§ Lord Maginnis of Drumglassasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which airlines now provide a regular daily service of flights between Belfast and either London 103WA Heathrow, London Gatwick or London City airports; whether there is fair and adequate competition among these airlines; and by what amounts over each of the past three years Northern Ireland Office departments have fostered that competition by supporting each airline in respect of Ministerial and Civil Service usage. [HL3453]
§ Baroness AmosResearch indicates that the airlines provide a regular daily service of flights between Belfast and the named airports. BMI fly between Belfast and London Heathrow, Flybe between Belfast and both London Gatwick and London City and Easyjet between Belfast and London Gatwick.
Air transport services are provided by the private sector and it is government policy to let the market regulate itself with regard to competition.
Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments do not have a direct contractual relationship with any airline. Travel requirements to GB destinations are typically booked through a contracted travel agent. This agent provides a service which identifies the best value air fare to meet the specific business need which includes consideration of flights by all airlines flying to the required destination.
The amounts of fares paid over the last three years for each of the respective airlines to each named destination is set out in the table below:
Destination Airline 2001–02 £ 2002–03 £ 2003–04 £ London Heathrow bmi 1,224,102 1,783,093 2,183,271 London Gatwick flybe 429,327 325,179 201,961 easyjet n/a 939 13,571 London City flybe 12,989 43,974 14,124 These figures relate only to single sector flights booked through the contracted travel agency services and do not include any journeys undertaken and which were booked through other channels, as to obtain this information would be at disproportionate cost to departments.