Civil Aviation Bill

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. Hon. Members might be wondering why the new clause has been proposed now and why the subject has not come up in previous debates. A series of crashes made August 2005 one of the worst months in recent years for aviation accidents: on 14 August a Helios Airways flight crashed, killing 121 people; on 16 August a Colombian plane operated by West Caribbean Airways crashed, killing 160 people; and on 23 August, a Boeing 737 crashed on an internal flight in Peru, reportedly killing 40 people. That is why we are moving the new clause today. I have pulled some information off websites to illustrate the present position on airlines that are banned in the UK and countries whose aircraft are banned from flying to the UK. The countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Tajikistan; the airlines include Air Mauritanie, Phoenix Aviation and Thailand’s Phuket Airlines. One can discover the state of play in other countries, too. The Swiss have simplified their policy by stating that they will ban from their air space any airline that has already been banned by the European Union or by a European Free Trade Association state. However, they then add a couple of other airlines—Flash Airlines from Egypt and Air Van Airlines from Armenia. There is quite a long list of airlines banned from flying in Belgian air space. There are some airlines that are common with the Swiss list, including Air Van Airlines, for instance. There are other airlines that are not included, and certainly on the UK list. The list of airlines banned from French air space is not consistent with the list of those airlines that are banned from the UK’s air space. The purpose of the new clause is to introduce some consistency so that those who are wanting to make judgments about which airlines to fly with can do so in the full knowledge of whether those airlines are banned in the UK and whether they are banned in other countries. If they are banned from flying to other countries, we should know why the Secretary of State has chosen not to ban them from UK air space. It may be that the Minister will say that none of the airlines that are on the French list or on the Belgian list fly to the UK. That would be welcome. The Minister will also need to say whether there are any discussions already with those countries to ensure that there is consistency. I am aware that at a European Union level there are plans to introduce a common list, but we need measures to be taken much sooner. There are no guarantees that the EU will come to a swift and satisfactory conclusion on this very important issue. When the Minister responds, I hope that he will be able to clarify exactly what the relationship is between the Department of Trade and Industry and its counterparts in relation to banning airlines and whether there is, when the French ban an airline, for example, immediate discussion with the UK about whether it would be appropriate for that airline to be banned in the UK. I hope also that the Minister will be able to set out the time scales for coming to a conclusion at an EU level. If the time scales mean that we will have to wait for months or years before some sort of decision is implemented at an EU level, it would be entirely appropriate for the UK Government to publicise, albeit in a rather discreet way, the airlines that are banned. That information does not hit us when we go to the Department’s website to try to find it. It would be entirely appropriate also for our Government to take action now to make it clear why, if other countries are banning airlines from flying into their air space, we have not chosen to do the same thing. I hope that the Minister will be able to give some reassurances on these matters. If not, I will be seeking to push the new clause to a vote.