London’s Heathrow airport, which has operated close to capacity since the start of the decade, boosted passenger numbers 1.4 per cent to 73.4 million last year as airlines deployed larger jets to make the best use of slots.
Even so, the addition of 1.1 million travellers was less than half the 2.7 million extra customers who used London Gatwick, Heathrow’s chief rival for a new runway in southeast England, where the annual growth rate was 7.6 per cent.
Heathrow was overtaken by Dubai International Airport last year as the world's busiest for international passenger traffic.
Heathrow needs a third runway to lift growth rates as capacity to add flights becomes limited, with the number up just 0.2 per cent to 470,695 in 2014. Gatwick, also shortlisted for expansion by a state Airports Commission, attracted 38.1 million passengers with its single runway last year.
“Airlines can only make flights to many long haul destinations viable from a hub airport,” Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said in a statement, citing the recent move of Vietnam Airlines to Heathrow from Gatwick.
Gatwick said its record figures show that the UK needs an expanded airport that serves the widest range of travel modes, including low-cost flights with carriers such as EasyJet, which Heathrow doesn’t generally provide.
“Airport expansion should be for the many not the few, and our broad range of growth underlines that Gatwick is the obvious solution,” Gatwick chief financial officer Nick Dunn said in a statement. The Airport Commission’s final recommendations are due later this year after the May general election.
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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