§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list in each of the past 12 months to 30 November the movements of private commercial aircraft at the DERA Boscombe Down airfield by(a) date, (b) type of aircraft, (c) owner, (d) operator, (e) origin of flight, (f) destination of flight, (g) number of passengers, (h) attendance of HM Customs and Excise, (i) attendance of Home Office Immigration and Nationality officials, (j) airport charges levied and (k) national airport taxes levied. [141361]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 12 December 2000]: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Robert Key, dated 19 December 2000:
91WI am replying to your Parliamentary question about the movements of private commercial aircraft at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) airfield at Boscombe Down.The information that you requested, such that we are able to provide, is detailed in the attachment to this letter. We have not included civil aircraft using the airfield on MOD business since charges are not levied on these. Neither have private aircraft using the airfield for leisure or sporting purposes, such as those of the Boscombe Down based flying club, been included. We do not have information on the owners of aircraft, only their operators. The information on numbers of passengers is somewhat incomplete since we are only required to keep this information for six months. Customs and immigration tasks are undertaken on behalf of the authorities by designated DERA Boscombe Down staff on the understanding that the appropriate authorities are notified in advance of air movements. Airport charges are levied in accordance with Ministry of Defence instructions. There is no requirement to levy a national airport tax.I hope the above explains the situation.
Date Type/registration Operator Origin Destination Number of PAX Customs Immigration Airport (£) Airport 15/06/2000 Beech Kingair F- Premier Aviation Paris Paris 1 2— 1— 109.34 1— 07/07/2000 Piper PA 34 G-WIZO Centreline Air Charter Bristol Inverness 2 1— 1— 36.35 1— 10/07/2000 Beechcraft G-SBAS Gamma Aviation Aberdeen Aberdeen Medeyac 1— 1— 72.89 1— 03/08/2000 HS125 G/NCFR Chauffair Farnborough Hawarden Madrid 1 2— 1— 254.50 1— 10/08/2000 Cessna 550 G-JCFR Chauffair Farnborough Blackpool Blackpool 1 1— 1— 84.83 1— 17/08/2000 Cessna 550 G-JCFR Chauffair Farnborough Blackpool Blackpool 1 1— 1— 84.83 1— 24/08/2000 Cessna 560 G-CZAR Chauffair Farnborough Blackpool Blackpool 1 1— 1— 127.25 1— 12/09/2000 Cessna 501 G-FLVU AD Aviation Ltd. Harwarden Harwarden 1 1— 1— 117.84 1— 27/09/2000 Piper PA 30 G-AVUD FA Aviation Biggin Hill Biggin Hill 1 1— 1— 44.94 1— 24/11/2000 Falcon CSDNP NET Jets Portugal Luton Isle of Man 2 2— 1— 273.36 1— 1 Not required 2 Informed