Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) likelihood of flight delays for over two hours at Heathrow Airport in December 2023 and (b) impact of flights delays on trends in the level of night flights to and from that airport; and whether he plans to take steps to ensure that that airport does not exceed its night flight restrictions.

Heathrow Airport operates in the private sector and is responsible for managing its own performance. It has its own specific target to reduce the number of nights with late-running operations. The Department will continue to work closely with Heathrow throughout the winter season to understand the plans it has in place to manage passenger demand.

The Department also closely monitors night movements at Heathrow Airport to ensure compliance with night flight restrictions set by the Secretary of State.