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How to fix Heathrow


如何解决希思罗难题
Mar 27th 2008
From The Economist print edition



Do not pay a fortune to make Heathrow bigger, when it can first be made so much better
在其变得更好之前，别再投资扩建希思罗机场了






Get article background


LONDON'SHeathrow is the world's busiest international airport. It handlesnearly half of the passenger traffic between North America and Europe.It connects the City of London to the rest of the world. It is thefortress that guards the lucrative transatlantic business of BritishAirways (BA). In anticipation of this month's start of the “open skies”agreement between America and the European Union, other airlines arequeuing up to fly from it too.



伦敦希思罗机场是世界上最繁忙的国际机场。几乎负责了北美和欧洲间一半的客运量。它连接了伦敦和整个世界，同时也是英航的要塞，维护了英航利润丰厚的跨大西洋航线。在这个月美国和欧盟间的天空开放协议的如预期一样的开始后，其他的众多航空公司也在排队从这里出发。


YetHeathrow is also the world's most abhorred international airport. Itsuffers the worst flight delays and loses the most bags. Its endlesssecurity queues, rude staff and shoddy facilities plague passengers.Its owner, BAA, which also runs the two other main London airports,Gatwick and Stansted, is an object of much ridicule (see article).


现在，希思罗同样是世界上最令人痛恨的国际机场。它饱受航班延迟最多及行李丢失最多之苦。永无止境的安检队伍，粗鲁的职员以及陈旧的设施都无比困扰着乘客们。同样运营着伦敦其他两家主要机场的希思罗拥有者BAA（英国航空管理局），便是饱受嘲笑的对象。


Despitethe inevitable first-day glitches, the ￡4.3 billion ($8.5 billion)Terminal 5, which opened this week, will improve Heathrow for the 40%of passengers who fly with BA. But new terminals will not solve thereal problem: a lack of runways. Heathrow has only two, which operatewithin a whisker of full capacity. It cannot grow to meet demand. And,when something goes wrong, small delays become big ones.


刨除无可避免的第一天混乱不谈，这周开始营运的花费了43亿英镑的5号航站楼，将会承担英航运营的占据希思罗40%客流的乘客。但是，新的航站楼并没有解决实际问题：跑道的缺乏。希思罗仅仅有两条容量饱和的跑道。无法增长跑道来满足需求。并且，如果什么事情除了乱子，小小的延误将会造成大面积的不正常航班。


TheBritish government thinks this frames the case for a third runway atthe airport. To the fury of local residents and green campaigners—andcheers from the aviation industry—it argues that Heathrow must expandif Britain is to have the competitive hub airport it needs. A decisionhas been promised before the summer. It looks like being the wrong one.


关于这个，英国政府提出了一个方案便是建设机场的第三跑道。伴随着本地居民和绿色运动者的激烈抵抗以及航空业的欢呼，这个方案指出，如果英国需要一个具有竞争力的枢纽机场，那么希思罗就必须扩建。在这个夏天之间，他们承诺会做出决定。但是看上去并不是正确的方案。


Up in the air蓝天之上


Withthe closure of Hong Kong's Kai Tak a decade ago, Heathrow ranks as theairport that does most harm to people living nearby. Thanks to itswesterly winds and the east-west axis of its two runways, about 2mpeople in West London and neighbouring towns endure noise, airpollution and the small, ever-present risk of a catastrophic accident.By relaxing operating restrictions on Heathrow's runways and addinganother, BAA reckons it can raise the number of flights from today'slimit of 480,000 a year to 720,000. BAA and the government think thatbecause aircraft are getting quieter and cleaner the extra flights willbe bearable. But that conclusion is disputed by the government's ownwatchdog, the Environment Agency.


随着十年前香港启德机场的关闭，希思罗成为最骚扰周边居民的机场。多亏了当地常年西风以及东西方向的跑到，200万伦敦西区以及附近小镇的居民忍受着噪音，空气污染以及虽然很小但是很有可能发生的空难风险的威胁。根据BAA的统计，如果放松希思罗的跑道运营限制并且增加一条跑道的话，希思罗机场可以将现在每年48万个航班增加到每年72万个航班。BAA以及政府认为，由于飞机的噪音和污染都在降低，额外的航班便将在可允许的范围之内。但是这个结论受到了政府自身监察部门——环境署的质疑


Ifthe environmental externalities were the only cost of expandingHeathrow, you could perhaps mitigate them by charging airlines forpollution (a good idea, anyway). However, the other reason to doubt thewisdom of letting Heathrow go on growing—the constraint on spaceimposed by its location in London—is less easy for the government todispense with. Passenger-traffic forecasts suggest that, shortly aftera third runway opens, in 2020, Heathrow will be full again. BAA hastalked about a fourth runway, but not even the most ardent Heathrowexpanders can say where it would go.


对于希思罗的扩建，如果仅仅只有对环境的影响问题的话，你可以通过向航空公司征收污染费的方式来减轻压力（无论如何，这是个好主意）。但是，另一个质疑扩建希思罗机场明智与否的问题对于政府而言便不好解决了，那便是由于机场在伦敦的位置所造成的空间限制。根据客流量预测显示，在第三跑道建成不久之后，也就是2020年的时候，希思罗将再次达到饱和。BAA已经开始谈论第四跑道，但是即使对是希思罗扩张最积极的人也不敢说哪天可以实现。
Thegovernment thinks this hell is worth it: the British economy benefitsfrom having Heathrow as a competitive hub airport, because the moretransit passengers there are—they have grown from 9% of the total in1992 to 35% in 2004—the bigger the route network and the more valuablethe airport is to Britons. But Heathrow will never be a desirable hubairport, because of where it is. It will continue to be out-gunned byParis Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol and Frankfurt, all of whichhave twice the runway space, greater potential for expansion and bettersurface transport.


政府认为这些难题都是值得的：英国经济将会从希思罗变成枢纽机场的过程中受益。由于旅客数量越多，航线网络便越密集，同时对英国人的好处也越多，客流量比重已经从1992年的9%提升到了2004年的35%。但是，希思罗永远不会成为一个称心如意的机场，这是由于其地理位置决定的。它将会继续落后于巴黎戴高乐机场，阿姆斯特丹的斯希普霍尔机场和法兰克福机场，这些机场都拥有着两倍的跑道空间，更大的扩建潜力以及更便捷的水陆运输。
Onealternative is to start again. Time after time in country aftercountry, hub airports have been rebuilt farther away from city centres.In the 1970s Britain toyed with the idea of building a big new airportin the Thames estuary to the east of London. But the scheme wasovertaken by economic crisis, and the stranglehold of BAA and BA, bothof which have a lot invested in Heathrow, has prevented its revival.


一个怪圈再次开始了。一次又一次的，从乡下搬到更远的乡下。枢纽机场一次又一次的在远离市中心的地方重建。1970年代，英国提出在泰晤士河口到伦敦东部地区建设一个新的大机场。但是，由于经济危机这个计划被耽误了，因为BAA和英航在希思罗投资巨大，他们担心未来的竞争也对此方案施加了压力。


Anew airport may yet be needed. But, in the meantime, there are ways ofmaking Heathrow better. It is crowded because it is too cheap forairlines to use and because BAA has been encouraged to stuff it full oftransit and leisure passengers who it hopes will spend money in itsshops. Business travellers, who generate the most value for the widereconomy, account for only a third of the airport's passengers.


现在也许需要一个新机场。但是，在当前，仍然有许多办法让希思罗变得更好。希思罗的拥挤正是因为其对航空公司的使用费用收的太少了一点，同时由于BAA鼓励吸引那些中转旅客以及休闲旅客在机场的商店里消费，使得机场被塞得满满的。而在广义上创造了更多价值的商务旅客，仅仅占据了机场客流量的三分之一。


Thissuggests a better solution to the overcrowding. First, the price forusing Heathrow should reflect the value and scarcity of its capacity.Second, any new capacity should be built at London's other airports.And, third, these airports should be set free to compete with Heathrowby breaking up BAA.


这边引出了一个更好的解决机场过度拥挤的办法。首先，使用希思罗的费用应当反映出机场承受能力的价值以及稀缺性。其次，新的运营能力应该建设在伦敦其余的机场。第三，这些机场应该用免费政策来打击BAA，与希思罗竞争。


Highercharges would drive transit passengers to the hubs in continentalEurope. That would be no great loss. Although transit passengers helpBA and BAA, they do little for Britain's economy. If the route networkshrinks, the least-useful routes go first. In any case, because lots ofpeople want to fly to and from London, transit passengers are lesscrucial to maintaining Heathrow's route network than the governmentthinks.


更高的费用将会导致转机乘客到欧洲大陆的枢纽机场。但那并不是多大的损失。尽管转机乘客对BAA和英航意义重大，但是他们对英国经济没有多大好处。如果航线网络收缩，那么先去掉最没用的航线。无论如何，由于很多人希望飞抵或者飞离伦敦，转机旅客对于希思罗航线网络的支持作用便没有政府想的那么重要了。


Competitionbetween Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted would help too. Stansted, with asecond runway, would suck in leisure traffic. The new owner of Gatwick,much better placed to grow than Heathrow, would have good reason tobuild a second runway after 2019 (when an old planning agreementexpires), with the aim of attracting one of the big airlinealliances—and thus becoming a hub itself.


希思罗、盖特维克和斯坦斯泰德机场之间的竞争同样有效。拥有第二跑道的斯坦斯泰得机场可以吸引旅游客人。比希思罗更具备增长潜力的地理位置的盖特维克机场，其新的运营商将会在2019年后建设第二跑道（那时一份旧规划合约到期），目标是吸引一家大的航空联盟，那样，其本身也将成为一个航空枢纽港。


Slowly does it


徐徐图之


Suchchanges call for an overhaul of the way Britain runs air travel. Atpresent, the landing charges for Heathrow and Gatwick are fixed by theCivil Aviation Authority, which juggles desire for low prices with theneed for BAA to invest and make money. It should be told to thinkinstead about charging a full price for using Heathrow, and theresulting excess profits at BAA should be taxed. The incumbentairlines, the big losers, would have to accept that their slots wouldbe worth less and that they would pay more (which is one reason tophase in the change), but their passengers would gain a functioningairport. It is time for the British government to realise that it isnot its job to be the champion of the aviation industry.


这些改变呼唤英国去审视其民航运营方式。现在，希思罗和盖特维克机场的起降费用是由民航管理局核定的，平衡了对低价的渴望以及BAA对于投资和盈利的需求。应该告诉他们考虑将希思罗的使用费用改为全价，然后对BAA因此获得的额外利润征税。而对于大输家，在此运营的航空公司而言，将必须接受其航班时刻变得没那么值钱并且要付出更多的费用的现实，这也是为什么要逐渐改变收费的一个原因。但是，乘客们将会得到一个功能完善的机场。到了英国政府明白其不应该是航空产业最大赢家的时候了。
声明：这是从网站上转载下来的。
听说很多考研的阅读理解都来自《经济学人》，所以费了好大功夫才在网上找到带翻译版的。


大家可以打印下来慢慢看，对 提高阅读应该很有帮助的。

我尽量速度更新。。。


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