§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent steps he has taken to ensure the aircraft flying over London into Heathrow have sufficient fuel on board. [113039]
§ Mr. MullinResponsibility for the safety regulation of airlines, including compliance with minimum fuel requirements, lies with the country in which the airline is based. The UK Civil Aviation Authority ensures that UK airlines have effective minimum fuel policies for all flights and checks fuel records when auditing airlines. Regulatory authorities for foreign airlines must ensure that their airlines meet at least the international standards for minimum fuel levels.
We have procedures in place to check that foreign operated aircraft flying to the UK are being maintained and operated in compliance with international standards. These include targeted inspections by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of aircraft from countries where safety oversight has been questioned. Last summer, following an allegation that one airline had operated into Heathrow airport with low fuel levels on a number of occasions, we targeted a number of inspections on long haul operators from the Far East. We asked the particular operator concerned to provide us with weekly reports of fuel levels of their aircraft on arrival at Heathrow and this has continued as a condition of their operating permit; the reports have been satisfactory. We will investigate fully any reports of problems with other operators.