The travel industry “failed to make the case” for a third runway at Heathrow and against Air Passenger Duty and must await the next election for policies to change, according to a Transport Select Committee MP.
Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng told a Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC) conference in London yesterday: “The aviation industry was complacent. It did not make its case sufficiently.”
Kwarteng said: “It is a very competitive industry. Businesses were at loggerheads and did not spend enough time coming together to lobby the government. Aviation failed to make its argument.”
He added: “The most obvious things need to be spelled out again and again. Hopefully things are changing.”
Kwarteng told the GTMC: “The third runway [at Heathrow] is off the agenda for this parliament. The government’s mind is set. Parliament runs out in three and a half years. We have to see where we are then.”
However, he denied the recent appointment of Justine Greening as transport secretary was a deliberate snub to the industry. Greening led opposition in parliament to a third runway at Heathrow.
He said her promotion “was not a dig at the industry. It was a natural progression for a very capable minister.”
Kwarteng was elected MP for Spelthorne in Middlesex last year and said 15% of his constituents work, or have family members who work, at Heathrow. He told the GTMC: “We did have a different policy [on Heathrow] and some people [in the Conservative Party] regret we changed it.”
He said the political climate for airlines had improved since the general election, but insisted: “The industry needs to be much better at marketing itself.”
Kwarteng said: “Parties were outbidding each other before the last election with how green they could be. People are more sympathetic now to what you are saying.”
However, he held out no hope of an early reduction in APD. Kwarteng said: “I can’t honestly say that ill happen next year. I can’t tell you when we will have any relief. The exchequer is going to be very reluctant to give up any revenue sources. There is not much ketchup left in the bottle.”
He told the GTMC the industry must accept the need to make its case over several years. “The answer is better lobbying,” he said. “There is an openness in this government. People have identified there is a problem. The timeframe for debate might be three to five years.”