Has Southampton Airport Positioned Itself Perfectly For The Future?

In episode three of our second series of Let’s Talk South Coast, our host Nella Pang is joined by Steve Szalay, Operations Director at Southampton International Airport to talk about the contention that surrounded the runway extension and how they have been trying to balance the benefits to the region against any potential noise and environmental issues.

What you’ll hear about in this episode:

• The challenges they faced in getting the green light for the runway extension
• The sustainability planning the team are doing to mitigate the noise and environmental impact of the airport
• The struggle to balance the opposing views they receive with any development planning
• The proposed framework for the extension

Resources:

• Omega RE website
• Catalyst program at Southampton Science Park
• AB Solar Energy

Companies Mentioned:

• Southampton International Airport
• Southampton University
• Oceanography Centre

Shout Outs:

• Steve Thurston
• Professor John Barker

Key Insights From This Episode: 

•  I think we've managed to navigate a balanced way through, certainly a way which has got the support of the local population. 8,000 people wrote into the Council, into the consultation and 5,000 were supportive. - Steve
• What can we do better from a sustainability perspective? We've got quite a few initiatives going on at the airport, the first one is that we can say we're a carbon neutral airport and we're very proud of that. - Steve
• We’re going to have a live airport. We have the M27 junction, the train station, so we’ve got all these things which are enormous enablers. Then we’re going to have this development site and I would love it if in five to 10 years time, we look and we see the future of flight and the future of aviation. - Steve

About Our Guest:

Steve Szaley  works as Operations Director at Southampton International Airport, where his two roles are running the airport and winning the runway extension. 

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