Examination of Witnesses

Part of Civil Aviation Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 1:28 pm on 23 February 2012.

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Jim McAuslan: There is sense in what is being proposed, but will it work in practice? Our concern, which runs through our submission, is that the CAA has responsibility for air safety, economic regulation, airspace regulation, consumer protection, environmental protection and, now, airport security.

In that bundle of responsibilities, our concern is that the safety aspect is going to get squeezed out and that this regulatory body, the CAA, cannot serve all those masters at once. For the end consumer, we can see the sense of this, but, in terms of how it is regulated, we are concerned that it will dilute the focus of the CAA on safety regulation.