§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government if they do not consider the time has arrived when a further detailed review should be made of the length of time it now takes a passenger from the centre of London to go through the many activities required to reach the actual aeroplane at the airport, and to see if it is not possible to enable this time to be materially reduced.]
§ LORD DENHAMMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government fully appreciate the importance of enabling passengers to travel easily and quickly between Central London and Heathrow. Substantial road improvements have already been made and further projects are in hand. When these are completed the journey from the West London Air Terminal at Cromwell Road should take no more than 18 to 25 minutes, and from the Victoria Terminal no more than 30 to 35 minutes.
At the Airport there are Customs and Immigration formalities. Of these the Immigration control takes, on average, a matter of seconds per passenger, and only a minority of flights is selected for Customs examination. In addition, of course, the airlines have to complete 107 essential documentation, such as the load sheet which determines the trim of the aircraft, and this cannot be done until after the last passenger has checked in. Both Her Majesty's Government and the airlines are continually seeking ways of speeding, up the processes for which they are responsible.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, while again thanking my noble friend for that Answer, is it not time that we did away with a lot of unnecessary waste that we have to-day in these various places? Why cannot the entire system be reconsidered, to see if we cannot improve on the entire arrangement: taking the passengers right on to the tarmac and putting them directly into the plane, and doing away with the intermediate waste of time?
§ LORD DENHAMMy Lords, I think your Lordships will agree that the various Customs formalities and Immigration control formalities, which do not take a great deal of time, are necessary. The load sheets which have to be completed after the last passenger has arrived are very necessary, because it is important that the aircraft should be loaded correctly.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, while again thanking my noble friend for that comment, is it not a fact that trains do better than aircraft in this particular respect? You can go on to a train almost right away, and get off the train, and through the Customs, in half the time you can do it from an aeroplane. Really, the matter does justify a thorough review of the entire situation.
§ LORD DENHAMMy Lords, those two things, with respect to my noble friend, are not comparable, because it is important that the aircraft should be loaded correctly, whereas it does not particularly matter whether my noble friend's suitcase is on one side of the train or the other in the luggage compartment. I can only repeat the last part of my original Answer: that both Her Majesty's Government and the airlines are continually seeking ways of speeding up the processes for which they are responsible.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, I thank my noble friend very much, but I assure him that my suitcase, when I have one, never weighs as much as he indicates by his comment.