Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of expansion at Heathrow airport on airports in the West Midlands.

A Northwest Runway at Heathrow will improve the UK’s connectivity, with more frequent services to important global destinations benefitting passengers and freight-operators across the UK. While Heathrow expansion will help to secure the UK’s status as a global aviation hub, it will also see airports across the country continuing to develop their point-to-point networks.

The Department’s forecasts show that passenger numbers and international flights at non-London airports are expected to increase by 80 per cent and 71 per cent respectively between 2016 and 2050 with a third runway at Heathrow. The Government recognises that all three expansion schemes in the South East are projected to result in regional airports experiencing lower growth in flights than they would have otherwise seen, but strong growth is still expected at non-London airports relative to today.