Regional Airports

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mike Kane]

But we have to start thinking as a region. The best site might have been in Blackpool, but Manchester won the bid because of not only its corporate social responsibility but the direct flights to a nearby international airport. By increasing rail links across our regions and agglomerations, and across the north as a whole, we can in future act more effectively as a single economy.

London Luton airport has recently received final planning consent for a £100 million development to increase annual passenger capacity from 12 million to 18 million by 2031.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate, as well as on working out in his short time in the House how to get such a high attendance at a Westminster Hall debate. Does he agree that one effect of this period in which there has been a relative vacuum in aviation policy has been that regional airports have been able to step in to fill the gap? For example, without significant ground works—there will be no additional runway or lengthening—London Luton airport is expanding from 12 million to 18 million passengers. That is a great way to respond to the capacity gap in the south-east.

[Mike Kane]

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. That expansion alone is forecast to add £283 million and more than 5,000 jobs to the regional economy around Luton. We need to grow Luton airport.

Connectivity in the UK is good, but to keep up with our European competitors we need to do more.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I shall of course be mindful of the fact that others want to speak.

My hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane) did a fantastic job of setting out the situation, and I want to develop one or two pertinent points in more detail. We are grateful, as you will know, Ms Dorries, in Luton South and the wider region, that the green light has been given for the expansion of passenger numbers at Luton airport. When regional airports are mentioned, it is easy to envisage Birmingham and Manchester. However, although Luton is one of six airports that serve London directly, it has carved out its own place in our aviation economy, with a lot of point-to-point and many low-cost airlines that have driven growth in recent years; but it has a bright future, as well, because without significant ground works or additional heavy moving, such as the extension and repositioning of runways and the installation of additional runway capacity, it has the ability to increase passenger numbers significantly from the existing location. I thank the aviation Minister and Ministers at the Department for Communities and Local Government for their responsible approach to expansion at Luton. My constituents are overwhelmingly positive about having an airport on their patch.

We hope that in the coming years passenger numbers will go from 6 million to 18 million, without additional significant ground works—just by changing the management of passengers, take-offs and departures. Of course, the result is further prosperity when other operators come in and cast their vote of confidence in the airport. In the past year Atlasjet, easyJet, Monarch, Thompson and Wizz Air have expanded routes and put on new routes out of Luton. London Luton airport now serves 107 destinations, which, considering its location, is phenomenal and a boost to the local economy.

As to jobs, aviation has a unique role in the UK economy. It is easier to create jobs in a service industry at the low end, but aviation can widen the skills mix towards middle and higher incomes; and it can create jobs for both genders and for people of various ethnic backgrounds. It is a diverse field, and that is important for young people growing up in my constituency, who know that there will be expansion and a positive future for the airport. Actually, it is not just about entry-level jobs at that airport. Although many people do not realise it, we are No. 1 for business jet travel. The chances are that people travelling on a Learjet land at Luton, which is hugely important because of the servicing and other skills that are created.

I should like briefly to mention surface connectivity, which many hon. Members picked up on. Luton Airport Parkway station, which serves London Luton airport, is just 22 minutes, at present, from St Pancras. Out of the six airports that I mentioned, people would struggle to make a case for an airport that is closer in terms of connectivity by rail from central London, but although we think of the Heathrow Express and the Gatwick Express we never talk about a London Luton express. In that sense, I was glad that in the recent franchising round, Govia Thameslink Railway Ltd, which will take over from the FirstGroup, committed, in conjunction with the Department for Transport, to introducing a minimum of two services an hour, 24 hours a day, serving Luton Airport Parkway. I hope that in time we can build on that, as passenger numbers increase, because that is a vital north-south route. Perhaps the Minister will reflect on that in his comments.

Additionally, we know that we need upgrades in the wayfinding systems at the terminal building, Luton Airport Parkway, and at St Pancras International. Most of all, my constituents are united—and I am with them—in saying that we need to remove a separate, confusing charge for the shuttle bus up to the terminal building. These may seem small issues, but if people think they are buying a ticket to London Luton airport and find themselves being marched to a cashpoint to get the small change they need to get to the airport, their frustration will affect the rest of the experience and it will be hard to turn around perceptions at that point.

Luton has the ability to contribute to capacity in the south-east, at a time of relative calm before what we fully expect to happen in 2015 happens, when the Davies commission reports. Let us turn on that capacity in the next 12 to 18 months, while expanding UK business.

On jobs, it is important to get the skills mix right. It would be easy to expand an airport such as Luton by getting rid of many of the diverse businesses that provide high-skilled jobs and just focusing on driving low-cost carriers. However, we have chosen not to do that in Luton and that is a welcome move. On surface connectivity, we are starting to see point-to-point not just as taking off at one airport and landing at another, but as being about the entire journey, from home to the destination. Those are key components in determining whether people are getting a good travel experience. Regional airports have something to contribute on all those points, and I hope the Minister will reflect on that in his comments.