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Sir Fergus Montgomery : I agree with my hon. Friend. Councillor Howarth was once a Labour Member of Parliament. He is a moderate member of the Labour party and not part of the far left fringe. The type of policy suggested by Mr. Didsbury is similar to what we saw behind the iron curtain in eastern Europe, and we all know where such policies led the people of eastern Europe.
My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Transport should be made aware of such happenings because if such a policy is allowed it will not bode well for the future of Manchester airport. It could put at risk all the great achievements of the airport in the past decade.
I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister can give me some hope that the benefits that have accrued to Manchester airport in the past 10 years will continue and that a watchful eye will be kept on people using that airport for political ends rather than for the good of the community.
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11.44 pmThe Minister for Roads and Traffic (Mr. Christopher Chope) : First I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale (Sir F. Montgomery) on his constructive speech. I also congratulate him on having secured this debate at a much more civilised hour than was possible for yesterday's Adjournment debate.
The final part of my hon. Friend's speech was the sting in the tail and gave a revealing insight into the secret socialist agenda and the brazen abuse of power that that so often involves. I shall be pleased to see the letter to which my hon. Friend referred and to pass it on to my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State. One thing is absolutely certain. Manchester airport, a fine airport, should be developed not for the benefit of socialist trade unionists, but for the benefit of customers. As a result of its success, it should be able to ensure that there are good employment prospects for its workers. The letter referred to by my hon. Friend was most disturbing, and I am glad that he brought it to the attention of the House.
I am extremely pleased to have the opportunity to put on record the Government's appreciation of the contribution made by Manchester airport to air travel in this country and internationally. The recent topping out of Manchester's second terminal by my right hon. and learned Friend was another milestone in that airport's history. The airport has been so successful in recent years that milestones come thick and fast.
It is only two years since the new domestic complex, capable of handling up to 2.5 million passengers a year, was opened. Now the airport is well on the way to completing capacity to handle an additional 6 million international passengers a year. Apart from the London airports, no other United Kingdom airport has total current capacity for 6 million passengers, let alone an expansion programme of that size. Ten years ago, Manchester handled about 4.5 million passengers ; now it handles more than 10 million- -my hon. Friend quoted 11 million--and the prospects for the future are looking good. We welcome the development of the first phase of the second terminal at Manchester airport and the substantial increase in capacity that it will bring. It is a testimony to the importance of regional airports and the development of air services to and from them. It is a tribute to the vision, skills and hard work of those responsible for Manchester airport and it is a tribute to British efforts to open up new possibilities for services to and from regional airports.
We want to see regional airports handling all the traffic that they can attract, not only for the benefits that this brings for those living in the region, but for the contribution that it can make to relieving pressure on the London airports. As the third largest airport in the United Kingdom, Manchester airport plays a vital role in our regional airports policy. In the past decade, the Government have approved supplementary credit and borrowing allocations for Manchester airport amounting to some £132 million, almost 43 per cent. of the total allocations for local authority airports over this period. Manchester already enjoyes scheduled services or chartered flights to more than 140 destinations. The new terminal, when it is ready in two years' time, will increase the airport's ability to provide a still wider range and greater frequency of services.
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During the past half dozen years, the United Kingdom has put the issue of opening up new routes on to the political agenda, and major changes have been delivered. That is most striking within the European Community, where services can now be operated to any point, save the Azores and the Greek Islands. That is the result of the initiative taken during our last presidency in 1986.The opening up of routes is only one part of liberalisation. The whole paraphernalia of out-moded bilateral air services restrictions needs to be opened up if free and fair competition is to follow. Negotiations of a third and final stage of EC liberalisation is about to begin, culminating in the next United Kingdom presidency at the end of 1992. However, much progress has already been made. As an illustration, there are now more than 40 air services from Manchester to other EC airports. There are some 200 services from British regional airports to points in other European countries.
We concentrated on Europe first, as the extent to which old restrictions were holding back development of regional services seemed greatest there, but we have not been idle elsewhere. Manchester has a good range of transatlantic services at present. British Airways flies to New York and Orlando. American Airlines has had a service to Chicago for some time and recently introduced a service to New York. As my hon. Friend said, Delta Airlines introduced a service to Atlanta at the end of June.
Those services result, in part, from an agreement which we reached with the United States in 1990. I was grateful for the tribute that my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale paid to our right hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Parkinson), who played an important part in that agreement. Under its terms, three new routes were created to United Kingdom regional airports for United States carriers. One of those opportunities was immediately used to provide cover for the service provided by American Airlines to Chicago, which had been operating informally for some time. The other two new opportunities could be used for services to any regional airport. The United States chose to use those opportunities for additional services to Manchester, resulting in the recent inauguration of the Delta Airlines service to Atlanta and a service by American Airlines to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
The fact that Manchester was chosen is indeed a tribute to the attractiveness of Manchester as a destination for transatlantic services, but it also reflects a lot of hard work by the airport authorities and others to ensure that the airlines were aware of the facilities and traffic opportunities available.
The 1990 agreement also resulted in new rights from regional airports for United Kingdom carriers and, at present, there are three route opportunities available which could be used by United Kingdom carriers to provide services from Manchester to United States destinations. Whether they do so is a commercial matter for the airlines, but if they so decide, they will find no Government or bureaucratic obstacles in their way.
We know that there is probably unsatisfied demand for route opportunities. More United States carriers wanted to fly than could be covered by the two route opportunities on offer, but further services by United States carriers will depend on new rights being negotiated under the Bermuda 2 air services agreement and, as a first step, the United States authorities will have to come forward with proposals.
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We would certainly consider such proposals with a clear view in mind of the advantages of additional services to the airport and the region. We want to see regional airports develop further. Our past actions underline that commitment, but creation of new rights for the United States must bring about appropriate new opportunities for our carriers. It would be wrong to allow advantages to the United States which could distort the balance of opportunities in the market to an extent that would be unfair to our airline industry.I think that a better approach than piecemeal trading of rights is to look at the transatlantic market to the United States as a whole. We need to consider with the United States whether the present arrangements provide for fair, effective and healthy competition by the airlines of both sides, or whether changes are necessary. We need to consider whether sufficient opportunities are available for services or whether they can be expanded. We also need to consider whether unnecessary restrictions and regulations can be removed. We have therefore been engaged in liberalisation talks with the United States for some time. Good progress is being made, but there are difficult issues to be tackled. Consequently, it is not possible to say when conclusions will be reached. Neither side has ruled anything out of the discussion. We are looking at fundamental issues, such as cabotage rights and inward investment in United States carriers. We shall also consider such key marketing issues as use--or abuse--of frequent flier programmes, use of computer reservation systems and opportunities for commercial arrangements between airlines. We shall look at the route structure and the availability of route opportunities generally, as well as to regional airports, including Manchester.
What we want from liberalisation is fair competition, which should bring benefits for all concerned--not just for airlines and airports, but for their customers and the economy as a whole. We do not want--and are concerned to guard against--scope for abuse of market dominance, leading to the extinction of competition.
We have also been successfully pursuing liberalisation elsewhere in the world--with, for example, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand. We are in the midst of talks with Thailand. A standard element of liberalisation is to remove restriction of routes from regional airports, so that services can be from any point in one country to any point in the other.
There is a myth that we agree to new routes to or from regional airports only when that suits British airlines, and I should like to dispel it. As I said, we see liberalisation as good for all concerned : airlines, certainly, but airports and customers at large as well. If we had a request for a route to a regional airport that was not possible under present arrangements, we would also look carefully at that region's interests in considering what to do, but we would probably suggest a wider opening up of opportunities through liberalisation.
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We are concerned to see that international services to and from regional airports continue to develop strongly. The Government intend to play their part, in opening up scope for fair competition, by making sure that the necessary opportunities are there, but a characteristic of liberalisation is that it opens up opportunities before airlines are ready for them. There could be services to Manchester from Japan, New Zealand and Malaysia, for example, to add to those introduced in the last year or so from Hong Kong and Pakistan.Perhaps the airlines have not wanted to take up these opportunities, but there is a challenge here for Manchester and other regional airports : to go out and try to interest the airlines concerned, British and foreign, in starting new services. Officials in the Department of Transport are, of course, ready to help--in advising on what is already available and in opening up new opportunities that look desirable.
My hon. Friend referred to a rumour about Stansted. It is a matter for the United States authorities whether they come forward with proposals for additional route rights to Stansted and/or new rights involving regional airports. The Government's negotiations will have to take account of what is proposed, but we do not envisage acting outside that negotiating framework.
My hon. Friend also referred to the fraught issue of duty-frees. So far, the European Commission has not brought out any specific proposals to end intra-Community duty-free shopping, but that termination would indeed be a side effect of the current technical proposals for VAT and excise control systems after 1992. The matter has not yet been discussed in Brussels, but the Government recognise that the duty-free trade is important to the United Kingdom industry and economy, and we are very aware of the concerns of all involved. My hon. Friend also referred to the Manchester airport rail link. I understand that British Rail fully intends that the rail link will be operational by planned completion date of May 1993. Work is well under way and, although contracts for some of the infrastructure and rolling stock are still to be placed, the management of BR's regional railways see the link as a high priority. That link will greatly improve access to the airport and generally boost the economy of the north-west because, for the first time, passengers will be able to travel by train direct not only from central Manchester but from as far afield as Blackpool, Leeds and Hull. There has been fine co-operation between the passenger transport authority, BR and Manchester airport company.
It is not just Members of Parliament or Ministers from the regions who can understand the importance of Manchester airport. I have often used it and found its facilities very useful. There is no doubt that it has a valuable role to play in future, provided that that role is not undermined by the sort of trade union irresponsibility to which my hon. Friend referred.
Question put and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at three minutes to Twelve o'clock.
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