close

Smaller airports need to benefit from new hub runway say MPs

Transport Committee wants government and Airports Commission to ring fence flight slots for smaller airports. Plus Manston deal under scrutiny.

Arguments that construction of new runway capacity at Heathrow or Gatwick to increase hub airport capacity will benefit the whole UK economy, are dependent on sufficient slots for flights to and from smaller airports, the Commons Transport Committee has said. And effort will need to be made by government to make sure they get those slots, it suggested.

"The Airports Commission...should consider how new slots at an expanded hub airport in the south east might be allocated to services to smaller airports in the UK.”

In its report on Smaller Airports the committee said Department for Transport had to establish how slots at an expanded hub airport in the south east might be allocated, a process which it described as “currently opaque”.

The department should also consider “whether some of those slots could be ring-fenced for domestic services to smaller airports.”

And it should investigate whether the Public Service Obligation mechanism – a way of subsidising existing and new routes from smaller airports – could be applied to new services using new slots to a hub; although again opaque EU rules governing PSOs would need clarification from the European Commission.

DfT, said the committee, also needed to establish what proportion of new slots to a hub would need to be allocated to flights to smaller airports to support regional connectivity.

The Airports Commission was encouraged to reflect on the role of smaller airports in its final report and “in particular, it should consider how new slots at an expanded hub airport in the south east might be allocated to services to smaller airports in the UK.”

Closure and sale of Manston Airport in Kent by Thanet District Council was also discussed in the committee report and it concluded that district councils should not be left to struggle with “complex questions” in relation to local airports but should expect the support of higher tier local government and central government.

DfT has subsequently stepped in and has appointed a consultant to examine the Manston case.

“We found a relatively small district council grappling with complex questions in relation to the current and future use of the airport which were beyond its expertise and resources. We welcome the DfT's recognition of that point and subsequent intervention, which we hope will provide the district council with access to the necessary advice," the report said.

“To ensure that similar cases do not arise in future, the Government needs to review the backing provided by higher-tier local government and central Government to small district councils in complex, one-off cases and examine whether it has the necessary powers to protect strategic transport assets,” it added.

"We found a relatively small district council grappling with complex questions in relation to the current and future use of the airport which were beyond its expertise and resources."

The committee also recommended that Manston’s owner and her development partners publish their joint venture agreement on its website. Businesswoman and one-time Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag bought the airport in 2014 for £1 and subsequently closed it with a view to seeking to build homes on the site.

“We recommend that Ann Gloag places the joint venture agreement between herself, Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner to redevelop Manston in the public domain to make it clear who would benefit from the proposed redevelopment of Manston and to repudiate allegations of asset-stripping. We would be happy to publish this document on our website,” the committee said.

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.