HC Deb 23 July 1969 vol 787 cc1722-3
16. Mr. Dalyell

asked the President of the Board of Trade which airports in Great Britain are equipped to receive Trident airliners, using automatic landing equipment, installed by British European Airways at a cost of £6 million.

Mr. William Rodgers

Heathrow, Gatwick and Prestwick have improved instrument landing systems to support automatic landing in Trident aircraft in runway visibilities down to 600 metres, and one of the Heathrow runways has additional equipment which permits operations in lower visibility. One runway at Liverpool is expected to reach this standard shortly and Manchester should follow early in 1970.

Mr. Dalyell

Granted low cloud and East coast fog, should not Edinburgh be the next in line?

Mr. Rodgers

I would not care to comment on whether it should have the top priority. My hon. Friend has made this point to me, and, as he knows, we are giving serious consideration to it.

Mr. Fortescue

In view of the preeminence of Liverpool Airport among non-British Airport Authority airports, would not the Minister consider it a tragedy if Liverpool Airport were to be closed?

Mr. Rodgers

That is a totally different question.