Asked by: Justine Greening (Independent - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what legal agreements are in place between his Department and Heathrow Airport Limited to guarantee existing routes between London Heathrow and regional airports; what (a) routes and (b) regional airports those agreements include; and for how long those agreements have legal force.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There are currently no legal agreements in place between the Department for Transport and Heathrow Airport Limited to guarantee existing routes between London Heathrow and regional airports.
However, the Secretary of State has a clear ambition for around 15 per cent of slots made available from a new runway to be used for domestic routes. We expect that the majority of these routes will be commercially viable with support from Heathrow Airport Limited.
The Government will also take action, where appropriate, to secure routes through the use of Public Service Obligations (PSOs). This will include ring fencing appropriately timed slots. Further detail on the Government’s targets and commitments on domestic connectivity will be detailed in a Green Paper on the Aviation Strategy which will be published towards the end of 2018.
Asked by: Justine Greening (Independent - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which of the then new regional air routes by airlines to be supported through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund, announced by his Department on 2 December 2015, are still in operation at the frequency set out in the respective airline’s accepted application.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Of the 11 routes to be supported through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund announced on 2 December 2015, services are still in operation on two routes and continue to receive financial support. These are routes between Newquay and Leeds-Bradford airports and between Norwich and Exeter airports. The Newquay / Leeds Bradford service now operates at a frequency of 4 daily returns per week compared to an original plan of 5 daily returns per week in the summer and 3 daily returns per week in the winter. The Norwich / Exeter service now operates at a frequency of 4 daily returns per week compared to an original plan of 7 daily returns per week in the summer and 4 daily returns per week in the winter.
Asked by: Justine Greening (Independent - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of new pages of documentation that have been published as part of his Department's Airport National Policy Statement on 5 June; and if he will provide a list of those documents.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has made no estimate of the pages of new information published.
On 5 June, the Secretary of State laid in Parliament the Airports National Policy Statement (NPS). As required under the Planning Act 2008, this was accompanied by an Appraisal of Sustainability and the Government response to the Transport Committee scrutiny of the draft NPS. The Government has also published “The proposed expansion of Heathrow: a summary” and a non-technical summary of the Appraisal of Sustainability to provide an overview of these documents.
To assist readers, the Government has published change logs of amendments made to the NPS and the Appraisal of Sustainability since published for further consultation on 24 October. In addition we have published: a Habitats Regulations Assessment, an Equality Assessment, and a Health Impact Analysis, each accompanied by change logs listing amendments made since consultation; a report from the Independent consultation advisor on the October consultation; a summary of the responses to the October consultation; the Government’s response to the two public consultations; nine regional fact sheets; the key findings of an external report on Heathrow Airport Limited’s (HAL) delivery plans; an external review of proposed the capacities of HAL's north-west runway and Heathrow Hub Limited’s extended northern runway; and a new Addendum to the “Updated Appraisal Report: Airport Capacity in the South-East”.