Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of new slots at an expanded Heathrow airport were forecast to comprise public service obligation flights in the calculation of the economic case for the Airports National Policy Statement.

The Secretary of State has set out a clear ambition that about 15% of slots made available from a new runway should be used for domestic routes.

The Department’s modelling, which informed the economic case for the proposed Airports National Policy Statement, is primarily intended to inform long-term strategic decision-making. It does not account for specific airport business plans or potential interventions such as Public Service Obligations (PSOs) to protect and enhance domestic connectivity. This is also clearly set out in the Appraisal Report.

Under expansion, this modelling shows an initial increase of domestic flights followed by a steady decline as routes are squeezed out by the same market forces that are squeezing out marginal routes and flights today.

This is why the Government has committed to use this once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect slots for domestic routes at Heathrow. The Government will consider domestic connectivity and how PSOs can be used as part of the Green Paper on the Aviation Strategy which is due to be published towards the end of this year.