Contribution
I thank noble Lords for their consideration of these draft regulations. I will attempt to respond to as many of the specific points raised as I can.
The noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate, asked about Leeds Bradford Airport. It is a late entrant, entered in 2024, and is subject to slot allocations only in the summer months. The noble Lord also asked how the 80:20 rule is administered. The answer is that, if under 80% of flights over the entire season are not used, they are lost. For desperate circumstances other than Covid, the regulations already have some alleviation, but this statutory instrument adds to them in respect of Covid. I will come back to the change from five to seven slots in answering some other points.
The noble Lord made a serious point about consumer interest in consultation. The Competition and Markets Authority was consulted and supported all the changes. The Civil Aviation Authority was also consulted because it has consumer protection obligations; it, too, fully supported this measure.
The noble Lords, Lord Empey and Lord Rogan, mentioned the provision of adequate services to Northern Ireland from Great Britain. From some previous work that I did on the union connectivity review, I know that this is a subject of much concern—and, occasionally, criticism—in Northern Ireland. Recently, I answered a Question in your Lordships’ House about the cancellation of an early flight from Belfast to London; that cancellation seems to have been astonishingly ill advised from the point of view of the airline operator, judging by the number of noble Lords and Members of the other place who were inconvenienced by it. So I understand the noble Lords’ points and the previous proposals for Bills in this direction.
The noble Lord suggested a more fundamental review of slot allocation system; such a wider reform would need primary legislation. The previous Government consulted on this from December 2023 to March 2024, and the current Government are now considering the need for wider slot reform; I am sure that the specific availability of slots from Northern Ireland will be part of that consideration.
I draw to the attention of both noble Lords the fact that, as I noted in the union connectivity review, the Government have a public service obligation and support flights from Derry/Londonderry to London precisely to make sure that there is connectivity from Northern Ireland to London.
The noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, made two points about the extent to which the European Union is in advance of or behind these changes. In both cases, we are making these changes in advance of the EU making similar changes in respect of both Covid and the minimum slot allocation. On her point about moving from five to seven slots, that move is certainly helpful to consumers because, as other noble Lords have noted, increasing the number gives an opportunity for new services to support themselves in viability and, therefore, to be more permanent. So the answer to that question is that it will help. On whether the number is the right one, there was certainly consensus that the number should be increased but little consensus about what it should be, so bringing ourselves in line with international legislation seems, frankly, a pretty sensible thing to do.
The noble Earl, Lord Effingham, asked whether new entrants can be protected in some way. Of course, I raised in my original speech that new entrant carriers are given priority in the allocation of slots, as the regulation requires that 50% of the slots shall first be allocated to new entrants unless the requests from them are less than 50%. That seems a sensible provision to allow new entrants a first opportunity here.
Lastly, the noble Earl asked how the Government will ensure that the provisions for severe disruption are used only in exceptional circumstances. In respect of something like a pandemic, it is pretty clear that the provisions have to be drastic. There are other provisions in existing regulations for alleviation, which will continue to apply.
I hope that I have covered all the points made by noble Lords on this proposed statutory instrument. I conclude by saying that it will make two permanent changes to Regulation 95/93, reducing barriers to entry at UK airports and making the slot allocation system more resilient. This instrument is putting the UK on the front foot; as I said, we are now in advance of the European Union on both of this measure’s substantial subject matters. I commend this instrument to the Committee.