Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Vince and Mike Kane

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

17. What steps she is taking to support the aviation sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mike Kane)]

The Government have shown that we will support the UK aviation sector by backing airport expansions that promote economic growth while meeting climate and environmental standards. We have invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow, and introduced a package of measures to encourage the production and use of sustainable aviation fuel.

[Mike Kane]

My hon. Friend is a great champion in this area. In addition to the sustainable aviation fuel I mentioned, we recognise the role that hydrogen can play in decarbonising aviation, because it literally produces zero emissions at the tailpipe. We have invested £63 million in the advanced fuels fund, announced by the Chancellor, which will also be available for power-to-liquids sustainable aviation fuel projects.

[Chris Vince]

I thank the Minister for his answer. As the Prime Minister pointed out yesterday, Stansted airport is a huge employer and training provider for my constituency of Harlow. What work is the Department, alongside the Department for Work and Pensions, doing with employers and training providers in the aviation sector?

[Mike Kane]

I acknowledge that my hon. Friend is a great champion for the airport near his constituency. We engage with airports to understand their plans. Stansted has committed to creating over 5,000 jobs from its £1.1 billion expansion, and it has established an employment skills academy in the Aerozone to boost careers and deliver STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—outreach. I encourage him to carry on engaging as he has been doing.

Airport Expansion

Debate between Chris Vince and Mike Kane

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mike Kane]

I cannot comment on the third runway because there is no development consent order before us, but the hon. Lady makes an extraordinarily valid point about noise. That is why the Liberal Democrats should get behind us and support airspace modernisation. We have an analogue system in a digital age, which was designed more for the days when Yuri Gagarin went into space than for today. We can give people under flightpaths more choice in future by differentiation, if we have a better system of airspace modernisation.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

My local airport, Stansted, is a huge employer for residents in my constituency, and it is has led the way in developing sustainable aviation fuel. Does the Minister agree that sustainable aviation fuel is vital to achieving our decarbonisation targets?

[Mike Kane]

Sustainable aviation fuel is vital to meeting our climate targets. I commend Manchester Airports Group, which includes Stansted and East Midlands, and Manchester in my own constituency, on its work to decarbonise. It is ahead of the game. It flies one in six people in and out of the UK. When it gets it right, that represents a huge emissions reduction.