Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the CAA in relation to the Belfast City to London Heathrow direct Aer Lingus route.
Department for Transport officials have engaged extensively with the CAA on the exceptional arrangements adopted in the wake of EU exit. The UK Government put in place transitional arrangements to temporarily accommodate EU carriers operating domestic UK air services, such as Aer Lingus. The CAA has been working with the airline on sustainable long-term solutions for the route, I hope the airline can continue to work on these solutions and return to the route in due course. In the meantime, I’m pleased to see that connectivity within the Union has been maintained with British Airways picking up the capacity left by Aer Lingus.