The Objectives and Management of the Gatwick Airport - Research Paper Example

The Impact of building a Second Runway at Gatwick Airport & its current contentious issues By: November, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 Introduction 1.1.1 Problem Statement and Research Questions 1.1.2 Objectives and Hypothesis of Work 2.0 Summary of Literature 3.0 Research Methods and Design 4.0 Time Plan and Milestones References 1.0 Introduction Concerns over the increasing congestion of the Gatwick Airport have heightened of late. This airport operates currently on a single runway and there is a projection that after 2015 should things continue this way, the airport will be unable to function or will have to redirect most of its activities to other areas should things remain unchanged. Of late, the government of the United Kingdom together with the Gatwick area council have been evaluating the possibility of a second runway. The management of the Airport forecasts that by 2010 they will be working to their close capacity as a single runway operation. Considering an increase in average aircraft size, the Airport Management predicts that approximately 40million passengers will be handled by the year 2015 86% of whom would start or end their journeys at Gatwick. Such an action will be associated with a number of benefits and costs. The benefits include creation of jobs. According to the Gatwick Airport Management, workers at the airport will benefit from an extra income of 7million a week. In addition, it is anticipated that 27,300 jobs will be created at Gatwick in 2015. The noise from Aircrafts as well as the emission of Nitrogen oxide is a cause for concern. In addition, the operation of the airport itself has a range of environmental impacts over and above those of the aircraft that use it. A second runway at Gatwick is therefore characterised by a number of costs and benefits. 1.1.1 Problems Statements and Research Questions Considering that a second runway has both opportunities and threats and well as costs and benefits. This paper seeks to investigate and provide an answer to the following research questions What are the problems currently faced by the Gatwick Airport by having a single runway Is the construction of a second runway at the Gatwick Airport a solution to these problems What will be the likely problems should the government fails to create a second runway 1.1.2 Objectives and Hypothesis of Work Considering that a second runway has both opportunities and threats and well as costs and benefits, the objectives and hypothesis of this paper are defined within the following. The main objective of this paper will be to evaluate and analysed the problems being faced by the Gatwick Airport by operating on a single runway. In addition, the paper will analyse and find out whether a second runway at Gatwick is worth the trouble. The paper finally looks into the consequences should the government fails to construct a second runway 2.0 Summary of Literature According to Friends of the Earth (2003) government's intention to build more airports, terminals and runways, is likely to have a disastrous effect on the world's climate. One of the main causes of climate change is Carbon dioxide pollution and aviation is one of the fastest growing sources. (Friends of the Earth, 2003). According to another report by Friends of the Earth titled "Aviation and Global Climate Change", Air travel emissions are already responsible for 3.5 per cent of man-made climate change and if the industry continues to grow at its current rate it will go up to 15 per cent by 2050. (http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/aviation_climate_change.pdf). In June 2003 the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) wrote to the Government and noted that "even with the most conservative figures for growth in air travel, by 2020 aviation will be contributing 10 per cent of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions. (Friends of the Earth, 2003). In another research conducted by Friends of the Earth (FOE), it was postulated that, research, based on the Government's own data, shows how the present Ministers' airport expansion plans mean, climate change emissions from the UK aviation industry will soar by 350% from 1990 to 2030. The British government own forecasts suggest that aviation emissions of carbon dioxide such as the principal greenhouse gas will rise to 70-80 million tonnes by the year 2030. In addition, while emissions from domestic flights are included within the Kyoto Protocol international agreement on climate change, emissions from international flights are not (FOE 2003). The Gatwick Airport is usually regarded as a single runway airport, whereas it has two runways. The northern runway can only be used when the main runway is out of use, for example because of maintenance or an accident. According to the airport authority report, the runways cannot be used at the same time because there is insufficient separation between them, and during normal operation the northern runway is used as a taxiway. It can take up to 15 minutes to change over from one runway to the other. FOE (2003) further argues and states that unit costs at individual airports will be influenced by a whole range of factors which according to FOE (2003) varies from country to country and between airports in the same country. Airports, by the nature of their activities exhibit certain economic characteristics irrespective of their cost structure. According to Ruzza, (2004, p.56) cited in EEC Note No. 10/07 significance economies of scale do follow airport operations. According to the researcher, as airports increases their traffic throughput, the cost per unit per traffic declines. However, earlier studies in the British airports showed that unit costs fall sharply as profits throughputs (EEC Note N0. 10/07). According to EEC Note N0. 10/07 European institutions and in particular the European Parliament have extended their competence over air transport (EEC Note N0. 10/07). And, while increasingly involving interest groups -between those who present the arguments of ecologists against nuisance and those of groups of public actors or industrialists, there is a whole range of negotiations and tensions(EEC Note N0. 10/07). The European institutions are progressively reshaping the evolution of this industrial sector. The process of reshaping the air transport industry has already started at the European level and decisions on new measures are awaited. Glantz (2005) argues that, all these are results of a low grade, long-term and cumulative processes. According to Gantz (2005), world environmental problems include but are not limited to air-pollution, climate change, environmental disaster, effect of warfare, europhication, coastal pollution, mangrove destruction, skin cancer, and soil erosion (Glantz 2005, Cline 2007). The burning of fossil fuels and other human activities producing green house gases has also drawn the attention of the scientific and international community to what has become known as global warming. In the list of potential damages of global warming, the negative effect on the world's agriculture stands out as the most important. The list of these problems is inexhaustible. Kreiger, (2001), refers to the present scenario as a legal framework entitling the owner of those means to the profits they generate subject only to non-arbitrary taxation. Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the awareness, acceptance, and management of the implications and effects of all corporate decision-making, taking particular account of community investment, human rights, and employee relations, environmental practices, and ethical conduct. (Park, 2007). According to Hsueh (2008) CSR has received much attention in recent years and more and more businesses are taking CSR to improve their corporate image. CSR activities show consideration for the environment, consumers, charity, minority groups, employee welfare, community development, women empowerment, etc. (Hsueh, 2008) For example car manufacturers across the globe are responding to the major global concern of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission which is tremendously depleting the ozone layer and increasing the risk of cancer and other diseases that come as a result of ultraviolet light. Today, the requirements of an organisation's stakeholders including, customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, government, etc are on a continuous rise. In addition, to providing an annual report to the company's shareholders organisations are expected to provide alongside a corporate social responsibility report that details how they interact with society and the environment in which they operate. A mining company may have to disclose how it maintains safety of its workers. Mining is a very risky job and a lot of cases mining casualties where people die in gold mines for example have been reported. Organisations in such industries therefore have a legal obligation to disclose in a corporate social responsibility report the safety measures that they have put in place to tackle such casualties so as to reduce their chances of occurrence to zero. Conventional wisdom dictates that any mining company that cannot demonstrate that it has good safety measures is likely not going to attract enough workers. This is true given that potential employees to such an industry are particularly concern about their safety, although they may need the job as a means of making a living. This paper seeks to carry out an analysis of corporate social responsibility, the consequences of global capitalism, how businesses should use CSR as well as some personal conclusions based on the findings. The practice of CSR is subject to much debate and criticism. Proponents argue that there is a strong business case for CSR, in that corporations benefit in multiple ways by operating with a perspective broader and longer than their own immediate, short-term profits". (Sacconi, 2004) "Critics argue that CSR distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window-dressing; still others argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations". (Bulkeley, 2001; Sacconi, 2004). Law (2006) define social responsibility reporting (corporate social reporting)as the reporting of social accounting issues by a business. These may be discussed in the annual accounts and report or form the basis of a separate report. Social responsibility costs are the costs to the business of e.g. equipment donated, sponsorship given, or charitable donations 3.0 Research Methods and Design The proposed study will utilize a mixed methods approach and will be quasi experimental in nature. According to Saunders et al (2000) both quantitative and qualitative data analyses can be used in analysing data to arrive at reasonable conclusions. This study will therefore employ both quantitative and qualitative methods to accomplish its objectives. The paper intends to carry out this by conducting a survey through the use of a questionnaire about people's feelings about this proposed plan. The survey will target environmentalists, government agents, and airport managers. The survey will be aimed at understanding the costs and benefits associated with the project as well as the measures put in place to minimise the costs associated with the plan. A research method is simply a way of collecting data, with specific instrument such as a self-completion questionnaire or a structured interview schedule or where a researcher listen to and watches others (Bryman, & Bell 2004:32). There are however two research methods from which the above examples stem from. The qualitative and quantitative research methods. None of the method is better than the other, as each of the methods becomes efficient and effective once used in the proper context. Qualitative research would seem to have the monopoly of the ability to study meaning. It proponents essentially claim that it is only through qualitative research that the world can be studied through the eyes of the people who are studied (Saunders Lewis & Thornhill 2003:468). The weakness of this method is the effect from the control of the phenomena, which will continue to change because of the scientific process. During the oral method, the interviewer should guide the conversation as little as possible. Through the language, the scientist and respondents could take part of each other's thoughts by their own valuations and experience, for it becomes easier for the scientist to gather information from the respondents (Bryman, & Bell 2004). Quantitative methods on the other hand are based on already decided and well-structured questions, which all the respondents will be asked. The information is reduced to a certain area of interest and respondents will be repeated the same questions (Bryman, & Bell 2004). A mix of qualitative and quantitative studies would give me the best ideal using interview and questionnaires. By combining the two methods, I will be able to probe into my research question better by the end the work. Sampling To identify the potential respondents, the CEO of Gatwick Airport will be asked to distribute an information letter about the proposed study to each of managers and front line workers. Interested respondents will be asked to contact the researcher by telephone. One month after the distribution of the information letter, the researcher will randomly select twenty five respondents from each of the three groups. (Environmentalist, Politicians, Managers and Economists) and a date and time will be arranged to conduct the interviews. As this is a fast way to identify potential respondents that meet the aforementioned criteria, purposive sampling will be used. Instrument The instrument used in this study is a semi-structured interview schedule. The study strives to uphold content validity as the guideline questions were developed from a review of prior research. Additionally, four pilot interviews will be conducted to make any needed modifications to the interview schedule to ensure the guiding questions are worded properly. Semi-structured interviews allow the researcher to ask broad, open-ended questions where an informal, organised procedure is followed (Bryman, 2004). This instrument allows the researcher to probe the interviewee for more descriptive or accurate responses. Furthermore, the interviewer can change the direction of the interview by asking the respondent to expand on an answer given, or by asking follow-up questions (Bryman, 2004). Data Collection All interviews are expected to take place at the respective education centre of each of the interviewees or in their offices. This will ensure a naturalistic setting, and allow the interviewees to be as comfortable as possible. Prior to conducting the main interviews, four pilot interviews will be administered. This will serve as a pre-test of the reliability and the validity of the questions asked, and will allow the researcher to make any improvements to the research design and analysis procedure (Berg, 2004). Any needed modifications to the interview schedule will be made to ensure the guiding questions are worded properly. The one-hour interviews will be audio-taped, and field notes will be used to keep track of the topics that have been discussed. 4.0 Time Plan and Milestones X=1day Activity Week1 Week2 Week3 Week4 Mile stone Finalisation of introduction, problem statement and objective of study x Chapter one completed and approved. Reading of existing literature, initial contact with sample institutions x xx Literature review completed Finalisation of research methods, administration of questionnaires and conducting interview x xx All questionnaires dispatched and interview administered Data collection and data entry xxx Data ready for analysis Discussion with supervisor and data analysis and presentation x Submission date agreed upon and go ahead received for presentation Report writing xx Typing of report Report submission for review x Final copy of report submitted for supervisors review Correction and presentation of final report Completed References Berg, B. (2004) Designing Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, Fifth Edition, Pearson, Boston Bryman, A. and Bell. E: (2004)Business research methods. Oxford University press, 2003 Bulkeley, H. (2001). Governing Climate Change: The Politics and Risks Society. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, vol. 26, No. 4, pages 430-447. Burton, D. (2000): Research Training for Social Scientists, a handbook for postgraduate researchers, edited by Dawn Burton. Sage Publications Ltd, Great Britain. Cline, R.C., (2007). Global Warming and Agriculture: Impact Estimates by Country.. Peterson Institute for international Economics. 250 pp. ISBN paper 978-0-88132-403-7. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from Academic Index Glantz, H. .M., (2005). Creeping Environmental Problems. The Peterson Institute for International Economics Issue 23, 11-36. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from Academic Index Hsueh, C., Chang S. (2008) Equilibrium analysis and corporate social responsibility for supply chain integration European Journal of Operational Research,Volume 190, Issue 1,Pages 116-129 Krieger J. (2001). "Capitalism" The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World, 2e., ed. Oxford University Press Inc. 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Law E. J. (2006). "Social responsibility reporting"A Dictionary of Business and Management. Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Reference Online. Park Chris. (2007). Corporate Social Responsibility" A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference Online. Sacconi, L. (2004). A Social Account for CSR as Extended Model of Corporate Governance (Part II): Compliance, Reputation and Reciprocity. Journal of Business Ethics, No. 11, pages 77-96. Saunders M., Lewis P., Thornhill A. (2000). Research Methods for Business Students. Second Edition. Financial Times, Prentice Hall. Read More