Government funding for airports

A further £3.7m has been made available to support airports in reducing journey times, pollution and flight delays.  Whitehall says the new funding, on top of £5.5m in Government investment announced last year, will play an important role in the drive to reduce aviation emissions as part of the Government's commitment to reach net zero.

It will support airports to develop new, more efficient flight routes that make use of modern technology, such as Performance Based Navigation, which will enable aircraft to fly more precise routes.

Aviation Minister Robert Courts announced the funding boost during a visit to London City Airport last week. "By redesigning our skies, we are creating a modern UK airspace that is fit for future generations and makes journeys quicker, quieter and greener".

Commenting on the Government’s announcement Airport Operators Association, Chief Executive, Karen Dee, said: “The UK’s airspace is our invisible infrastructure in the sky, vital to the UK’s connectivity and to the delivery of government agendas like global Britain.  Airspace Modernisation is also essential to support aviation as it aims to build back better, so that a recovery to pre-pandemic passenger levels can be delivered with a reduced impact on the environment.  We look forward to working with Government and the Airspace Change Organising Group [ACOG] to deliver modernisation and to help achieve aviation’s net zero by 2050 commitment".

Britain’s airspace is made up of a complex network of flight paths that have seen little development since they were designed 70 years ago, despite a surge in demand with commercial planes to private aircraft, the military and drones. In recent years, this has led to increased flight delays, noise and pollution. Without action, our congested airspace could have meant that passengers would have seen 30-minute delays on one in three flights by 2030.  

www.aoa.org.uk

www.acog.aero

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Jill Smith, Poplar

The sums involved in this story and the one about smaller airports are but a drop in the ocean compared with the £20bn Crossrail has cost.