Government must immediately ringfence and protect lifeline UK domestic routes into Heathrow
Heathrow have responded to FlyBe’s decision to move its Newquay-London services from Heathrow to Gatwick.
Commenting on FlyBe’s decision to move its Newquay-London services from Heathrow to Gatwick, Heathrow’s CEO, John Holland-Kaye said:
“It cannot be right that regions which, because of geographical distance, rely on an air link to the UK’s only hub airport should have that removed, cutting them off from the unparalleled global connections that Heathrow offers. Businesses need certainty over these vital air links in order to invest and help level up the economy across the UK. We call on the Government to ring fence flights from certain UK regions into Heathrow so that markets like Belfast, Newquay and Inverness are guaranteed the same opportunities for global trade as London and the South East.”
On background, Heathrow’s policy ask is to request that the Government immediately ringfence and protect lifeline UK domestic routes into Heathrow by:
- Designating UK domestic routes flown into Heathrow from regions where there is no land transport link of less than four hours as ‘protected’.
- Ringfencing the ‘protected’ slots used for these routes by ensuring the same route is offered to any other airlines to operate, before the route is changed/ removed
- Broadening the use and designation of Public Service Obligations on ‘at risk routes’ - specifying the PSO for use at Heathrow only
