Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the environmental effect of aeroplanes circling Heathrow airport while awaiting a landing slot.

We recognise that aircraft maintaining a holding pattern before landing at Heathrow wastes fuel, creates delays for airlines and their customers, and can increase aviation’s environmental impact.

A key objective of the UK’s plan for airspace modernisation is therefore to minimise the amount of airborne holding before landing at our major airports, which will help to reduce carbon emissions and noise impacts.

It may also be of interest to my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde, that following a request for urgent action from the Secretary of State for Transport, on 27 March the UK’s Airport Slot Coordinator, Airport Coordination Limited, announced it would grant alleviation to airlines from the 80:20 slot usage rules until October 2020. This will avoid ‘ghost planes’, and protect both airlines and the environment. The letters from the Secretary of State are publicly available to my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde.