UK airports serving regional airline and business aviation traffic have demanded improved access to slot-constrained London-area airports. Giving evidence to the UK parliament’s House of Commons transport select committee on January 19, John Spooner, chairman of the Regional & Business Airports Group (RABA), pointed to the commercial pressures that have seen several British airports close in recent years.

Spooner told members of parliament that any new runway capacity created for London-area airports should be made available to regional and business aviation traffic on reasonable terms. He argued that slots should be available for flights serving the UK’s regions at convenient times and affordable prices. The long-running and contentious debate over providing additional runway capacity for London is likely to be the central aviation issue in Britain this year, as the UK Airports Commission led by Sir Howard Davies is due to report back to the government after the UK general election in May.

RABA members include Durham Tees Valley, Southend, Newquay, Gloucestershire, Exeter, Derry, Glasgow Prestwick, Coventry, Norwich, Carlisle, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Lands End, Lydd London-Ashford and Doncaster-Sheffield.

The select committee considered why airports such as Plymouth (closed), Manston (closed last year), Coventry, Blackpool (closed last year) and others had faced enormous challenges during the economic recession.

One thing that would help, according to RABA, is if became easier to develop land at regional airport sites for “non-aeronautical employment purposes.” Spooner called for a more flexible and supportive policy framework around planning to this end, and understanding that smaller airports sometimes don’t have the economies of scale to absorb the cost burdens placed on them.

“It’s very encouraging to see that the transport select committee has recognized the vital importance of regional airports…to the regions of the UK. The questions they asked showed that they understood the challenges that regional aviation and smaller airports face every day and gave the impression that they want to help,” commented Spooner after the meeting. “It was particularly encouraging that the select committee appeared to recognize the multitude of social and economic roles performed by the UK’s smaller regional airports, not just in connecting the regions to the capital and to themselves but also enabling ambulance and transplant flights, helicopter search-and-rescue and oil and gas field support services, aircrew, flight and engineering training, aircraft maintenance and a whole host of other activities.”