§ Mr. Kenneth BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the effect on(a) the number of passengers using the various airports and (b) the revenue raised of increasing the air passenger duty by £5 at Heathrow and Gatwick, and reducing it by £5 802W at the regional airports and at Stansted; and how much additional revenue would be raised.
§ Mr. MawhinneyThere are no detailed estimates available, and air passengers duty is not an airport charge. However, work done for the RUCATSE working group suggests that if applied to the whole of 1995 the effect increasing airport charges by £5 at Heathrow and Gatwick, and reducing it by £5 at the regional airports and Stansted, would be to leave passenger numbers al Heathrow unaltered, slightly reduced at Gatwick and al Stansted, and the regional airports for traffic to increase by some 2.5 per cent. It is not possible easily to assess the revenue effects.