§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he intends to have with the Governments of the United States of America and of western European countries to provide more scheduled air services from their countries into the west and east midlands.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerIt is for overseas airlines to decide on commercial grounds whether they wish to serve Birmingham and east midlands airports. At present we have no plans to discuss the possibility of such services with the United States Government, though we are always prepared to consider carefully any proposal put to us. Unused rights are already available to Birmingham from seven western European countries and to east midlands from three. In our discussions with western European 223W countries we shall be seeking agreements which further widen the choice of United Kingdom airports available to their airlines. And we shall be discussing with the airport authorities their plans for future development.