§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will obtain and make a statement on the report published by the United States Government into the effects of supersonic flying in the stratosphere in so far as it affects British interests; and, in particular, what effects the report will have on the Concorde programme.
§ Mr. Meacher:The Report of the Climatic Impact Assessment Programme of the United States Department of Transportation is not yet available in this country in full. I have seen the executive summary, however, and will arrange for a copy to be placed in the House of Commons Library. The report concludes that operations of present-day supersonic transport aircraft and those currently scheduled to enter service will cause climatic effects which are much smaller than what is minimally detectable; and that future harmful effects to the environment can be avoided if timely measures are taken.
This conclusion, which is in line with the findings of joint Anglo-French research on the same subject, should be helpful towards our immediate objective of getting Concorde into airline service as soon as possible.