ABTA CRITICAL OF TORY AVIATION PLANS
Date published: 06 October 2008ABTA has written to the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Theresa Villiers, suggesting Tory plans for Heathrow and the aviation industry are illogical, ill-conceived and totally unworkable.
ABTA Chief Executive, Mark Tanzer, said: “The Conservative Party announcement that they are against airport expansion at Heathrow and will actively discourage aviation travel is totally illogical. A knee-jerk reaction is not what is needed, particularly when many thousands of jobs depend on aviation and inward investment could well be threatened.
“What about travellers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and the regions who have no choice but to use Heathrow as their gateway to international destinations – their plight seems to have been totally overlooked?"
“I have written to Theresa Villiers highlighting the serious implications of following this course of action and asking her to reconsider this policy stance.”
The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport announced at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham that the Conservative Party would say ‘no’ to a third runway at Heathrow in favour of expansion of a national high speed rail network.
Mark Tanzer added: “High-speed rail has its place as part as an integrated transport system but should be seen as complementary to air travel – not an expensive substitute.
“Lack of capacity at our airports is damaging our economy it is bad for customers, bad for the industry and ultimately bad for the environment when we have planes in holding patterns across the skies above our heads waiting for landing slots.”
For further information
Sean Tipton, Communications Officer, tel: 020 7307 1902/1900Frances Tuke, Public Relations Manager, tel: 020 7307 1903/1900
Casia Zajac, Head of Communications, tel: 020 7307 1987
Mobile: 07894 073010
Out of Hours: Contact the Duty Press Officer via pager: 07659 190987
E-mail: press@abta.co.uk
Web: www.abta.com
ABTA Staff will be available for interview from Gran Canaria: ISDN Gran Canaria: +34 928 128 037 or in the UK: ISDN UK: 020 7 323 1069
Notes to editors
ABTA was founded in 1950 and currently has over 1,500 members with 6,000 outlets. Members include travel agents, tour operators and support services right across the spectrum from small family-owned businesses to the largest tour operators.
ABTA is the largest travel association in the UK and its members provide 90% of the foreign package holidays in the UK as well as selling millions of independent travel arrangements.
As part of its comprehensive package of services to members, ABTA, as a non-party political organisation, also provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its Members to government and key opinion formers at the highest levels. In the UK, these include, government ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members, senior civil servants and members of the political opposition parties in both Westminster and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In Europe, ABTA is forming close ties with members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and staff within the Director Generals’ Secretariats. ABTA works in partnership with ECTAA (the European grouping of travel agents and tour operators’ associations) to lobby on interests relevant to its Members.
