The UK’s transport secretary has pledged to support expansion of the aviation industry if it leads to economic growth and meets the government’s environmental commitments.
“It’s not about flying less, it’s about flying differently,” Louise Haigh told the Airlines 2024 event in London today.
It comes as the Labour administration – which took power in July with a promise to deliver a larger economy and accelerate net-zero commitments – relaunches the Jet Zero Taskforce aimed at advancing sustainable aviation and prepares to introduce from 1 January a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate that will initially require 2% of UK jet fuel to be SAF.
The taskforce – announced by Haigh ahead of the event – replaces the previous Jet Zero Council. It will be a “CEO-level” group comprising the secretaries of state for transport, business and trade, and energy security and net zero, along with representatives of airlines, airlines, trade bodies, fuel producers, and universities.
Haigh describes the revamped composition of the taskforce as “a clear signal that this is a whole-government priority”.
The initiative, she says, will “serve as the driving force to transform how people fly, aligning with the government’s missions to make the UK a clean energy superpower and kickstart the economy”.
The SAF mandate, under which minimum SAF levels rise to 10% in 2030 and 22% in 2040, is intended to make the UK a leading supplier of SAF by encouraging investment through a so-called government-backed revenue certainty mechanism for producers who invest in plants in the country.
“The biggest green lever we can pull is SAF,” Haigh told the conference. “It gives SAF investors confidence to choose the UK.”
Haigh is also due to give her verdict by late February on London Gatwick’s application to open a second runway, by converting its emergency northern landing strip to permanent use. While she would not be drawn on what she called a “quasi-judicial decision”, she stressed that “on policy terms this government is behind aviation expansion where it meets our [growth and sustainability] targets”.
If she gives the go-ahead, work on the runway would likely begin late next year, with the runway operational by 2030.
Haigh also told the conference that government plans for a new UK Airspace Design Service would lead to the first upgrade of the rules governing air routes since the 1950s. She described the current system as “unsustainable and a ceiling on aviation’s growth” and that the initiative would create “more flexibility for resilience and the creation of new routes”.
She told airline industry delegates that the government was “fixing barriers that hold you back”, adding: “I want aviation to thrive in a net-zero world. Growing aviation to grow Britain – that is the government’s ambition.”
