2.
asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation if he will make a statement naming the civil airports which are to be in use for the next five years within a radius of 40 miles of London.
I have nothing to add to the statement I made in the Debate in Committee of Supply on 1st March last.
But that statement was very unsatisfactory to civil operators. It is surely up to the Ministry to make definite plans, within the limits of the country's economy, so that operators know their tenure at airports? When will the Parliamentary Secretary be in a position to come to an early decision in the matter?
That decision has already been indicated. We shall de-requisition Blackbushe at the earliest possible moment, which will be in 1951, if not earlier; it will be derequisitioned in 1952 at the latest.