Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what distinction they make between Civil Aviation Authority regulatory fees, en-route charges subject to the Civil Aviation Authority’s economic regulation of national air traffic services (en route) plc (NERL) and administered through Eurocontrol’s central route charges office, and terminal navigation charges; and how the charging provisions in the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill would affect each of those regimes.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulatory fees fund the discharge of its regulatory functions. En-route charges are paid to cover the costs of relevant services provided under licence by NATS (en-route) plc (NERL). Terminal navigation charges relate primarily to the provision of tower-based air traffic services, which are arranged on a commercial basis by individual airports, but would also include the London Approach services provided by NERL. The Civil Aviation Bill only affects the charging regime for services provided by NERL, and the primary effect of that measure would be to broaden the types of persons which could be specified by the CAA as liable to pay those charges in future.