Oral Answers to Questions

David Duguid Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con)]

5. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of passengers flying from British airports.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling)]

In 2018, 292 million passengers flew to or from a UK airport. That figure was almost 3% higher than in 2017, and 24% higher than in 2008. The feedback that I have received from airports this year suggests that they expect that growth to continue. The one thing that could bring that growth to a grinding halt is Labour’s plan, which was announced yesterday, to hike the cost of going on holiday.

[David Duguid]

On 8 February easyJet ended its service between Aberdeen and Gatwick, which was the latest in a succession of cuts to flights between Aberdeen and London. British Airways has reduced services between Aberdeen and Heathrow in recent months, and that is making life more difficult for businesses and individuals across north-east Scotland, including in my constituency. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to discuss the impact that those service reductions are having on the north-east economy, and say what can be done to help alleviate the situation?

[Chris Grayling]

I will be very happy to meet my hon. Friend. He knows my concern about the need to guarantee enough capacity for regional connections. It is one of the reasons we have said there will be a bloc of new capacity at Heathrow airport, when it expands, set aside for regional connections. That is fundamentally important to the future of aviation in the United Kingdom.