Debate contribution: Aviation Strategy for Northern Ireland

Debate contribution by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on 29 September 2025.

MLA

Dr Steve Aiken OBE

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

29 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Aviation Strategy for Northern Ireland

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5139536

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will start by making a declaration of interest as chair of the all-party group on aerospace. Our amendment would enhance the motion by focusing on three key areas of what should be in an aviation strategy for Northern Ireland that I will shortly outline. It is worth noting that we are at a considerable disadvantage compared with our friends in the South. As Members will be aware, the Republic of Ireland has so far benefited from a long-term tourism VAT rate of 9%. It has been recently increased to 13·9% but is highly likely to go back to 9% next year. In contrast, we are saddled with a VAT rate of 20% and, in addition, an air passenger duty (APD) tax of £13 a person. Furthermore, Dublin Airport is heavily subsidised by the Irish state, with, as some in the industry would say, sweeteners provided for long-haul aviation to use that airport. The Irish Government have also underwritten the cost of the new runway at the airport. All those issues combined add to what is a considerable state-aid advantage for the Southern airport, an advantage that should run counter to the trade diversion rules in the Northern Ireland protocol. Regrettably, neither the Minister for the Economy nor the Secretary of State has so far sought mitigations from that obvious distortion from the EU-UK Joint Committee. What can we do to establish at least a level playing field for aviation on this island? Our Minister provides approximately a third of Tourism Ireland's budget. Globally, Tourism Ireland markets Dublin as the gateway to Ireland. As a consequence, much of the inward tourism and business market flows through Dublin Airport. That needs to stop, because we pay a third of the bill. Our airports therefore must be promoted at least one third of the time. Many airlines would find attractive the available ramp space; the airports' 24-hour availability; the secure fuel supplies; the all-weather options, with east-west and north-south runways at Belfast International; the good UK connections at Belfast International; and the move towards having an expanded Belfast City Airport. Airlines, however, find it puzzling that the only real marketing done by Tourism Ireland and Ministers at aviation industry events is focused wholly on Dublin Airport. The revolution in the aviation industry is now in long-range, narrow-body aircraft, such as the Airbus 321XLR, with a range of up to 4,700 miles and 244 seats. Those allow airlines to serve point-to-point routes at much-reduced costs. The Airbus 321XLR or similar Boeing aircraft from Belfast can easily serve most of North America; indeed, they can reach well into existing Middle Eastern hubs. On the basis of the traffic numbers that already exist, there is more than enough business and tourist traffic to support those flights directly from Northern Ireland. It also will not have escaped the notice of the majority of Members that Airbus is a major stakeholder in our considerable aerospace manufacturing sector and that, hopefully, Boeing soon will be. At the moment, passengers on international routes to the United States, other parts of North America or the Middle East either fly via Heathrow or Amsterdam or make the two-hour journey down the motorway. They spend one hour, if they are lucky, trying to find a parking space in the car park and get wet, as I do considerably often, as they wait for a bus, which, if they are lucky, takes about 10 to 15 minutes. They move in traffic for about 20 minutes, stand in the airline queue for about one hour and 30 minutes, spend 30 to 45 minutes in security, if they are lucky, and then stand for two and half hours if they are trying to get pre-clearance for travelling to the United States. That makes it a seven-hour journey before they start their seven-hour journey. There have to be better options. Given the UK's improved relationships with the United States and particularly given the ever-chilling relations between the EU in general and Dublin in particular and Washington, it would now be advantageous for US pre-customs clearance to be facilitated at Belfast International Airport. Given the high level of data and security information sharing between the UK and the US and the easing of restrictions between us in comparison with the EU, it now makes strong sense to be calling for a US pre-clearance facility here; indeed, moving the Shannon facility or even the Dublin one to Belfast would be an easy option for the US Administration. Our Executive should call loudly for that facility. Having it would then enable Belfast International to become a narrow-body transfer hub for transatlantic routes and the Middle East, with significant opportunities to build inward tourism and build business. As my friend pointed out, we are doing a good job of attracting FDI, but people need to be able to travel directly into Northern Ireland. Arriving somewhere and then spending the better part of four or five hours getting here is not any form of direct route, and it is not useful. Belfast City Airport and Belfast International could also become centres for sustainable aviation fuel, and the Department for the Economy and DAERA could bid for green energy credits from our national Government. Those could be used to offset our 2050 carbon obligations, and, if properly marketed, Belfast could become a sustainable aviation fuel hub for transatlantic aviation: general and private aviation. Sustainable aviation fuel can achieve up to a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with conventional aviation fuel, and it would definitely put us at the cutting edge of reaching net zero carbon. Our airports, especially Aldergrove, are geographically well placed as logistics hubs. With the current global uncertainty only growing, the secure runways, large fuel stocks and location in the United Kingdom on the west of Europe and in NATO's secure airspace — unlike the Irish Republic — means that we should expand our role, particularly with the United States. Using the large amount of ramp space on both the civilian and military sides of the airfield and proactively marking it as a secure cargo trans-shipment space would pay considerable dividends. There have been many debates in the Chamber about improving access to the airport by upgrading the road and rail links, but, by using the site to build additional warehousing and add to the ramp space in hard standing, we could attract much more cargo activity. As some of our Members are fond of saying, the unique access of the Windsor framework, coupled with the UK's advantageous trading relationships with the United States, should help expand the scope of our aviation strategy considerably. It is time for us to think broadly; it is time for us to take the advantages that we have been given; and it is time to move on those issues. I commend our amendment to the House.

1,145 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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