Examination of Witnesses (Questions 120
- 126)
WEDNESDAY 24 MAY 2000
MR PHILIP
MEESON AND
MR STEVE
GUYNAN
120. Mr Meeson, these questions are not pejorative.
I am seeking facts. Could you give me a note please, Mr Guynan,
on the extent of the trade and how many of your people are involved
in it and the percentage that it represents overall. And if you
can give me the difference between this year and last year that
would be extremely helpful. May I ask you finally, the restrictions
on night movements, are they too severe?
(Mr Meeson) Obviously we fly a lot at night, we fly
a lot during the day. We have spent considerable sums of money
buying aeroplanes which are genuinely Stage 3 aeroplanes—
121. Chapter 3?
(Mr Meeson) Chapter 3 aeroplanes, absolutely. We understand
people's environmental concerns.
122. So if you were offered more night time
slots, would this give you more capacity, would you develop your
operations or would you say: "No, we are very good environmentalists,
we do not want to upset Mr Bennett"?
(Mr Meeson) We all crave after more night time slots,
Madam Chairman.
123. Any particular airways?
(Mr Meeson) Stansted is becoming very crowded and
that is a key airport and we operate through Stansted many services
each night, with very quiet aeroplanes.
124. Any alternatives.
(Mr Meeson) Luton is an alternative.
(Mr Guynan) A lot of our business is done at night
time flying for the express parcel carriers and the overnight
freightliners.
125. That is precisely why I am asking you,
Mr Guynan?
(Mr Guynan) They do tend to base their operations
in quieter, regional airports rather than in major international
hubs.
126. Yes, I do not think that makes you dearly
loved by the people around these airports before, does it?
(Mr Guynan) I think that is true, but we do bring
significant economic benefits to some of those regional airports.
If you look at East Midlands in particular, the DHL, TNT and UPS
operations there, which all run at night, contribute thousands
of local jobs and vast benefits to the local economy.
Chairman: I am sure that will be taken account
of by those people who are under your flight path. Thank you very
much indeed, gentlemen.
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