According to an interview in yesterday's SZ, Lufthansa CEO Mayrhuber firmly believes that Munich's airport needs a third runway "aus wirtschaftlichen und ökologischen Gründen" ("for business and for ecological reasons"). He didn't elaborate.
Maybe I'm stupid, but why would it be necessary for - of all things - ecological reasons to build an additional airport runway?
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Shaun Rein on the TSM
vor 10 Monaten
One possible ecological reason would be the minimization of unnecessary flight time due to constraints in landings/hour.
AntwortenLöschenIf an airport is overcrowded, the machines have circle around the airport before landing. Thus, the airplanes consumes more fuel. With an additional runway, the aitplanes need not wait, thus, consumes less fuel!!! Therefore, it's "ecological" ;)
AntwortenLöschenIt's smart to argue like this, because you avoid asking why there are so many airplanes in the sky. The airplanes are just there, like magic or due to a higher power, an airport boss cannot influence...
In germany another reason exist. If one airport is allowed to expand, eg munich, then fraport or even berlin will argue with "competition". the local authorities will get pressure like "munich will steal our income!" (like parent with multiple kids) At the end of the day everybody get a new runway... and the population of airplanes somewhere in the sky can grow further... That is win-win-win-Situation: Manufacturer, Operators, Airports.
Yeah, I suppose he had the circling in mind.
AntwortenLöschenSomewhere else in the article he actually claims that flying is more "ecological" than using the car or the train. For all I know, that's simply wrong.
There's no way a plane can compete with a train, assuming similar occupancy of seats.
And sure, a fully booked plane may burn less oil than a single person driving his BMW. But over short distances, two people burn less oil if they drive to their destination by car as opposed to taking the plane (assuming they use a Golf and not a BMW 7er series).
Yes Thomas! Domestic flights (short distance) is pretty wasteful bcoz fuel consumption peaks while starting and landing - It's a matter of gravity. If DeutscheBahn would be as fast as France's TGV network, domestic flights wouldn't be a topic in Germany. With faster trains and better airport-train connectivity, there would be more free capacity for attractive inter-continental flights.
AntwortenLöschenAnd, driving car without all theses constructions sides, trucks and slow cars on the fast lane, would be much less fuel inefficient - Bcoz, if you break, you transform kinetic energy to heat. HEAT! Think of global warming!!! We need more fast lanes! Or slow cars should have sensor to switch to right lane, if a "low heat efficient car" is coming. ;) Wow, that might be a good marketing stuff! Slogan: "low heat greenmotion technology - be aware of global warming" ...