The Legal Brief - 20th July 2022

Following its high levels of footfall, Heathrow has introduced a daily cap on the number of passengers it will allow through its gates.?

Having recently warned airlines to stop selling summer tickets to passengers, Heathrow has now brought in a 10,000 per day cap of passengers following their struggles of dealing with the recent surge in airline travel. With the capital’s airport having regularly exceeded this new 10,000 daily passenger cap in the past, this is thought to only bring further devastation to many Brits hoping for a summer getaway following the difficult past few years we have all faced. It is expected that the cap will cut, on average, around 4,000 passengers a day.

Chief Executive of Heathrow airport John Holland-Kaye has stated that this high volume has resulted in ‘periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable,’ such factors include last minute cancellations, flight delays and baggage issues for passengers. Holland-Kaye went on to say that the introduction of this cap aims to ‘protect flights for the vast majority of passengers at Heathrow this summer,’ however despite this it is still expected that ‘some summer journeys will either be moved to another day, another airport or be cancelled.’?

Former boss of BA and general director of the International Air Transport Association, Willie Walsh, has called Heathrow’s cap ‘ridiculous’ and accused the airport of ‘trying to maximise the profitability that they get from the airport at the expense of airlines.’ Whilst Walsh has admitted that the passenger cap will give airlines and passengers alike the chance to plan ahead, he added that he is ‘surprised Heathrow have not been able to get their act together better than this. Airlines have been predicting stronger traffic than Heathrow has been predicting…they clearly got it completely wrong.’

Written by Hebe Shepherd

In the ever developing battle for alternative fuel source, Rolls Royce have set out to test Hydrogen as a low-emissions alternative to power engines - aircraft engines to be precise.

The test will entail determining whether a hydrogen fuel cell can power a small two-engine aircraft in a series of ground tests (no actual flying will be involved, for obvious safety reasons.)

This presents a number of interesting possibilities if it is successful. Firstly, what else can be powered by these hydrogen fuel cells? Many people "in the know" within the automotive industry have been saying for a while that hydrogen is a better alternative to petrol/diesel vehicles than EVs are. Could this test lead onto more testing involving road vehicles? Rolls Royce certainly have the ability, and market crossover, to perform these kinds of tests.

Secondly, can it be made scalable? This could take a while as the technology is very much in its infancy. For what it's worth, Rolls Royce themselves actually think that the better course of action to reduce emissions is to use sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) as hydrogen is quite expensive at the moment. This brings us nicely onto the final obstacle - can it be made affordable?

If this technology is proven to be safe, and provide enough power for the aircraft, once the scale and cost is brought into line, hydrogen fuel cells could become a real alternative to traditional fuel in the future.

Written by Duncan Balcon

As the cost of living crisis continues to wreak havoc with consumers, and families, across the UK, many people have been crying out for some kind of relief - any kind of relief will do at this point.

Motoring Group AA released a statement yesterday which may go some way to helping a lot of people reduce their household spending significantly. They cited statistics that showed that the price of petrol had fallen by 2.8p a litre from the record highs a few weeks ago. This alone would knock ￡1.50 off the price of an average tank.

The good news doesn't end there, however, as wholesale prices are continuing to fall. The AA stated that prices, which peaked at over ￡1 a litre in June have now fallen below 80p for much of last week. Should this drop hold, and they think it will, that will translate to a price drop of 20p per litre in about a fortnight, when retailers re-stock on fuel reserves.

AA's Luke Bosdet said: “Wholesale petrol’s trajectory, if sustained, would lead to savings from the record highs – providing the fuel trade is prepared to pass them on.?So far this morning, even with oil rebounding, wholesale petrol remains below 80.5p a litre.”

The only problem at the moment, is that despite 6 weeks of falling costs, prices are remaining high. This is being investigated by the competitions watchdog as a "cause for concern" due to the growing gap between the oil price/ wholesale price and the cost of petrol/diesel at the pump. It recently carried out an urgent review of the market, which was ordered by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng following concerns that a fuel duty cut announced in March was not?“in any visible or meaningful way” being passed on to consumers.

Petrol currently costs on average 188.76p a litre and diesel 196.96p, compared to records of 191.53p and 199.07p respectively at the beginning of the July, with the cost of filling up a family car above ￡100?for the first time ever after many factors, including the war in Ukraine, drove the price of oil higher on supply concerns.

Consumers will be hoping that this 20p a litre drop is seen soon at the pumps, although whether this happens with, or without, competition watchdog's intervention is yet to be seen,

Written by Duncan Balcon

When Tax and the Law Collide????

Who knew that tax could be fun...

Well...this week on the?Legally Speaking Podcast ???powered by?Clio - Cloud-Based Legal Technology?we welcomed?Andrew Waddell?to learn more!

Andrew is the Managing Director of the highly impressive Boutique Tax Law firm?Winslows Tax Law Ltd. The firm specialises in providing tax support to fellow law firms, without internal tax departments.

Andrew trained at?Eversheds Sutherland?and joined the now named firm,?Hogan Lovells. After Lovells merged with Hogan & Hartson, Andrew was appointed as a Senior Tax Associate.

He advises on real estate transactions, corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Andrew also has impressive experience in private client tax consultancy.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

? Responsibilities and skills learnt being a Senior Tax Associate

? The difference between a Tax Consultant and Senior Tax Associate

? How to launch and run a successful law firm

? How the law has evolved through the years

? Diversity and inclusion in the legal industry

??KC Partners?current collaboration with Winslows?#TheWize?magazine

?? Out now on the Legally Speaking Podcast website and all major audio platforms!

Banking Lawyers?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 0 - 7?PQE (London, Manchester, Leeds )

Capital Markets Associate?- Top US Law Firm?- 2 - 4??PQE (London)

Commercial Life Sciences Associate?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 3 - 7?PQE (London)

Competition Associate?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 2+ PQE (London)

Crypto Lawyers?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 2+?PQE (London )

Disputes Associate?- Top US Law Firm?- 4 - 5?PQE (London )

Finance Associate?- Top US Law Firm?- 3 - 4?PQE (London)

Financial Regulatory Associate?- Top US Law Firm?- 3 - 5?PQE (London)

ICE Dispute Associate?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 3 - 7?PQE (London )

IP Litigation Associate?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 2+ PQE (London)

IP/IT/Commercial and Data Protection Associate?- Top US Law Firm?- 4 - 5 PQE (London)

M&A Associate?- Top US Law Firm?- 2 - 4 PQE (London)

Powers/Networks Associate / Senior Associate?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 5+ PQE (London )

Real Estate Associate?- Top 10 UK International Law Firm?- 0-2?PQE (London )

For further information, or to get your questions answered, please send a message to?Robert Hanna.

If you cannot see a job suitable for you, but are interested to hear about more jobs at KC Partners, please send your CV to?[email protected]?to be considered.

At KC Partners we are committed to promoting diversity and equality of opportunities across organisations and we welcome applications from suitable candidates regardless of race or racial group, religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.

- JOIN THE LEGALLY SPEAKING CLUB ON CLUBHOUSE?-

The KC Partners team always aim to inspire, educate and entertain, providing the ultimate way of learning more about the exciting world of law. To that end, we are actively taking advantage of new opportunities, such as Clubhouse - the audio chat platform.

Join us every week on 'The Legally Speaking Club' where we talk to new and exciting guests:

https://www.joinclubhouse.com/club/legally-speaking-club

You don’t have to be on the app or have an invite to join!

Whether you're an aspiring solicitor, practicing lawyer, industry leader or just curious to know more about law, we hope to provide you with unique insights from a variety of individuals through our club