Mr. Vaneasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation the annual cost incurred by his Department in maintaining civil aerodromes where a passenger service charge is levied; and what proportion of this cost is borne by the receipts from such a charge.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIn 1953–54, the last financial year for which complete figures are available, the bulk of flights overseas took place from 15 of the aerodromes maintained by my Department. The running cost of these 15, including technical services, was £3,098,000, and the revenue was £2,006,000, to which passenger service charge contributed £239,000. In addition, occasional flights abroad took place from three other aerodromes maintained by my Department, the contribution from passenger service charge being £100 in all.