Airports Policy (Hansard, 13 May 1981)

§ Mr. Biffen

The Government's policy is to meet the growth in demand for air transport, first, by encouraging the fullest use of regional airports and, secondly, by providing additional airport capacity, as the traffic develops, based on the existing airports in the South-East, particularly Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. The Government support the provision of air services which enable passengers in the regions to fly from their local airport but reject a policy of seeking to divert passengers with origins and destinations in the South-East of England to other parts of the country.

South-East England

Air traffic forecasts suggest that the demand for air transport will continue to increase in London and the South-East beyond 1990. The Government believe that this demand should be met. However, the existing capacity of the four main airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted is unlikely to be sufficient to meet this growth in demand. In his statement on 17 December 1979, the Secretary of State for Trade said that the Government had decided not to build a major new international airport. Instead the Government believe that in the 1980s and beyond air transport demand in the South-East could be met by the provision of a fourth terminal at Heathrow, and, subject to the outcome of public inquiries, the development of a second terminal at Gatwick and the provision of additional facilities at Stansted airport. In more detail, the present position is as follows:

(a) Heathrow

The Government have given planning consent for the construction of a fourth terminal at Heathrow. This additional capacity will not be available before 1985. In his statement on 9 October 1979, the Secretary of State for Trade re-affirmed that the relief of congestion at Heathrow and the provision of scheduled services from Gatwick would continue to be an important objective of the Government's policies and of all negotiations about air services of existing operators at Heathrow. He confirmed as Government policy the practice, which has been followed since April 1977, under which no airline which is not presently operating scheduled international passenger services to Heathrow is allowed to start services at Heathrow. The Government have not ruled out the possibility of using their powers to transfer services at present operated at Heathrow to another airport should the need arise. In addition, the ban on whole plane passenger charters which has been in operation since 1 April 1978 will continue, subject to the existing exceptions for air-taxi operations, Concorde flights and VIP movements.

In the longer term, account must be taken of the Government's decision to specify a limit under the powers conferred in section 29 of the Civil Aviation Act 1971, of 275,000 on the number of air transport movements allowed at Heathrow airport; this limit will take effect from the opening of the fourth terminal. This will require a further increase in the average number of passengers per air transport movement at Heathrow. Finally, the Government have stated their view that a fifth terminal at Heathrow should not be provided.

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(b) Gatwick

The provision of a second terminal at Gatwick is subject to the outcome of the public inquiry held in 1980. The Government have considered whether further capacity should be created by constructing a second runway at Gatwick but have decided not to pursue this possibility. Hence Gatwick will be limited to a single runway and the extent to which its terminal capacity will be utilised will depend upon the capacity of that runway and the rate at which the number of passengers per air transport movement increases in the future.

The Government have approved capital expenditure at Luton airport designed to increase that airport's present terminal capacity from 3 million to a maximum of about 3½ million passengers per annum. They have no plans to encourage any further development or to change Luton's primary role as an airport handling overseas charter flights.

(d) Stansted

The British Airports Authority has been invited to bring forward proposals for the construction of a single terminal building at Stansted airport based on the existing runway facilities, capable of handling about 15 million passengers a year designed to meet the longer term growth in air traffic demand in the London area airports system. The authority's planning application will be considered at a public inquiry later this year and a final decision on these proposals will be taken thereafter. It is unlikely that this proposed additional capacity could be made available before the late 1980s, but meanwhile there is spare capacity at that airport to handle additional air services.

England and Wales: Outside the London Area

The Government support the conclusion of the 1978 White Paper—Cmnd. 7084—that, outside the London area, scheduled air services should be encouraged to concentrate at major regional airports which might thereby be able to offer a wider range and greater frequency of services to meet local demand and improve interlining possibilities. It will continue to be a major aim of the Government's civil aviation policy to maximise the potential of the English and Welsh regional airports and thus to shift the burden away from the London area airports. The Government support the development of Manchester international airport as the principal gateway international airport outside the London area and agree with the categorisation of other airports in Cmnd. 7084. They will take this into account in considering proposals for additional capital investment in the future. They have stated, however, that this categorisation should not be interpreted rigidly or in such a way as to frustrate the natural growth in demand for services from any individual airport.

Scotland

The Government's view is that the Scottish lowland airports should continue to fulfil their present role as complements to each other. They wish to see further development of scheduled international air services to meet demand in Scotland. They have reaffirmed Prestwick's position as Scotland's main gateway international airport for long haul services and it will maintain the policy of successive Governments that Glasgow should continue to cater for domestic and European services for the West of Scotland, while Edinburgh serves a similar function for the East of Scotland. In addition, Edinburgh airport will handle a 275W restricted number of transatlantic charter services related to the Edinburgh Festival and other local requirements. Aberdeen and Sumburgh will remain the main airports in Northern Scotland for handling the demand from North Sea oil-related air traffic.

Northern Ireland

The main airport serving the demand for air transport in Northern Ireland will continue to be Aldergrove airport, Belfast.