Aviation Framework published

22nd March, 2013

New government aviation policy no longer advocates new runways, but leaves big gaps over how noise and climate change impacts should be tackled.

The Government has today published its aviation framework document, setting out its vision for the long-term development of the sector in the UK. It includes the environmental framework in which future questions about airport capacity and new runways should be assessed.

The Framework replaces the 2003 Air Transport White Paper which supported the building of new runways at Heathrow, Stansted, and either Glasgow or Edinburgh. The new policy gives no explicit support to any proposals for new airport capacity.

The Framework offers no national policy measures to address climate change or noise issues. See https://www.aef.org.uk/?p=1535 for more information.

AEF Deputy Director Cait Hewitt said: “We’re delighted that today marks the official end of the 2003 airports policy, which we campaigned against for many years, and we’re very pleased that the Government is no longer explicitly supporting new runways. But we are deeply disappointed that after promises about bringing the aviation sector into line with climate policy and about the need to reflect the latest research on noise, no new policy measures have been proposed to tackle these impacts. The Airports Commission has been left with a lot of gaps to fill in defining what environmental criteria should apply to future proposals for airport expansion.”