LESS than one per cent of Heathrow’s landing slots need to be ringfenced to save struggling regional airports such as Durham Tees Valley, the Government will be told today.
Ministers will be told there is no excuse for failing to match the likes of Amsterdam and Paris by ensuring London’s airports serve the country’s regions as well as foreign jetsetters.
Leading a Commons debate, Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson will call for lower landing charges for regional flights, to end the “poll tax on wings”
which imposes the same fee, regardless of whether a flight arrives from Durham or Dubai.
Ministers will be urged to back Durham Tees Valley’s attempts to secure a “public service obligation” on its flights to Heathrow, to protect vital runway slots.
Mr Wilson will say: “Access to international airways from Durham Tees Valley Airport is important to the local economy, since we have many international companies established in the Tees Valley.
“The Government should consider intervening to ensure the regions are serviced by an efficient aviation policy which takes into consideration wider needs than the commercial interests of carriers and BAA.”
Mr Wilson will say there are 480,000 operating slots at Heathrow, of which less than one per cent need to be set aside to meet “the requirement of regional airports such as Durham Tees Valley”.
The debate follows the launch of The Northern Echo’s Keep the Region Flying’ campaign, to highlight the growing threat to shorthaul flights into London’s international hubs.
In March, bmi cancelled its service from Durham Tees Valley Airport to Heathrow, although – as The Northern Echo revealed – Excelsis Airways hopes to revive a service within months.
And British Airways was forced to reject claims that its service from Newcastle International Airport to Heathrow could also be axed.
The campaign achieved a breakthrough when the Government agreed to examine the impact on regional investment and jobs from the loss of an air link to London, as part of a shake-up of airport regulation.
A panel of independent experts, headed by Warwick University Professor Martin Cave, is reviewing the economic regulation of UK airports, with conclusions expected later this summer.
However, the aviation minister who made that promise, Jim Fitzpatrick, was moved in last week’s reshuffle.
His replacement is Gillingham MP Paul Clark, who will answer today’s debate in the Commons.
Mr Wilson said that, in 1995, there were 20 regional airports with flights to Heathrow. Now that number is down to six.
Meanwhile, the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit has warned the loss of the Durham-Heathrow link would cost local businesses about £1.4m a year.
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