Air transport in the United Kingdom

Regional airports have experienced the most growth in recent years, due to the success of low-cost carrier airlines over the last decade.[when?]

[8] Although the number of airports in the UK runs into hundreds, many are smaller aerodromes dealing with general aviation rather than air transport.

In terms of the latter, statistics are collected from 59 main airports, and the largest concentration of services is located in the London and South East of England areas.

[15]Outside London and the South East, the use of regional airports has increased dramatically in recent years, with the amount of air traffic using these facilities doubling in the period 1995 to 2005.

In terms of capacity, both available and used, British Airways is again the largest airline, whilst easyJet is pushed into third place by Virgin Atlantic.

[28] The current availability of airport capacity has been identified as an important constraint on the ability to meet the increasing demand for air travel.

[33] The principal conclusion is that the two extremes of failing to provide additional airport capacity, and encouraging growth without regard for the wider impacts, are equally unacceptable options.

[34] The Government's approach is designed to cater for the forecast growth in demand, thus supporting economic prosperity nationally and enabling ordinary people to travel at reasonable cost, whilst at the same time managing and mitigating the environmental impacts of aviation and ensuring that the costs associated with them are reflected in the price of air travel (see detailed sections below).

"[36] The report re-iterates the Government's commitment to the strategy defined in the original White Paper, stating that it "… strikes the right balance between economic, social and environmental goals.

This attempts to integrate several infrastructure components (flood barrier, hydroelectric generation, rail lines) and includes plans for one of the World's largest airports.

It would be capable of handling 150 million passengers a year, have 4 runways and be built on a platform in the Hoo Peninsula in Kent.

[44] The strategy adopted in the White Paper seeks to mitigate the global impact of air transport primarily through emissions trading schemes.

The Government is seeking to redress this through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), but progress is slow.

In the meantime efforts are being made to include aviation in the EU Emission Trading Scheme with an original target to implement this by 2008.

[46][47] Critics of the Government's policy advocate addressing climate change impacts by constraining demand for air travel.

[48] This would be accomplished via a strategy that presumes "… against the expansion of UK airport capacity" and restrains demand by the use of economic instruments to price air travel less attractively.