Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 5 June 2018 on Airports National Policy Statement, Official Report, column 169, whether there are any existing (a) legal mechanisms and (b) legally contracted agreements in place with Heathrow Airport Limited to enable the ringfencing of slots on a new runway at Heathrow Airport.

Slots at Heathrow are currently allocated by the independent slot coordinator Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) in accordance with the EU slot regulations. Government will take action, where appropriate, to secure routes through the use of Public Service Obligations. This includes the ring-fencing of appropriately timed slots.

The Government has no legally contracted agreements in place with Heathrow Airport Limited to enable the ring-fencing of slots but the proposed Airports National Policy Statement sets out an expectation that expansion at Heathrow will deliver an additional six domestic routes and this will be examined as part of any Development Consent Order application. The Secretary of State also has a clear ambition for about 15 per cent of slots made available from a new runway to be used for domestic routes.