Airspace
mm_flynn
The IMCr holder has always been able to use their privileges fully in all Class D airspace within the UK as they were in the previous Special Rules Airspace.
Surely you can't be argueing that airports such as; Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton, Leeds Bradford to name a few, are not air carrier airports! The london airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stanstead as a group are far too expensive and slots at a premium. For light aircraft there are alternatives in the region around London with instrument approaches available to the IMCr holder at an acceptable cost. There are many regional airports with precision approaches that do not have controlled airspace. Lydd, Manston, Southend, Blackpool, Cranfield, Cambridge, Coventry, Norwich, Doncaster, Humberside etc, etc. Most of these have regular heavy aircraft flying short and medium haul and RADAR is available with the exception of Cranfield. In my experience all these airports would be in controlled airspace elsewhere in Europe. Southend had, but lost its controlled airspace some years ago. The DAP will remove controlled airspace if not justified. All of these airports and others within and outside controlled airspace are used by IMCr holders exercising their privileges on a regular basis and they will be an important source of income for some.
Le Touquet, Deauville, Calais, Ostend, Renne, Le Man, Tours etc would not be able to retain controlled airspace subject to the UK rules.