The Scotsman - Air industry allowed to spread its wings

John Blundell, the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, takes a look at what's improved and what's under consideration in the UK air industry. Among his observations:

...We all know that Ryanair and the other low-cost airlines have opened up hundreds of routes, but note how they are almost all linking provincial locations and never metropolitan hub airports. The CAA says that regional airports have been the main beneficiary of the liberalisation of the rules. Its report is crafted in the opaque language of public bodies, but it cannot hide the vibrant nature of airports most of us had never heard of until a few years ago.

Look at the flight figures of Scotland’s two main airports, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Their flight numbers have jumped 141 per cent since 1990. Edinburgh carried 2.492 million passengers in 1990 and 7.995 million in 2004, an increase of 219 per cent. Glasgow carried 4.286 million in 1990 and 8.521 million in 2004, up 99 per cent. If other businesses in Scotland were to flourish in this manner, what a booming economy we would have. It is worth noting that those figures do not reflect investment or even subsidy. They illustrate the simple truth that lower fares generate greater traffic. Destinations previously ignored can become highly lucrative...

A key item to watch is that the CAA is floating the idea of auctioning of 'slots', or permissions to take off and land at airports. I'm no expert on this (by any stretch), but Blundell says:

...In its recently published report, the CAA argues that we should move towards an auctioning of these slots. Perhaps this sounds technical and obscure, but it is the essence of real competition in aviation...

For a somewhat different take on UK transport, one which argues for going by train instead of plane, see: Trains are the new office if you want some peace to work by Alastair Dalton, also writing at The Scotsman.

The Scotsman provides free public access to some articles, and requires free registration for others. I registered many months ago, and also signed up for the business headlines daily e-mail. So far, knock wood, I haven't received junk mail or spam or unexpected charges or anything else that registering at a site sometimes brings cascading down upon a person. Some of their op-ed writers try my patience from time to time, but The Scotsman remains one of the last real independent news agencies, with real reporters asking real questions instead of editors blindly pasting in wire service feeds and letting it go at that. And they're not afraid to break free of the pack. I go there to broaden my perspective.

In case you'd like to follow up on John Blundell, the Institute of Economic Affairs's website is at www.iea.org.uk/. I'm not familiar with them, per se, but they describe themselves:

About the IEA

The IEA is the UK's original free-market think-tank, founded in 1955. The IEA's goal is to explain free-market ideas to the public, including politicians, students, journalists, businessmen, academics and anyone interested in public policy.

What is meant by 'free-market'?

The core belief of free-marketeers is that people should be free to do what they want in life as long as they don't harm anyone else. On the whole, society's problems and challenges are best dealt with by people and companies interacting with each other freely without interference from politicians and the State. This means that government action, whether through taxes, regulation or laws, should be kept to a minimum. IEA authors and speakers are therefore always on the look-out for ways of reducing the government's role in our lives...