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 | | Wednesday, 16 January, 2002, 21:52 GMT Liddell seeks air traffic assurances  Construction work has been delayed The Scottish secretary has urged the UK airline industry to press on with the completion of a new �60m air traffic control system at Prestwick. Helen Liddell made the demand at a meeting in London which included senior management from the National Air Traffic control service (Nats) and its chief executive, Richard Everitt. Preparatory work has already started at Prestwick, but the full project has now been parked following the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001, which led to a downturn in international air traffic. In light of this, Nats has won approval to postpone construction of the new centre in Ayrshire, originally due for completion in 2007.
The consortium of airlines that owns 46% of Nats has backed the decision. Mrs Liddell asked Nats to confirm the project will still proceed as originally planned. A spokesman for the Scottish Office said that Mr Everitt confirmed Nats was "committed" to the construction of the centre. Ministers said the recent 'green light' given for Terminal Five at London's Heathrow Airport demonstrates their commitment to air travel and argued that Nats should respond by backing the new centre at Prestwick. It is estimated that the building of the Scottish Control Centre would support 600 jobs during construction. SNP motion The new centre will provide air traffic services over Scotland and the North Atlantic and will control at least 25% of the UK's air traffic. The building work would have been completed by 2005, ready for the installation of new computer systems over the following two years - taking the total cost of the project more than �400m. After the meeting a Scotland Office spokesman said: "There was a constructive meeting, during which the Secretary of State stressed the importance of the Scottish economy. "Mr Everitt confirmed that Nats remained committed to the two-centre strategy and to the construction of a Scottish centre at Prestwick.
"He agreed to keep the Secretary of State informed over the coming months about the implementation of the project." A Nats spokesman said: "The tragic events of 11 September and the fact that most of our airline customers will be operating fewer flights in future means that we are reviewing the phasing of all elements of Nats' capital investment plan." The Scottish National Party has tabled a motion urging the Scottish Executive to ensure the centre is completed by 2007. John Barrett, Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesman on cross border transport said: "The investment at Prestwick is not only crucial to the Ayrshire economy but to the safety of our air services. "Unfortunately, the mess which currently engulfs the project and Nats is entirely of the government's own making." | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Scotland stories now:  Links to more Scotland stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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