§ Mr. Kevin HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what is the current status of work on the regional air services studies; and when he proposes to publish the regional consultation documents based upon them. [6176]
§ Mr. SpellarWork on the six original regional air service studies proposed in the 1998 Transport White Paper was completed last year. Since then a second phase of work has been under way to co-ordinate these part 1 studies and audit them for consistency. This has involved reviewing air traffic forecasts for each airport under a range of national scenarios, examining catchments and route development in more detail, carrying out a more in-depth appraisal of options and integrating this work with the findings from a range of other UK-wide strategic studies. This part 2 work, known as the RASCO study, is nearing completion, but the emerging findings have highlighted a number of key strategic issues on which further work is needed. This is necessary to ensure that the regional air service consultation documents, which we hope to publish around the turn of the year, will provide a full and robust basis for public consultation.
Two part 3 studies, one covering the midlands of England and the other the lowlands of Scotland, have therefore been commissioned to examine important long-term runway capacity. This work is programmed for completion before the end of the year and will be published shortly thereafter, along with the part 1 and 2 studies to help inform the regional air service consultation process.