§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether any airports in the United Kingdom apply differential landing charges for aircraft according to the amount of noise they make; and whether he will encourage airports to increase their charges for the landing of aircraft which are noisy and reduce their charges for quieter aircraft.
§ Mr. Clinton Davis:I know of no airports in the United Kingdom where such differential landing charges are applied. Though the Government certainly wish to encourage the use of quieter aircraft, the application of differential landing charges for that purpose needs careful consideration according to the circumstances at a given airport.
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§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will give a progress report on the international discussions and other problems of introducing noise certification of existing aircraft.
§ Mr. Clinton Davis:I wrote to my hon. Friend about this matter on 21st March. The Committee on Aircraft Noise has recommended to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation that States should be encouraged to modify existing subsonic jet aeroplanes where this is regarded as technically feasible, sufficiently effective and economically reasonable, and to advise the ICAO by 1st January 1976 of their intentions. We are now assessing our position in the light of the important international implications and other complex questions involved.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Trade what further progress has been made with the experiments for two segment approaches by aircraft with a view to reducing aircraft noise, since his statement on the subject on 17th December 1974.
§ Mr. Clinton Davis:Research is continuing, but, at this stage, there is nothing which can usefully be added to the reply given to my hon. Friend on 17th December last.—[Vol. 883, c. 413.]