§ 3.4 p.m.
§ LORD BOOTHBYMy Lords, with some timidity, I rise to ask leave of the House to put the first Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Minister of Aviation still contemplates raising the landing fees at London Airport on April 1.]
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, my right honourable friend the Minister of Aviation informs me that he remains satisfied that the increases in landing fees, which apply to all State-owned aerodromes, should take effect on April 1.
§ LORD BOOTHBYMy Lords, I do not want to raise questions which were put in the debate and raised on the Motion of the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, but may I ask the noble Earl to bear in mind that the runways are, admittedly, inadequate at London Airport, and that overseas passengers are still received in shacks, fifteen years after the war? Does he think that the fact that the landing charges at London Airport are more than double those of almost any other international airport is likely to be beneficial to our export trade and to our credit generally?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, as the noble Lord has himself said, these matters were fully gone into in a debate last Thursday in this House; and it seems that the very broad sort of answer which the question from the noble Lord would demand, would be much better given, and can only be given, in that sort of context.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, would the noble Earl recall that in that debate the noble Lord who replied said that it was almost impossible to give an answer? Would he not now ask his right honourable friends to cause an investigation to be made, in order to establish whether the charges—the real charges not the nominal charges as estimated—at certain airports and at London Airport are in the ratio of 2½ times to one: namely, £280 at London Airport compared to £120 at Idlewild?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I should, of course, be very glad to bring what the noble Lord has just said to my right honourable friend's attention. But thinking that he might possibly bring up the figures which he brought up on Thursday, I have now had these particular figures looked into. The figures for London quoted by the noble Lord are not, in fact, accurate. The figure for Idlewild is about right. The figure for London Airport at the moment is £181, not £280, and after the increase will be about £241. But I should like to add that that figure for Idlewild does not include the cost of the provision of the passenger buildings, which the airlines themselves paid for there, and possibly additional revenue which the airport gets by way of charges or levies on fuel. Comparison is very difficult.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, as in fact I gave the figure of £243 for London Airport, how does the noble Earl say that I gave the wrong figure? Secondly, as London Airport now, as it were, about breaks even, is it not a fact that what the Government are trying to do is to get the users at London Airport to pay for the loss at other State airports in this country?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I did not say that the noble Lord gave the wrong figure. The noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, gave the wrong figure. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, gave the figure of £243. It will be £241 16s., so he was only £1 4s. out. But I did not say he was wrong.
§ LORD BOOTHBYBut, my Lords, is it not a fact that all the international airlines are absolutely furious about this?