Airport Capacity

Roger Gale Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

Absolutely. Every Member will be included in the discussions as part of the consultation process. I will happily do what the hon. Lady asks.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on taking the right decision in the interest of the United Kingdom. Will he remind us of how much passenger traffic, and particularly freight traffic, is currently being lost to mainland European airports as a result of lack of capacity in our south-east? Does he agree that in order to bridge the gap, we need to use all the currently available capacity?

[Chris Grayling]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is important for people to understand this issue. It is sometimes argued that connecting traffic does not add value to the United Kingdom. However, connecting traffic combined with our own domestic traffic can often make viable a new route to an important trading centre. Winning back some of those transfer passengers in order to ensure that routes to developing markets can be opened up from this country is therefore an important part of securing our trading future.