MPs demand 'green' air travel

In a letter to the transport secretary politicians, business leaders and pro and anti-airport expansion campaigners call for action on aircraft noise, and for improved rail access to airports.

The letter was signed by Tessa Jowell, Tim Yeo, Zac Goldsmith, Margaret Hodge, Caroline Spelman, Green Party London Assembly member Darren Johnson, Baroness Valentine from London Firstand Stephen Joseph from the Campaign for Better Transport.

They also call for wider congestion charge regimes around airports to ration road demand and limiting CO2 from aircraft.

The letter comes as politicians and industry leaders met in London at the Sustainable Aviation Summit to discuss whether the UK can expand airports while also overcoming concerns about air and noise pollution.

Speaking at the summit Labour London Assembly transport spokesperson Val Shawcross AM said improving the sustainability of aviation wasn’t just about aircraft, bur about the whole journey.

That means encouraging passengers to use public transport on their way to the airport as well as managing the impact of aircraft noise.

“There is a real appetite from all sides, businesses, passengers and residents, to see change to the way things are done currently," she said.

"Summits like this help to make the case that by working together we can make aviation work for everyone.”

Gavin Hayes, Director of Let Britain Fly, which organised the letter, said airports were an integral part of modern life, but everything that could be done needed to be done to ensure their environmental impacts were managed robustly and brought down over time.

"For this to happen we urgently need the government to commit to a step-change improvement in rail access in order to increase the number of journeys to and from airports made by public transport to reduce vehicle emissions; ensure CO2 emissions from aircraft are effectively managed, and establish an independent Aviation Noise Authority to better manage aircraft noise," he said.