Runway 2? Not yet...

Some good news has come up in the last couple of weeks. It seems that for once, big business hasn't panicked the (local) government into playing their tune, and the airport won't -yet- be given permission to smash their way through the local farms and villages to build a new runway. The State President (of Baden-Württemberg) has decided that as the airport is currently running at 65% of capacity, that will be a while before they will need to do any tarmac laying, or start flying at 5am.

With Stuttgart becoming a hub of the growing European high-speed rail network, a high speed line planned which will serve the airport terminal, the international airline industry not just feeling the pinch, but in crisis, and the EU's insistence that the airlines pay for their carbon emissions by 2012, it may be a while before they are in a position to do so. (Of course, the airlines are saying it's everyone else's fault) It's even possible that we've seen the peak of low-cost air travel. Stephen Rees, a former transport planner in London and Vancouver is one of a number of voices speculating that air will soon have to make way for rail:

My prediction is that the airlines will retreat from the mass market, and return to the days when they were an expensive luxury. They will pull out of the short distance markets too as more fuel efficient modes are already there in many parts of the world, and will be here before long, once the North American railways get their act together. (Full post here)

Good news for the region. I wonder if Gordon Brown is listening?