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MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR S.W. AIR LINKS
"For ten years and more we have been trying to persuade successive Ministers that our links to the hub-airports must be firmly tied to Cornwall and Devon," said Paul Tyler, MP for North Cornwall today (Tuesday) after meeting with the Transport Minister David Jamieson and senior executives from British Airways.
Mr Tyler, whose constituency contains Newquay Airport, was accompanied by Andrew George MP, Candy Atherton MP, Matthew Taylor MP, Colin Breed MP, Linda Gilroy MP, John Burnett MP and Gary Streeter MP.
"The moment of truth has arrived, and at long last we have a Minister who is in a position to understand the scale of the threat. If the landing slots at Gatwick are lost – and the vital date is as soon as the 31 August – then we will be frozen out of the vital international links that are so economically important to the two counties.
"The figures that we have been given by BA indicate a scale of loss-making on this service which is scarcely credible, given that they told us it was profit making in the last few years. They may have a hidden agenda, but the fact is that they are a private commercial company and they cannot be forced to continue a service. That is why it is so crucial to ring-fence the landing slots at Gatwick, and stop some foreign or holiday airline from using them to fly to other parts of the world.
"The Minister has promised to knock some heads together, and will be summoning the South West Regional Development Agency and the Government Office of the South West to meet us urgently. We stand united to investigate every possible way in which we can maintain and develop these critically important economic links with the wider world."
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News Archive 
Wednesday, 07 January 2009
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