Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to provide for the dissolution of the British Airports Authority and the vesting of its property, rights and liabilities in a company nominated by the Secretary of State; to provide for the reorganisation of other airport undertakings in the public sector; to provide for the regulation of the use of airports and for the imposition of economic controls at certain airports; to make other amendments of the law relating to airports; to make provision with respect to the control of capital expenditure by local authority airport undertakings; and for connected purposes |
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Citation | 1986 c. 31 |
Territorial extent | Great Britain |
Status: Amended | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Airports Act 1986 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The Airports Act 1986 (c. 31) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act reformed civil aviation in Great Britain and privatised the British Airports Authority from a public department into BAA as a private company. [1] It also granted additional regulatory powers to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). [2]
The British Airports Authority was established in 1965 by the Airports Authority Act 1965 to take management of the UK's larger airports into public ownership under a government authority. [3] The Airports Act 1986 transferred the powers relating to running government owned airports from the British Airports Authority from the public sector to the private sector as part of a Conservative Party government policy of privatisation. [4] BAA plc. was created as a result of the act to take over the authority's responsibilities. [4] The act also granted statutory authority to the CAA to continue to regulate civil aviation in the United Kingdom as well as BAA. [1] At the time of passage, BAA became responsible for London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport, London Stansted Airport, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Glasgow International Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Aberdeen Airport. [4] The act only applied to Great Britain and does not apply to Northern Ireland. [5]
The act also included a number of miscellaneous provisions that were eventually mirrored in airport bylaws. This had the effect of making breaches of airport bylaws punishable under criminal law. An example of this was in 2016 where two people were arrested and charged for being "drunk or under the influence of drugs or other intoxicating substances" in "a restricted area of the airport" contrary to Sections 63 and 63.1 of the Airports Act. [6]
Stansted Airport is the tertiary international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, 42 mi (68 km) northeast of Central London.
First Choice Airways Limited was a British charter airline of European tour operator TUI Travel plc, based in Crawley, England until its merger with Thomsonfly to form Thomson Airways in 2008. It flew to more than 60 destinations worldwide from 14 UK and Irish airports. 70% of the airline's services were operated for its parent company, rising to 85% in the summer season, with the remainder on behalf of some 120 other tour operators. It also operated scheduled year-round leisure routes to Cyprus and the resorts of Spain and Portugal.
Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport, formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport in Scotland. It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, 8.6 nautical miles west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019, the airport handled 8.84 million passengers, an 8.4% annual decrease, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom.
Edinburgh Airport is an international airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by total passengers in 2019. It is located 5 NM west of the city centre, just off the M8 and M9 motorways. It is owned by Vinci SA and Global Infrastructure Partners.
NATS Holdings, formally National Air Traffic Services and commonly referred to as NATS, provides en-route air traffic control services to flights within the UK flight information regions and the Shanwick Oceanic Control Area. It also provides air traffic control services to 14 UK airports.
Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of government-owned assets, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include:
City of Derry Airport, previously known as RAF Eglinton and Londonderry Eglinton Airport, is a regional airport located 7 mi (11 km) northeast of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is located on the south bank of Lough Foyle, a short distance from the village of Eglinton and 8 mi (13 km) from the city centre.
Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, England located at Mawgan in Pydar, 4 NM northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now owned by Cornwall Council and operated by Cornwall Airport Ltd.
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines is the civil aviation authority of the Philippines and is responsible for implementing policies on civil aviation to assure safe, economic and efficient air travel. The agency also investigates aviation accidents via its Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board. Formerly the Air Transportation Office, it is an independent regulatory body attached to the Department of Transportation for the purpose of policy coordination.
Dame Deirdre Mary Hutton, is a British public servant, termed by The Daily Telegraph as "Queen of the Quangos" and "The great quango hopper". She was the chair of the UK's Civil Aviation Authority from 2009 to 2020.
Air transport in the United Kingdom is the commercial carriage of passengers, freight and mail by aircraft, both within the United Kingdom (UK) and between the UK and the rest of the world. In the past 25 years the industry has seen continuous growth, and the demand for passenger air travel in particular is forecast to increase from the current level of 236 million passengers to 465 million in 2030. One airport, Heathrow Airport, is amongst the top ten busiest airports in the world. More than half of all passengers travelling by air in the UK currently travel via the six London area airports. Outside London, Manchester Airport is by far the largest and busiest of the remaining airports, acting as a hub for the 20 million or so people who live within a two-hour drive. Regional airports have experienced the most growth in recent years, due to the success of low-cost carrier airlines over the last decade.
The environmental impact of aviation in the United Kingdom are increasing due to the increasing demand for air travel in the country. In the past 25 years the UK air transport industry has seen sustained growth, and the demand for passenger air travel in particular is forecast to increase more than twofold, to 465 million passengers, by 2030. Two airports; London Heathrow and London Gatwick, are amongst the top ten busiest airports in the world for international passenger traffic. Whilst more than half of all passengers travelling by air in the UK currently travel via the five London area airports, regional airports have experienced the most growth in recent years, due to the success of 'no-frills' airlines over the last decade.
General aviation (GA) in the United Kingdom encompasses a variety of commercial and non-commercial aviation activities.
Aviation in the United Kingdom refers to the activities surrounding mechanical flight in the United Kingdom, in both civilian and military contexts.
A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is a statutory body of the Government of India to regulate civil aviation in India. It became a statutory body under the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020. The DGCA investigates aviation accidents and incidents, maintains all regulations related to aviation and is responsible for issuance of licenses pertaining to aviation like PPL's, SPL's and CPL's in India. It is headquartered along Sri Aurobindo Marg, opposite Safdarjung Airport, in New Delhi. The Government of India is planning to replace the organisation with a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), modelled on the lines of the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Airport policing in the United Kingdom has taken many forms since the rise of scheduled airline services in the post-war period. Policing at major civilian airports was the responsibility of specialist constabularies operated by three central government departments until 1974, when the rise in international terrorism saw armed police from territorial police forces deployed to major airports under the provisions of the Policing of Airports Act. As more minor airports grew in size, they too switched to armed police provided by local police forces. However, the funding agreements for the provision of such services varied wildly from airport to airport, leading to disagreements between airport operators and chief constables. A new regime, the Airport Security Planning Framework, came into force in January 2010, and brought airport operators, airlines and police forces together to develop joint security and policing plans for all passenger airports.