Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the merits of the Competition and Market Authority launching a market review to examine competition in the low-cost carrier sector.

The UK has a competitive aviation market, which operates predominantly in the private sector. Airports invest in their infrastructure to attract passengers and airlines, while airlines are well placed to deliver services to their customers by responding to demand for routes. Whilst we recognise the importance of maintaining a thriving and competitive aviation sector in the UK to deliver connectivity, levelling up and the supporting the Union, it is for airlines to determine the routes they operate based on their own assessment on whether routes are commercially viable.

Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition cases which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate. The CMA also has powers to conduct detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well, and decide what remedial action is appropriate. Concerns about market competition can be submitted to the CMA.