Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the importance of the aerospace sector to the UK's transport infrastructure; and if he will make a statement.

Aviation has a complex supply chain, with airports and airlines being the central nodes, aerospace supplying and maintaining the sector’s aircraft and engines, and other sectors providing services that facilitate operations, such as baggage handling, air traffic management and insurance. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the aviation sector contributed at least £22 billion to the UK economy annually and supported around half a million jobs spread across the UK, of which a significant proportion was in the aerospace sector.