Written question asked by Bernard Jenkin (Conservative) on Thursday, 15 March 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 20 March 2001. It was answered by Bob Ainsworth (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 March 2001 on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Dept of the Environment Transport and the Regions

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, if Scottish and North of England en-route services will be provided from the new air traffic control centre at Prestwick; and if Oceanic services for the North East Atlantic will continue to be served from Prestwick; what assessment he has made of the capability of the Prestwick air traffic control centre to pick up replica services in the event of a catastrophe at Swanwick.

Answer: Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if Scottish and North of England en-route services will be provided from the new air traffic control centre at Prestwick; and if Oceanic services for the North East Atlantic will continue to be served from Prestwick; [154717] (2) what assessment he has made of the capability of the Prestwick air traffic control centre to pick up replica services in the event of a catastrophe at Swanwick. [154722] Mr. Robert Ainsworth: The NSC, as part of NATS' two centre strategy for the provision of en route air navigation services endorsed by the Government, is expected to have the capacity to service the Scottish FIR, the Oceanic region and provide a significant contingency in the case of catastrophic failure of the Swanwick or West Drayton centres. The latest review of the two centre strategy, carried out in 1997, proposed the transfer of the services provided by the Manchester Area Control Centre to Swanwick, although the NATS Strategic Partner may wish to review this. NATS has informed the Government that a New Scottish Centre with around half the number of workstations that Swanwick will have should be able to handle up to about 70 per cent. of normal traffic levels in the event of the Swanwick centre going out of action.

Secondary information