London Southend Airport
Throughout the year under review, governments across the world gradually got to grips with managing the spread of COVID-19 and rolled out vaccine programmes. This in turn led to a relaxation of travel rules in and between the UK and other territories, resulting in a trend by mid2021 towards increased capacity and associated passenger numbers.
This improvement however was dealt a sudden blow with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant toward the end of the calendar year, which slowed growth and impacted capacity for the Winter season across Europe. The impact of this however now looks more like a bump in the road rather than the start of a new trend.
Indeed, as we enter the Summer 2022 season, travel restrictions have now largely been either significantly reduced or dropped altogether in many, though not all, European countries. As a result, airlines are looking to capitalise on demand that has steadily built up over the last two years.
This built up demand has been tested following the end of our financial year, with the conflict in Ukraine inevitably having had an impact on airline capacity decisions. Fuel prices inflation and cost of living increases have also created uncertainty for both customer demand and airline route decisions, in the short term.
The impact of higher fuel prices on both customer demand and airline flying capacity is currently unclear. However, airlines on the whole are expected to allocate around 80% of Summer 2019 capacity in Summer 2022, with some low-cost carrier airlines exceeding that position. As we expected, it has been the low-cost carriers and short-haul airlines that have recovered fastest. They are seeing significant demand for short-haul travel, mainly to other European countries with advanced vaccine roll-out programmes, for leisure, visiting friends and family and business reasons, although the level of vaccination still varies significantly by location.
This pent-up demand, the relaxation of travel rules and the growth of some airline fleets, has led the majority of industry analysts to maintain their forecast that aviation in general will recover to very close to pre-pandemic levels in calendar year 2024.
However, there is also a view in some quarters that the European short-haul aviation sector could recover towards pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023.
Over the last couple of years a number of short-haul airlines secured the slots to operate from Heathrow and Gatwick that would normally be taken up by long-haul operators or airlines with long-standing bases at those airports. The ability to secure slots at these airports on a short-term basis is however becoming increasingly rare, with few slots now available for the Summer 2022 season, though we have seen some recent transactions at Gatwick. There has been a trend towards a focus on ‘primary’ airports (Heathrow and Gatwick) which is likely to ease as capacity at those airports is taken up. However, by Summer 2024, or at the latest Summer 2025, it is expected that the London aviation system will be capacity constrained once again.
This return to capacity constraints comes at a time when many airlines are planning to grow, with large, long-standing fleet orders ready to be fulfilled. The constraints on capacity, coupled with the growth in airline fleets, is likely to make London Southend Airport the natural solution to airlines looking to operate within the London market in a relatively short timescale.
Airlines on the whole are expected to allocate around 80% of Summer 2019 capacity in Summer 2022, with some low-cost carrier airlines exceeding that position.
Esken Renewables
The conflict in Ukraine has brought the UK’s ability to generate and rely on its own energy sources into sharp focus. The war has meant that countries across Europe are being forced to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and gas supplies and re-evaluate their own ability to generate energy.
The UK must seek to maintain its energy security by diversifying the sources of its energy, while increasing the contribution of renewable energy sources. UK-sourced sustainable bioenergy will continue to play an important role in this journey to increased energy independence. Currently the UK sources 7-9% of its electricity supply from the UK’s biomass power supply chain. The Climate Change Committee believes both that sustainably-sourced bioenergy could contribute up to 15% of the UK’s primary energy by 2050 and that “sustainable bioenergy is essential for reaching Net Zero”.
The UK Government is expected to publish its Biomass Strategy in 2022, setting out how biomass can best contribute towards Net Zero across the economy. In November 2021 the UK Government published its Biomass Policy Statement which was a welcome step towards this new Biomass Strategy. The key principles of the statement were to set out how biomass can help the UK deliver its carbon budget and Net Zero ambitions, and how biomass can be utilised with carbon capture to achieve negative emissions. It is expected that under the new strategy, biomass will be prioritised over the longer term to support sustainable fossil fuel replacement, fuels from waste, aviation fuel and hydrogen production.
We support the role of biomass at the heart of the UK’s transition to Net Zero and advocate the numerous benefits of waste and by-productderived biomass. Combining waste and by-product-derived bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), as well as hydrogen, will be critical to the UK’s decarbonisation and energy security. Esken Renewables will work closely with the wider sector as the Biomass Strategy evolves and carbon capture and hydrogen business models develop.
Our core business is the production of waste wood derived biomass fuel, which is currently delivering significant carbon benefit to the UK economy. Over the past couple of years waste wood volumes have been volatile, due to the lockdowns imposed as a result of the pandemic. However, this year we have seen a stable return of waste wood volumes as the economic activity has started to recover and stabilise.
Construction output increased 12.7% in 2021 from 2020 levels, and in December 2021 construction output was in line with pre-pandemic levels. This resulted in an improvement in waste wood availability, which along with waste wood from recycling centres, underpinned gate fee pricing. At the same time, the biomass power plants that we supply are now maturing. Plant operators are seeking to improve availability and operate in a more consistent way, turning their focus to long-term efficiency and asset optimisation.
The increased availability of waste wood and improving picture around plant availability allowed Esken Renewables to increase the amount of waste wood it diverts away from landfill. As a result, we were able to prevent 630,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. That’s the same volume of emissions savings as taking 135,746 cars off the road for a year.
The importance of sustainable biomass fuel to both UK domestic energy security and to achieving Net Zero targets is a key driver to Esken Renewables’ growth ambitions, and we will continue to strive to take domestic waste feedstocks and optimise the process for UK electricity generation. Biomass will play an increasingly important role in future UK energy generation.
The UK must seek to maintain its energy security by diversifying the sources of its energy, while increasing the contribution of renewable energy sources. UK-sourced sustainable bioenergy will continue to play an important role in this journey to increased energy independence. Currently the UK sources 7-9% of its electricity supply from the UK’s biomass power supply chain. The Climate Change Committee believes both that sustainably-sourced bioenergy could contribute up to 15% of the UK’s primary energy by 2050 and that “sustainable bioenergy is essential for reaching Net Zero”.
The UK Government is expected to publish its Biomass Strategy in 2022, setting out how biomass can best contribute towards Net Zero across the economy. In November 2021 the UK Government published its Biomass Policy Statement which was a welcome step towards this new Biomass Strategy. The key principles of the statement were to set out how biomass can help the UK deliver its carbon budget and Net Zero ambitions, and how biomass can be utilised with carbon capture to achieve negative emissions. It is expected that under the new strategy, biomass will be prioritised over the longer term to support sustainable fossil fuel replacement, fuels from waste, aviation fuel and hydrogen production.
We support the role of biomass at the heart of the UK’s transition to Net Zero and advocate the numerous benefits of waste and by-productderived biomass. Combining waste and by-product-derived bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), as well as hydrogen, will be critical to the UK’s decarbonisation and energy security. Esken Renewables will work closely with the wider sector as the Biomass Strategy evolves and carbon capture and hydrogen business models develop.
Our core business is the production of waste wood derived biomass fuel, which is currently delivering significant carbon benefit to the UK economy. Over the past couple of years waste wood volumes have been volatile, due to the lockdowns imposed as a result of the pandemic. However, this year we have seen a stable return of waste wood volumes as the economic activity has started to recover and stabilise.
Construction output increased 12.7% in 2021 from 2020 levels, and in December 2021 construction output was in line with pre-pandemic levels. This resulted in an improvement in waste wood availability, which along with waste wood from recycling centres, underpinned gate fee pricing. At the same time, the biomass power plants that we supply are now maturing. Plant operators are seeking to improve availability and operate in a more consistent way, turning their focus to long-term efficiency and asset optimisation.
The increased availability of waste wood and improving picture around plant availability allowed Esken Renewables to increase the amount of waste wood it diverts away from landfill. As a result, we were able to prevent 630,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. That’s the same volume of emissions savings as taking 135,746 cars off the road for a year.
The importance of sustainable biomass fuel to both UK domestic energy security and to achieving Net Zero targets is a key driver to Esken Renewables’ growth ambitions, and we will continue to strive to take domestic waste feedstocks and optimise the process for UK electricity generation. Biomass will play an increasingly important role in future UK energy generation.
The conflict in Ukraine has brought the UK’s ability to generate and rely on its own energy sources into sharp focus.