Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) debt levels and (b) regulated asset base gearing by UK airports.

The UK aviation sector operates predominantly within the private market, and decisions regarding asset financing are at the discretion of individual airports and their owners.

Heathrow Airport is unique amongst UK airports in maintaining an active Regulatory Asset Base as part of its economic regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Since this regulation is independent from Government, the Department does not conduct routine analysis of debt and gearing levels in relation to Heathrow.