HC Deb 26 March 1996 vol 274 c542W
Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment the Civil Aviation Authority has made of the current terminal capacity for each of the major United Kingdom airports. [21289]

Mr. Norris

The CAA does not itself carry out assessments of terminal capacity. However, when producing assessments of overall airport capacity, it requests and takes into account data on terminal capacity provided by airport operators. The most recent CAA work in this area—an assessment of capacity for some London airports—was presented to the Heathrow terminal 5 public inquiry in November 1995 in supplementary proof of evidence.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 6 March 1996,Official Report, column 212, what sites the Civil Aviation Authority has identified in the south-east of England and for airport development. [21363]

Mr. Norris

The Civil Aviation Authority, in its advice to the Government in July 1990—in civil aviation publication No. 570—identified seven airport sites in the south-east of England which appeared, on initial examination of airspace and air traffic considerations, to be able to handle additional traffic, but it concluded that further detailed assessments would be needed to confirm these findings. The sites identified by the CAA were as follows:

  • Heathrow
  • Gatwick
  • Stansted
  • Luton
  • Southampton
  • Manston
  • Lydd.