1. Oliver Mulvey - Airports Commission Secretariat
Making the best use of existing capacity Short and medium term measures
Oliver Mulvey - Airports Commission Secretariat
17 March 2014

2. Overview Whatever option we recommend will take years to deliver.
So we need a strategy for the interim.
We looked at areas including:
changes to airspace and airport operations;
changes to the regulatory environment;
new incentives for the redistribution of capacity; and
improvements to airport surface transport links.

3. Key Message
One key message:
There is no “magic bullet” solution for solving the UK’s long term capacity needs using existing infrastructure.

4. Constraints
UK airspace and airports are already very efficient compared to international comparators.
the Government’s levers to redistribute traffic are weaker than generally understood; but
Government can invest in surface transport

5. Optimisation Strategy
Nature and scale of the challenge already well understood
The challenge is PACE
So the industry needs to sharpen its leadership

6. Redistribution of traffic
We examined whether traffic could be redistributed between airports, but found that:
Government levers are weak
Airlines cannot be compelled to fly routes that aren’t commercial
APD changes would have produced some undesirable results
And aviation is a global industry, meaning that the UK cannot make decisions in isolation

7. Surface Transport
Government does have one lever that we think could encourage the use of currently unused capacity – surface transport investment.
Better surface transport links make airports more attractive to passengers – and hence airlines.
Not just about journey times; passenger choice and experience also matter, as do reliability and cost.
Need to balance airport user’s interests with those of commuters, freight and intercity passengers.
And can’t just think about the situation today – but also about what things might look like in the future.

8. Surface Transport – Surface transport CAN drive changes in behaviour
Passengers care about a range of things: journey time, cost, reliability, service frequency etc
The challenge is to produce wins for both airport users and others
Our recommendations tried to balance the needs of all users of the network

9. Independent aviation noise authority
Striking how little trust there is between parties in the UK in discussions over aircraft noise.
Looked at international examples, for instance from France and Australia, which have independent bodies dealing with aviation noise.
Think that such a body could be useful in the UK, to act as an arbiter, to commission research and to provide advice (on a statutory basis) to the Secretary of State and CAA as appropriate.
Did not recommend giving it formal enforcement powers due to concerns over “double jeopardy” issues.
This will take some time to implement – it requires legislation – but hope to see Government take this recommendation forward.