Examination of Witnesses (Questions 340
- 346)
WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY 2005
MS BARBARA
ANDERSON AND
MR DENIS
GALWAY
Q340 Reverend Smyth: Is the remit
then not just to deliver to Northern Ireland, Belfast to Heathrow
but to other airports, or what is the remit of the study and when
is it likely to be completed?
Ms Anderson: What we are looking
at is the flow of product into and out of Northern Ireland. The
first part of the project would indicate that a combination of
textiles and engineering would be the sectors where we might get
the most gains in the first instance, but if you think further
ahead, there is nothing to say that in years to come you will
have a Tesco freighter leaving at Belfast International Airport
going into a regional hub somewhere in the UK. We are quite a
long way away from ever achieving that at the moment, but it gives
a focus for the future. What we are looking at is probably going
to be two long haul routes where we have identified at the moment
that there is potentially enough flow of product and balance of
inbound and outbound to be able to justify the freight service,
and that is one into North America and one into the Far East;
and we are in the process at the moment of collecting the detailed
data so we can then look at what the options might be to service
that requirement, and then we will take it from there. Hopefully
by the end of the first quarter, by the end of March beginning
of April, we should actually have a little bit more information,
more clarification on where we are going.
Q341 Reverend Smyth: What is the
extent of the competition at the moment? Which airlines are involved?
Ms Anderson: At the moment the
main air freight out of Belfast is TNT and DHL, it tends to be
very much express, and we are also looking at ways that we can
maybe change the thinking on that, because both of those companies
have hubs across Europe, so we might even be able to divert some
freight away from Heathrow and take it closer to the markets we
are serving, but again those discussions are in play. There is
a little bit of reluctance sometimes to change their thinking,
but we will get there.
Chairman: With your agreement I may ask
our clerk to talk to you about output location dates and when
you think your study will be available to make sure that we can
take full advantage of but also make sure we include the findings
of that study in the report. Thank you.
Q342 Mr Swire: The question of good
surface access, which you mention, including public transport,
to the Northern Ireland airports is something you consider to
be a priority. Where in the list of your priorities does that
come?
Ms Anderson: I think it has to
go fairly high up, because if you cannot actually get into the
airport you cannot fly anywhere, and if it is going to take an
hour and a half to get to the airport, then it is going back to
what was said in the earlier session about journey time and the
duration. We are comfortable that the Northern Ireland Regional
Transport Strategy is addressing a lot of the access issues. There
will be some disruption once the work starts on the west link
and subsequent work on the extension of the M2. All of those will
have a short-term impact on accessibility, but, again, it is important
that wherever possible we are increasing the flexibility to get
into the airports in a reasonable time with the minimum fuss and
hassle.
Q343 Mr Swire: There has been a suggestion
that the improved communications between the north and the south
led to quite a lot of travellers from Northern Ireland using Dublin
as a hub or point of departure. I do not know if that is true,
but if it is true, are you concerned about it and what are you
doing to try and reverse that trend, in other words to get travellers
from the Republic to fly out of Belfast?
Mr Galway: I think Dublin airport
with the range of services has attracted some business from the
north, but with the road improvement between Belfast and Dublin
and also the difficult congestion within Dublin city centre road
traffic goes both ways, so there are opportunities to market people,
to draw the catchment area for the Northern Ireland airports further
south. Hopefully, with the increased range of services which are
now being offered from the Northern Ireland airports, this will
widen the number of potential customers that we can attract to
both the Belfast Airports and also possibly Derry airport, but
certainly both the Belfast airports.
Q344 Mr Swire: Can I add to a question
which Mr Pound asked earlier. There is no requirement at all,
is there now, for a flight from Dublin to Belfast given the train
links and the road improvements? Is there any suggestion that
there might be a flight between the two?
Mr Galway: I certainly think at
the present time there is absolutely no case that could be made
for a flight from Belfast to Dublin.
Q345 Chairman: So far in our inquiry
we have not touched on air passenger duty, but it is a question
that I would like to put to the CBI in as much as what impact
do you think the lower rate of VAT and the absence of air passenger
duty at Dublin has on the attractiveness of people flying from
Dublin International rather than using airport in Northern Ireland?
Is there an impact? Is it a big issue?
Mr Galway: Chairman, certainly
every straw helps to build up a case, and with Value Added Tax,
for example, on accommodation in the south being 13% compared
with our 17½%, with airport passenger duty applying in the
north of Ireland but not in the south, all of these things are
competitive disadvantages, and I certainly think that we would
have liked to have seen airport passenger duty abolished for services
to Northern Ireland which would help the Northern Ireland economy,
incoming tourists and business travellers, but certainly at the
very worst we would not like to see any increase in it at all.
Q346 Chairman: I am conscious that
we have galloped through this evidence session because of the
division earlier on which put us behind, but can I say to you
how grateful we were for the written evidence and give you the
opportunity to mention anything that you think we may have missed
in questioning you, because of the speed at which we have gone.
Is there anything you were expecting us to ask which we have not?
Mr Galway: No, I think, Chairman,
that since our submission last September there has been a lot
of good news as far as air services, whether it be to Europe and
to America, and with good effort being made to market those services
we think that the Northern Ireland economy can benefit sufficiently.
What we seek, particularly in the Air Route Development Fund,
is that the pipeline is not just closed down if the potential
still exists.
Chairman: On behalf of the Committee
can I thank you once again for giving evidence this afternoon.
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