Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK of the cost of air fares to and from Northern Ireland.

The Government has not made an assessment of the economic effects on Northern Ireland or the UK of the cost of air fares to and from Northern Ireland. However, we said in last year’s Aviation Policy Framework that the aviation sector’s economic output to the whole UK economy in 2011 was approximately £18 billion, and that it employs around 220,000 workers directly and supports many more indirectly. We recognise that airports across the UK play an important role in securing connectivity for local populations and their contribution to local, regional and national economies.