Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Airports National Policy Statement, published on 5 June 2018, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of additional domestic connections and (b) annual cost to the public purse of subsidising a ring-fenced (i) five per cent (ii) 10 per cent and (iii) 15 percent of the newly created slots.

The proposed Airports National Policy Statement sets out an expectation that expansion at Heathrow will deliver an additional six domestic routes. Separately, the Secretary of State has set out a clear ambition that about 15% of slots made available from a new runway will be used for domestic routes. The Department expects that the majority of these routes will be commercially viable, as many are today, with support from Heathrow Airport. This support includes discounted charges for domestic passengers, and a £10 million Route Connectivity Fund.

The Government will also take action, where appropriate, to secure routes through the use of Public Service Obligations (PSOs). PSOs provide the opportunity to offer exclusive rights to airlines to operate a route. Where this does not deliver the required level of connectivity, the Government may also offer subsidies to an airline to operate the route, which includes exemption from Air Passenger Duty.

The Government’s approach to domestic connectivity will be set out in a Green Paper on the Aviation Strategy towards the end of this year, and the extent to which subsidies will be required can only be determined subject to market conditions nearer to the time of new capacity becoming operational.