IWA Responds to Government's Consultation on the Future of Air Services in the UK

Cardiff International Airport should be given every practical encouragement to develop services and facilities to its maximum potential, the Institute of Welsh Affairs states in a response published today to the Government’s consultation document on the future of air services in the UK

In a 27-page report, which argues that the debate on air transport should take place in the context of a wholesale re-appraisal of regional policies, the IWA calls for Government support to take the form of:

• Improvements in road access, including at the very least an upgrading of the existing route from Culverhouse Cross to the airport, if it proves impossible to justify the cost of a wholly new road.
• Completion of a rail link to the airport to include seamless transfers facilities between railhead and the airport itself.
• Development of internal air services for Wales backed if necessary by EU-approved Public Service Obligation (PSO) status giving access to Government funding. Cardiff would then become the central hub for air services connecting a number of centres throughout Wales.
• The report also calls for a PSO-backed feeder service from Cardiff into Heathrow, London City, or Gatwick, giving Welsh travellers better access to the wide range of services available from these airports.

The report expresses concern that in the Government document relating to Wales, the idea of a Severnside airport is largely dismissed, while in the West of England paper a new airport at Pilning at the junction of the M4 and M5 is listed as a medium-term option. The Department of Transport’s own analysis suggests that adoption of the Pilning option could result in the long term loss of 1.5m passengers a year from Cardiff. “The thinking is less joined up than the regions themselves,” says the IWA report.

“The Welsh Assembly Government must take every step to ensure that if an additional facility is contemplated the aim must be to create the optimal facility for the whole sub-region on both sides of the Severn, taking full account of the much greater economic development needs of south Wales.

“The Department of Transport cannot be allowed to keep Pilning in the frame as if the impact on Cardiff International Airport and Wales’s competitive position were outside its purview. In the context of air transport the DoT has to take a UK view not an English view,” the IWA response states.

“We do not hold a brief for either of the two proposals for Severnside airports, or for the Pilning option, but it is undeniable that competing air transport facilities in south Wales and the West of England will generate a less than optimal service both for south Wales and for Bristol and the West of England. However, the current Severnside airport proposals are far from fully worked out, in terms of financial or environmental costs.

“In this situation it is imperative that the principle of a more coherent, unified, long term development of airports and air transport for south Wales and the West of England – its costs and benefits - needs to be considered seriously and exhaustively in the interests of the whole of the dual region, and of the balanced development of the UK.

“Such a study must encompass a study of the future of surface links – road and rail – between all points in Wales to central London, Heathrow and Gatwick. It must also have proper regard for the interests of current owners and investors in both Cardiff and Bristol airports as well as the undoubtedly greater economic development needs of Wales,” it says.

On the question of new airport capacity in the Southeast the IWA comes out in favour of additional runways at either Heathrow or Gatwick.

“Wales would undoubtedly look less accessible to potential investors if they had to travel from Stansted (in Essex) or from Cliffe (a new site proposed in Kent) rather than Heathrow. The economic development of Wales would be greatly harmed by any attempt to shift the centre of gravity of air services in London further east,” says the report. .

At the same time, the report argues that urgent attention needs to be given to improving existing links. “There is currently a clear perception that economically vital links between Wales and London are either not improving as they should be or as in the case of south Wales are actually deteriorating. Rail services from north Wales are still under-developed and Mid-Wales roads are suffering increasing congestion as pressure on the M5/M6 and A49 shifts north-south traffic further west,” the report notes.

“In the south the M4 is increasingly congested, with not infrequent carriageway closures.
And although the frequency of rail services has improved journey times are lengthening rather than reducing and there is no current prospect of electrification of the Great Western line,” it adds.

The report also urges that a feasibility study be completed quickly on the development of internal air services for Wales. “Internal services would represent a major step forward in bringing Wales together. We should not perpetuate a situation where we are further from each other than from the rest of the world. For these reasons such internal services would merit public subsidy,” says the report.

The report is available from the IWA, price £10 (£5 to IWA members).

Tony Davis, managing director of bmibaby.com, which now operates a range of services from Cardiff will speak at the next IWA lunch meeting in Cardiff on Thursday February 20th. For further details call the IWA on 029 2057 5511.

For further information contact Rhys David or John Osmond on 029 20575511