Aviation policy

There are strong links between good air connectivity and growth and trade, meaning the aviation sector brings benefits that go beyond simply the output and employment of the sector itself.

The importance of air connectivity for growth and trade therefore formed the starting point for analysis for the Independent Transport Commission of the strategic challenges facing UK aviation published in November 2017. The purpose of this report was to look beyond the issue of airport capacity in London and the South East and to undertake a wide reaching study of the strengths and weaknesses of the UK aviation sector. A presentation summarizing the key findings can be found here, including the four strategic challenges for the aviation sector identified in the report, namely:
  • the implications of leaving the EU, including the need for both the UK and the EU to renegotiate Air Service Agreements with third countries in order to preserve existing levels of connectivity (more information on the issue of Air Service Agreements and EU membership can also be found here);
  • the challenges of planning for future aviation capacity, including the need for the planning system to take a joined up view of infrastructure planning;
  • the implications of the fact that the UK aviation sector is very geographically concentrated, and how the sector could approach being better local partners; and
  • the incentives for innovation within the sector. 

​This report was a follow up to earlier work produced in the run up to the publication of the Airport Commission's recommendations on airport expansion in London and the South East. In that report Analytically Driven worked with the Independent Transport Commission to highlight the economic implications of any failure by Government to act on the Airport Commission's recommendations. The report on airport expansion in the South East drew together a range of evidence on the links between air connectivity and trade and investment, as well as evidence on the need for airport expansion, in order to assess the wider implications of airport infrastructure for the economy.