Commons transport committee chair Huw Merriman has been made a transport minister as part of new prime minister Rishi Sunak’s government reshuffle.
The MP for Bexhill and Battle has been a high profile figure in highlighting issues affecting aviation and transport during the pandemic.
He will relinquish his role as chair of the transport committee as he takes up the ministerial role at the Department for Transport.
Merriman, a supporter of Sunak, this week asked an urgent question in Parliament about assistance for Doncaster Sheffield airport which is set for closure this month.
His appointment follows Ann-Marie Trevelyan being demoted from transport secretary to a Foreign Office minister of state role in the Sunak shake-up to be replaced by Mark Harper.
Torbay MP Kevin Foster also left as a transport minister after being appointed by the short-lived Liz Truss administration last month.
Hereford MP Jesse Norman has also been appointed as a minister of state at the DfT. He previously held a ministerial role at the transport department.
Meanwhile, former tourism minister Nigel Huddleston has been re-appointed as a government whip.