New Clause 1 - Responsibility of airlines for health, welfare and well-being of passengers
Civil Aviation Bill
9:15 am
Julian Brazier (Shadow Minister, Transport; Canterbury, Conservative)
May I take this opportunity to welcome you to the Chair, Mr. O’Hara? We have completed a large part of our proceedings, but I am sure that you will find it as interesting as Sir Nicholas did on Tuesday.
It is appropriate to start by paying tribute to the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Mr. Smith), whose campaign has certainly saved lives in past years. The scare stories that he has generated in the press have played a major role in the appearance of the videos that the British Air Transport Association tells us are now shown on all long-haul flights leaving the country and which have also undoubtedly saved lives. However, I am afraid that I will disappoint him by saying that I will not support the new clause. Work needs to be done on the topic, but it is already being done in three main areas, and I support that.
The first area of work is on the provision of information. There have been huge strides forward, and the quotation from BATA illustrates that. That has included in-flight videos and, if people want to buy them, an inflatable device to put under one’s feet to exercise on a long-haul flight. The second area is the research that the hon. Gentleman alluded to and which I strongly support. The airlines have half a point on payment, as it seems odd that only the airlines that come to Britain are paying. We will debate the European Aviation Safety Agency shortly, and I know that it is taking control of so many other things.