Airport Capacity (Hansard, 5 February 1990)

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, the Civil Aviation Authority is to advise this summer on the adequacy of UK airport capacity to the year 2005, in response to a commission given to it by the Government in July 1988.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. Can he confirm that the Government in general and the Department of Transport in particular are fully aware of the urgency of the situation in the light of the growth in air traffic and the risk of losing air traffic and airline services to airports such as Charles de Gaulle or Schiphol, where there is adequate accommodation and likely to be so for some years?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, the Government fully accept the need to press ahead on airport capacity. However, very complex works are involved. It is important that decisions are taken in the light of properly considered and researched advice.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, I appreciate the reply of the noble Viscount. Does he recall that in the letter sent by the Secretary of State to the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority last October he urged that there should be no hurried decisions? The words that he used were that there should be no decisions in the margin. He made it absolutely clear that there should be no further development on any greenfield sites.
Regarding the further advice to be given by the CAA in the summer, has the authority been asked to indicate exactly the full role that the regional airports could play in the future?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, all these matters are included in the remit of the CAA. Its advice will include forecasts of air space and airport capacity. It will examine the contribution of regional airports, consider possible locations and timing of additional runway capacity to serve the South-East and examine the merits of possible demand management measures.
At the moment it is examining air traffic control and aviation industry aspects of the matter. We do not expect the CAA to do more than identify the 514 wider factors. Those, including environmental concerns, will need to be considered in a broader forum.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, are the obvious advantages of Cardiff Airport being taken into account by the authorities? The airport in Cardiff is now as modern as any in the country outside Heathrow and Gatwick. Also, Cardiff is in close proximity to the Midlands and London.

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I cannot comment in particular on Cardiff Airport. However, I can say that the Government already encourage the use and development of all regional airports to handle all the traffic they can attract. The Government have recently agreed the construction of a new £275 million terminal for Manchester and are negotiating with the USA over extra services.
The regional airports' share of all traffic is forecast to increase significantly, growing faster than that of the London airports. We welcome that and we are sure that it includes Cardiff.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, in order to facilitate the movement of air traffic, are the Government re-examining the use by the Ministry of Defence of air space, particularly up the east coast? If some of that space were handed over to civil aviation, would not considerable relief be given to air traffic control over the whole country?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, the Government are prepared to look sympathetically at applications for the civil use of MoD airfields where that is compatible with the operational role. The civil enclave has already established RAF Manston as the Kent international airport.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, I am sorry; I was talking about air space, not airfields.

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I apologise; I did not hear the noble Lord. I shall write to him about air space.

§ Lord Jenkins of Putney
My Lords, when reaching a decision on this matter will the Government take into consideration that the people of London are already overflown to a greater degree than the people of any other capital city? Would it be worthwhile to consider the possibility of pricing the situation so that it becomes cheaper to land at regional airports and dearer to land in London?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, that is an interesting suggestion and I am sure that the CAA will take note of it.

§ Lord Whaddon
My Lords, will the noble Viscount bear in mind that the majority of aircraft on the British register are general aviation aircraft? Will he be careful not to squeeze those aircraft out of every airfield within reach of London?

§ Viscount Davidson
Yes, my Lords. That point will be taken note of.

§ Baroness Seear
My Lords, will the noble Viscount give proper recognition to the conversion of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkins, to market economics?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, yes; I shall recognise that. I am grateful to the noble Baroness for reminding me of it.

§ Lord Jenkins of Putney
My Lords, is the noble Viscount aware that I have always been in favour of a mixed economy, provided the mix is right?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I am delighted to hear that. However, I think it is straying a little from the Question on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, will my noble friend add to the economic information which he has given and received by bearing in mind that if we make Heathrow and Gatwick too expensive a great deal of traffic will go not to our regional airports but to European ones which are more economical?

§ Viscount Davidson
That, my Lords, is another side of the coin.