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Civil Aviation Bill

Will my noble friend take note in his reply of the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, on measuring emissions and noise? I would make the point—which is to some extent an anecdotal point—that the aircraft most annoying to those on the ground tend to be the older ones. One effect of introducing a more effective measure of noise and pollution would be that, with a bit of luck, it would accelerate the process of retiring older aircraft, just as over time there was a significant reduction in the number of vehicles on the road that were older and more likely to add disproportionately to pollution. The economic impact of that on airlines is likely to be quite considerable, and for many of them—particularly those that are not at the glamorous end of the market and are transporting not people but things—the continuing use of older aircraft is of considerable benefit to them economically. But if the Government are going to make a major plank of their argument about noise and pollution the point that aircraft technology is changing and that improvements in how aircraft are built are constantly being brought on line in the way in which aircraft are built, so that they can be less polluting, we must pay attention to the fact that there are still in service many aircraft that do not meet those standards.