed

Expanding the airspace is also urgent, experts said.

The scarce airspace available for civil use has been noted by the government, especially when China’s civil aviation industry is still developing at a rapid pace, said Li with the Comprehensive Transport Institute.

Air passengers throughout China last year were 620 million, and that number is estimated to double by 2020.

Airports, fleets and air routes all have to expand to meet the demand, he said.

“It’s not just a problem for Guangzhou. The same problem exists in Beijing, Wuhan and Changsha,” Li said.

According to a draft plan on the development of the civil aviation industry issued by the Hunan provincial authorities, 21 more general aviation airports will be built in the Central China province before 2030, the Changsha Evening News reported on Thursday.

In neighboring Hubei province, nine airports will be built in the next 18 years, increasing the total number of airports in the province to 13.

In Wuhan, Hubei’s provincial capital, a second airport will be built, according to local media reports.

“Though the negotiation process over airspace will be time-consuming and difficult, it will work out finally. It has to,” Li said.

Xu Wei contributed to this story.

xindingding@chinadaily.com.cn

Iata chief demands regional airspace overhaul as the losses mount

Friday, 18 August, 2006, 12:00am

Russell Barling

The International Air Transport Association (Iata), aviation’s de facto governing body, next month will increase its outlook for industry losses this year largely on higher fuel costs.


The new figures will bring further pressure for an overhaul in how authorities in the Pearl River Delta region handle their airspace.


It will be Iata’s third upward shift this year, which speaks volumes about the volatile nature of the industry; even the experts have a hard time getting it right.


In June, Iata forecast industry losses of US$3 billion this year based on US$66 as the average trading price for a barrel of Brent crude.


The breakeven price for the industry is US$50 a barrel. The average price so far this year has been US$68.27, so losses will mount, according to Iata’s top executive, Giovanni Bisignani (pictured).

Iata’s projections for losses ‘will increase because we are seeing fuel bills higher than anticipated,’ Mr Bisignani said.

The good news is that Iata’s prognosticators were wrong in other areas too, some of which should at least have a positive impact on the carrier’s bottom lines.


Airlines’ load factors – the proportion of available seats they sell – are higher than expected thanks to strong demand and better attention to capacity management.


Carriers have also bought stronger fuel-hedging positions than was anticipated with jet kerosene prices so high, lowering their exposure to the upward trend.


Iata expected airlines to hedge on average 42 per cent of their fuel needs this year; it now looks like that proportion will be closer to 50 per cent.


‘Last year it was higher, but hedging at these levels scares people,’ Mr Bisignani said.


Industry yields – average earnings per kilometre flown – have also beaten expectations due to higher than expected demand for premium-class travel.


The problem is that premium-class travel, which has undergone a sustained period of growth over the past 18 months to account for 15 per cent of current demand on long-haul routes, is skittish.


It depends heavily on increasingly nervous US corporates, which have one eye on the Middle East and the other on Wall Street, and it remains to be seen if robust commercial activity in Europe and Asia can offset the impact of a slowdown in the US economy. Iata’s number-crunchers are trying to understand how much the positive surprises this year will mitigate the impact of the inexorable rise of jet fuel. One thing we know is that American carriers are on track to lose another US$5 billion this year, half of what they lost last year.


For the past two years, economists have struggled to figure out how high the price for a barrel of oil can go before it triggers a global slowdown. Those that predicted that US$50 barrels would start the slide have returned to their abacuses. Consensus now is that a slowdown will start at US$80 to US$85 a barrel. If that happens, airlines will still be facing escalating operating costs, but their yields will shrink and they will no longer have the shield of 6.5 per cent growth in passenger numbers.

What is certain is there is not much else the carriers can do to counter the price of fuel.
Which is why Iata has turned to the skies for answers.


Mr Bisignani said inefficient air traffic control systems were the top priority for Iata simply because they hold the most promise for savings.

Nowhere is that more true than in the Pearl River Delta, where a lack of centralised air traffic control results in flights into the region being 20 minutes longer than is necessary, costing airlines US$300 million a year in fuel.


Civil aviation departments on both sides of the border have been trying to hammer out an agreement.


But, predictably, the authorities have been reluctant to cede control of their airspace, even for the greater good.


It appears any agreement still remains a long way off and, with fuel prices rising with each day, time is of the essence for an industry whose options to cut costs are dwindling.


‘We appreciate all the efforts the local organisations are making [to resolve the airspace issue in the Pearl River Delta],’ Mr Bisignani said.


‘But when I see target dates of 2010, I say it’s too much. We have to be fast in achieving this.’

Topics:

Finance

Finance

International Air Transport Association

Giovanni Bisignani

Hedge

Business



Source URL (retrieved on Aug 2nd 2013, 5:00pm): http://www.scmp.com/article/560647/iata-chief-demands-regional-airspace-overhaul-losses-mount

Open military airspace to ease jams, says study

Sunday, 15 June, 2008, 12:00am

Yau Chui-yan

Flight limitations in Pearl River Delta adding millions to fuel costs

The central government should consider opening up military airspace and introducing integrated air-traffic management to ease air congestion in the Pearl River Delta region, researchers have said.

The suggestions were made in a Chinese University study that found congestion above the region’s five airports costs airlines hundreds of millions of dollars in extra fuel costs – partly as a result of having to constantly switch between three air-traffic control centres.

The airports at Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou, are served by air-navigation services in Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Hong Kong.

‘Aircraft flying near or across sector boundaries are frequently delayed as they are transferred from one controlling facility to another,’ the paper says.

It says more runways will not necessarily provide more capacity if the airspace congestion cannot be solved.

The Airport Authority began the second phase of a study on a third runway last month.

The researchers suggested that Beijing could open up military airspace for civilian use whenever possible, a principle widely adopted in Europe and the United States.

‘The dominance of Chinese military control over airspace is one of the reasons leading to airspace congestion. Also, there are more and more planes but the airspace remains limited,’ Law Cheung-kwok, a member of the research team, said.

‘But in the US, the Federal Aviation Authority owns and manages all the airspace. It provides the same services to the military as to civilians. This means the airspace can be better co-ordinated,’ Dr Law said.

According to the Civil Aviation Department, all airspace within the Hong Kong flight information region is available for civilian use.

It could not comment on mainland airspace.

Under requirements enforced by mainland authorities since colonial days, aircraft crossing from Hong Kong into Zhuhai airspace have to fly at about 5,000 metres, to minimise the effect on other air traffic. It has become known in aviation circles as an ‘invisible wall’.

The study found that seven out of every 10 Dragonair mainland flights, 90 per cent of all its total flights, experienced delays in 2006. In 2004 the figure was 3.6 in 10.

Government data quoted in the paper shows that more than 3,000 flights from Hong Kong were delayed in 2006, more than three times the number recorded in 2004.

The paper also estimated that extra fuel costs from detours caused by the ‘invisible wall’ amounted to about HK$605 million in 2006.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and the Civil Aviation Authority Macau set up a working group in February 2004 to optimise the use of Pearl River Delta airspace.

Last year, the group agreed that a future air-traffic management plan might include changes to airspace structure and establishment of more routes.

In order to alleviate congestion, mainland authorities recently dropped the altitude requirement from 11pm to 7am, the effectiveness of which has been questioned by academics.

‘How many flights are there in this time period?’ Dr Law asked.

The paper also stated that air-traffic congestion within the Pearl River Delta affected Hong Kong most directly.

The Pearl River Delta includes five major airports in close proximity: Guangzhou New Baiyun International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Macau International Airport, Shenzhen Baoan International Airport and Zhuhai Airport.

Although Guangzhou airport is about 140km from Hong Kong, the other three airports are less than 60km from the city.

After looking at US and European Union models, the study concluded that an integrated military-civilian air-traffic management infrastructure might be the solution to air congestion in the Pearl River Delta.

The unfriendly skies

Congestion in the Pearl River Delta airspaces is causing problems in the areas of…

Flight time

The percentage of Dragonair flights delayed in 2006: 70%

Fuel consumption

The extra fuel costs incurred by all flights arriving or departing from Chek Lap Kok in 2006: HK$605m

SOURCE: CHINESE UNIVERSITY

Topics:

Air Traffic Control

Airport

Airport

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines

Pearl River Delta



Source URL (retrieved on Aug 2nd 2013, 3:58pm): http://www.scmp.com/article/641709/open-military-airspace-ease-jams-says-study

China’s airport outrage: all about airspace?

Jul 18, 2013 9:58am by Lydia Guo

http://blogs.r.ftdata.co.uk/beyond-brics/files/2013/07/Changshui-International-Airport-167x111.jpgEdward Snowden must be getting a lot of sympathy in China, at least among those fed up with being stranded at airports. Delayed flights are a common experience and it’s getting worse. Why is it so hard to get flights on time in China?

Airport outrage has exploded into more and more violent encounters between passengers and airport staff. Click here for a video showing one recent example from Beijing Airport.

http://blogs.r.ftdata.co.uk/beyond-brics/files/2013/07/god-of-punctuality-391x448.jpgIt’s not only passengers who are fed up with the delays. Here, two flight attendents pray to their self-made “god of punctuality” on a food trolley turned altar. The photo has gone viral in China.

The official Xinhua news agency commented on the photo, blaming failures of punctuality on a combination of air traffic control, transport links to and between airports and airline management and other factors.

Chinese airports were shamed in a recent report by FlightStats, a US company that tracks airline and airport performance. Airports in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou took the last three places out of 35 in a ranking for punctuality, with only about a quarter of flights leaving on time compared with more than three quarters at most other international airports.

The sense of being badly treated is widespread. One engineer at Hainan Airlines who asked not to be named told beyondbrics it was normal for both passengers and airline staff to be kept waiting for hours with no information on when they might fly. “Military control of the airspace is the most important reason for the current situation,” he said.

China’s airspace has been controlled by the military since 1950s,. The engineer said only 20 per cent of airspace was authorised for use by civil aviation, with the rest reserved for military use.

Article 28 of the Basic Rules of Aviation in the People’s Republic of China stipulates that the air force of People’s Liberation Army controls all air traffic in the country, although there is no information on how much is allocated to civil aviation.

Chinese media also put the blame on military control. But The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is coy about handing out blame. In its 2012 annual report, it said 38.5 per cent of delays were caused by airlines, 25 per cent by air traffic control and 21.6 per cent by bad weather.

Congestion is only getting worse. In the past five years, the number of people travelling has increased at an annual rate of more than 14 per cent. In its five-year plan for 2011 to 2015, the CAAC expected growth to continue at 9 to 10 per cent a year. And here it is clear on the biggest challenge: a shortage of airspace

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/07/18/chinas-airport-outrage-all-about-airspace/?

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http://img2.cache.netease.com/cnews/2010/8/12/201008120011157a679.jpg

近来,面对层出不穷的航班延误事件,乘客不解、愤怒、甚至是见怪不怪,延误已经成为了航空运输“不可分割”的一部分。实际上,飞机延误其实是一个极其复杂的过程,在现实中,民航飞机甚至比汽车在地面受到的限制还多。而一旦其中一个环节出现问题,各种因素会相互叠加,坏状况就会将像链条一样传导下去。其实,“天高任鸟飞”还只是想象。

航空管制:“天高任鸟飞”只是理想

http://img1.cache.netease.com/cnews/2010/8/12/2010081208312336158.jpg

并不是所有空域民航飞机都能随意飞行。

http://img1.cache.netease.com/cnews/2010/8/11/201008111924500dacf.jpg

开放空域少是造成商业航班晚点的主因。

中国大约80%的空域不能为民用航空所用

目前,中国空域管理与使用处于一种“分离状况”:空域管理权属于空军,民航总局只能在空军的允许范围内使用空域,要随时接受空军的管理。中国大约80%的领空处于军方的直接管制之下,而民航能够利用的空域只有不到20%比例,这20%还得在军方的严厉管控下方可使用。相比之下,美国逾90%的领空留作民用。中国空军在主要城市上空强制设置了禁飞区。在军事意义不大的偏远地区,政府划定了禁飞区,因为雷达系统和其它基础设施不足,无法保障安全。

当某片空域要进行军事活动,或者有空军的飞机活动时,就会下达通知周边所有机场此处空域演习,所有民用航班要进行管控。空中演习由于属于国家机密,这种空中管制来的往往比较突然。管控理由、管控时间、管控区域等都属于军事机密,无法透露给普通乘客,这也是航空公司往往对航班延误无法做出明确解释的原因之一。[详细]

全国约有上百个空中管制区

中国大陆及临海上空划分为11个飞行情报区,总面积约1081万平方公里。除台北和香港两个飞行情报区外,目前全国划设19个高空管制区,28个中低空管制区,25个进近管制区,1个终端管制区;军方划设了2个空中禁区、66个空中危险区、199个空中限制区,以及若干个军事训练空域。[详细]

总航线中仅有38%为国内航班的固定航线

目前中国的航路航线总距离约16.4万公里,其中国际航路航线约占46.2%,临时航线约占16.2%。近五年来,全国航路航线总距离年均增长约2.6%,远远低于我国航空运输总周转量年均两位数的增长。全国临时航线总数达到77条,总距离达2.67万公里。2010年约21.5万架次航班使用临时航线。[详细]



航线航路:空中塞车并非奇谈

http://img2.cache.netease.com/cnews/2010/8/11/201008111918335139d.jpg

空中“塞飞机”甚至比地面塞车更加频繁。

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每座机场通常只有13个进出场航路,飞机起飞降落都必须经过此航路。

飞机只能在宽20公里,高0-14000米的航路上飞

“很多旅客觉得天空那么大,怎么会像地面道路一样发生堵塞,完全可以随便飞嘛。”实际上不是这样的。飞机也要按既定的航路飞行,当航路无法容纳不断增长的航班时,一样会发生拥挤。例如京广航路,就是一条宽20公里、高度从014000米的空中通道。飞机只能在这一航路上飞行,不能有任何偏离。京广间的所有航班,以及从郑州、武汉、长沙等地至北京、广州方向的航班,从东北等地前往广州方向的航班,都要在这一航路上飞行。在这种情况下,随着民航运量的不断增加,特别是京广以及京广以东的航路,航路拥堵带来的流量控制成为必然。

一航路多航线共用,“车多路少”只能排队飞

目前,中国大部分航路已实现了雷达管制。在此之前采用程序控制,同一高度上每架飞机之间要相隔150公里。雷达管制后这一距离很快缩短至75公里。现在东部地区一些航路上,飞机间隔已缩至20公里。据介绍,现在北京、上海、广州三个最繁忙区域正在争取到年底把距离从20公里缩至10公里,这样也会减少流量控制发生的几率。

与水平距离相对应,飞机飞行也需要相应的垂直距离相隔,也就是垂直面上的平行飞。此前,民航客机理论上在垂直距离每间隔600米可以有一架飞机飞行。200711月后,华东地区航路的垂直间隔飞行高度层由600米调整到了300米,使得在8400米到12500米的垂直空域中飞行高度层由过去的7个增加到13个。这也意味着此航路变成了水平方向一“车道”,垂直方向13“车道”的大“马路”。虽然实现了航路的扩宽,但相比增速更快的客流量,塞飞机的现象还是没有好转。

进出港线路少且固定,极易造成拥堵

每座机场都有固定的进出港航路,所有飞机都必须按照固定航路飞行,不能乱飞。以广州新白云机场为例,该机场一共只有三个出口,北出口在韶关,东边的出口在龙门,西出口在南宁。每个进出口到机场上空的距离约两三百公里,这段路程被称为空中走廊。白云机场每天进出港的近千架飞机,在进入机场的管制区后,都只能通过这三个出口起降。



天气原因:不只是托词

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天气原因常常是航空公司面对晚点最常用的“借口”,但事实上真正影响飞行的天气原因并非普通乘客能够简单感受到的。

眼前天气晴朗,但飞机不一定能起飞

目前,天气原因是造成航班延误的主要原因。但从乘客的角度来说,天气恶劣就是出发地和目的地的天气是好是坏,但这只是天气原因中的一个。一般民航服务人员往往和旅客一样也不了解具体是什么恶劣天气影响航班的。“天气原因”简单的四个字实际包含了很多种情况:除了出发地机场天气状况不宜起飞;目的地机场天气状况不宜降落以外,还有其他更多更重要的原因。由于航线航路上空的天气问题难以解释,飞机又不能绕道走,所以航空公司通常用“天气原因”四个字来解释,就极易造成乘客误解。

最重要的因素:全程航路上气象状况不宜飞越

事实上,一旦在狭窄的航路上出现雷雨区等状况,某些条件下可采取饶过雷雨区的方式通过,但出于飞行安全和军方空管需要,民航航路是严格受限的,可饶飞、回旋的余地很小,异常气象区较大时,此方法就行不通了。特别在长途飞行中,航线长并且窄,在漫长的航线上只要有任意一个区域天气状况不适合飞行,就有可能造成航班延误。

不同机型和不同机组对天气的要求不一样

航班延误过程中,往往同样是飞往某地的航班,有些能走,有些却被告知因天气原因走不了?出现这种情况的可能性很多,首先要明确的是飞机起降的标准与飞机机型有关,同样的机型在各航空公司定的具体安全标准也可能有差异,机长对当前气象及趋势作出决策也会有所不同。取决于机长对飞机状态、机场、气象等判断后的决定。民航法规定,“机长发现民用航空器、机场、气象条件等不符合规定,不能保证飞行安全的,有权拒绝飞行”。



旅客原因:飞机其实很脆弱

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乘客也是飞行安全和效率的组成部分之一。

乘客晚到舱门不能正点关上,无法申请排队起飞

乘客也是飞行安全和效率的组成部分之一,乘客的配合程度与飞机正点与否密切相关。在乘客登机这一环节,开放登机口后,航空公司总会劝说旅客尽快登机。当所有旅客上机,舱门关闭那一刻非常重要,关舱门时飞行员就申请航班(所以通常说的航班时刻其实是关舱门的时刻,关上舱门后最终的起飞时间就交给塔台了)。白云机场的航班密度非常大,航班时刻很紧张,旺季两三分钟就起飞一架,飞行员延误一分钟申请航班,就要给后面所有正点申请的航班让路。有时候甚至要让过后面十几班航班才能起飞。所以一旦乘客由于种种原因导致飞机没有在正点关上舱门并报备申请飞行,需要重新排队,甚至还会影响到其他正点飞机的飞行。

3个以上的乘客位置重量变化飞机将重新报备

每架飞机起飞前,都会在所有乘客落座后,打印出舱单,根据旅客的位置和重量,通过电脑计算,制作飞行平衡图。737这样的大飞机,因为载重平衡点比较宽,可以容忍13个乘客的变动。也就是说,3个以内的乘客发生变动,飞行员还可以用手工方式修改平衡图。如果是不到100座的小飞机,一个乘客的位置变化都可能导致飞机的平衡重心发生变化,都需要飞行员重新制作舱单和平衡图,重新回电脑进行验正。一旦有乘客不遵守安全规则导致飞机不能正点报备,延误就成为必然。[据三联生活周周刊]



飞机调配原因:晚点一架,牵出一串

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由于不是一条航线一架飞机,所以任何一班航班的异常都会引起多条航线的异常反应。

400架飞机跑上千条航线,前一航班晚点会引起连环晚点

南航现有的403架飞机,平均每架飞机的飞行时间要达到10小时/天,相当于每架飞机每天要承担34趟航班,再加上飞机在地面上下客、清洁、装卸货、例行检查等过站时间,一般每天运行16小时左右。从经营角度考虑,这种尽量增加飞机运营时间的策略并没有错。但一旦出现大面积航班延误,就容易出现飞机周转困难——航空公司并没有也不可能有充足的备份飞机来代替未按时到岗的飞机。每架飞机的航班计划都预先排好,周旋余地不是太大。前一航班出现任何疏漏都可能引发后续航班的连锁反应,往往越到后面延误时间越长。

准备大量备用飞机成本高昂

按照运营常规,每家航空公司都要留出一定量的飞机作为备份,一旦发生飞机延误,不能按时到岗时,备份飞机可以执行航班任务。但专门准备大量备用飞机是不可能的,这将会大大增加公司运营成本。航空公司的大部分飞机都是租赁的,如果停在机场不动,每小时的停机费约7万元,这是一笔极其高昂的费用。[据三联生活周周刊]



航班延误是一个世界性难题,本身就是一块难啃的“硬骨头”。目前国外航空公司航班正常率也只在80%左右。而国内民航航班能够利用的空域不多,使得延误问题异常突出。此外,航空公司由于种种原因由无法与乘客充分沟通,造成的信息不对称最终导致了僵局的出现。