(S3O-9051) Aberdeen Airport (Globespan)

5. Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates the collapse of flyglobespan will have on passenger numbers at Aberdeen airport. (S3O-9051)

The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):

Flyglobespan carried an estimated 100,000 passengers on services out of Aberdeen last year.

Maureen Watt: Given that Aberdeen airport has lost a number of routes over the past year, does the minister believe that if control over air passenger duty were to be devolved, that could be used to stimulate new routes from Scottish airports, which would reduce the need for connecting flights within the United Kingdom and help to offset the economic impact of situations such as the collapse of flyglobespan? Does the minister share my disappointment at the UK Government's apparent hostility to devolving that power and its omission from the white paper on devolving further powers—despite that forming part of the Calman commission's recommendations?

Stewart Stevenson: When there is a substantial political consensus in the Scottish Parliament that this place would be well placed to use air passenger duty as one of the levers to support passenger numbers from Scottish airports, it is disappointing that there is no process for giving us the power to do so. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and Government in general have engaged with the UK Government on a number of the Calman commission's proposals. It is time for action.

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): If the minister wants to stimulate new direct routes into airports such as Aberdeen airport, does he acknowledge that he already has at hand the means to do so?

Stewart Stevenson: I think that the member is referring to the route development fund, on which there has been discussion. It might be worth reminding him that we have limited opportunities to support, given that European rules prevent us from supporting routes that go anywhere outside the European Union and prevent us, in essence, from supporting destination airports with more than 5 million passengers per year. That, in essence, removes from consideration all the important routes that people want to fly.