§ Mr. Haselhurstasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the source of the statistics showing that approximately 80 per cent. of people using airports in the South-East are domiciled in that region; how the data was collected; and if he will cause to be published the exact nature of the questions asked.
§ Mr. TebbitThe statistics are based on surveys of passenger origins and destinations carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority at the principal airports in the United Kingdom. The results of the most recent survey (1978) will be published shortly together with a description of the sampling techniques and the questionnaires used, as has been the practice in the past. However, the data so far available indicate that 78 per cent. of the passengers using the London airports, excluding those simply transferring between international flights, had surface origins or destinations within the South-East economic planning region. These results do not differ significantly from the figures obtained in the last comparable survey in 1972.