Labour MP wants total ban on domestic flights

Labour has been accused of being out of touch with reality after one of its backbenchers called for a total ban on all domestic flights within the UK.

Colin Challen, MP for Morley and Rothwell, tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament calling for all internal UK flights to be phased out before the end of next year.

The proposition attracted support from 21 other MPs, but domestic carrier Flybe led the way in condemning it as "headline-chasing of the worst kind".

Mr Challen's radical motion had warned that "the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate represents the greatest threat that humanity faces".

Pouring scorn on his proposal, Flybe hit back by accusing the MP of living in an "Ivory Tower" and being ignorant of the economic realities of short-haul travel.

The airline currently operates out of more UK airports than any other carrier, servicing otherwise-isolated bases such as Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Any move to eradicate domestic flights would effectively drive the company out of business in one fell swoop.

"Sat in his Westminster Ivory Tower, Mr Challen clearly has no idea how crucial aviation is to UK regional economies," a spokesman for Flybe told The Yorkshire Evening Post.

"Let's see him tell our business passengers in Yorkshire that they have to spend five and a half hours – with a change thrown in for good measure – on a train from Leeds to Aberdeen, rather than 85 minutes on one of Flybe's new, environmentally efficient, state-of-the-art aircraft."

Domestic flights presently account for less than half of one per cent of the UK's carbon emissions, while the motor industry is responsible for more than 20 per cent.

© Cheapflights Ltd (Creative Commons image: malpo90 / Flickr)

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