News: MP Refuses to wish Coventry's airline happy birthday
Flights > News > # 356 (02/04/2005)
Rugby and Kenilworth MP Andy King has refused to respond to Flightmapping's request for his comments on the first anniversary of Thomsonfly's passenger flights from Coventry Airport.
Coventry's own budget airline, who also have their head office in the city, recently celebrated 1 million seat bookings, and launched an additional base at Bournemouth Airport.
Since the re-start of passenger flights at the end of March last year, the airport and airline have been directly responsible for the creation of over 370 jobs, at a time when the future of automative production in the city is looking extremely uncertain.
As is common with many airports, Coventry suffers from the unfortunate act of geography which means that it falls within the boundaries of Warwick District Council, whereas Mr King, who is MP for Rugby and Kenilworth, is also the MP for the site which the airport occupies.
To date, the ongoing Public Inquiry into the future of flights from Coventry Airport has received less than 500 responses against the airport, out of which less than 200 are Mr King's constituents.
More signficantly, the principle town which Mr King represents is Rugby, which is an important niche tourism destination, associated as it is with being the place where Rugby football was invented. There has also not been a single letter of objection to flights from Coventry from within the town of Rugby, whereas even from Kenilworth, which is much closer to the airport, there have only been 6 letters of objection, and 10 letters in favour.
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Comment:
Mr King has unfortunately chosen to side with the tiny but vociferous minority, rather than with the substantial but silent majority, who welcome the economic, social and environmental benefits that having such a convenient local airport on their doorst
