NEWCASTLE - 8

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Links don't seem to be working from above post to Lord Adonis' report "More & Better Jobs - North East International"

Extract re Air Travel below:

AIR
Making, trading and exporting requires connectivity to global markets by air. Ever stronger
links from Newcastle Airport to the major global air hubs are required, plus continuing direct
flights to the more distant British cities. The maximum number of global destinations needs to
be available from Newcastle with one change of plane. The recent new link to the fastdeveloping
hub at Dubai has been a great success; the top priority now is a commercial
agreement to pump-prime a new direct flight to a major North American air hub.

A NEW DIRECT FLIGHT TO A MAJOR NORTH AMERICAN AIR HUB
The CBI’s Trading Places report highlights the importance of better air links to new markets
in unlocking exporting opportunities:
“In a changing and challenging global environment, it is imperative that the UK remains
both open for business and new opportunities. With global growth continuing to be
driven by expansion in high-growth markets, we see more than ever the importance of
re-orientating our trade. Businesses need ambition and confidence to venture beyond
domestic markets, and government must do all it can to facilitate this expansion. We
need the right infrastructure to forge these new links, and our aviation networks are a
key part of the puzzle.”
Direct flights open doors to new trade and the report states that a new daily flight to the
eighth largest high-growth economies could generate as much as £1bn of additional trade
a year. Failure to match ambitions of growing international trade with a drive to deliver more
flights to growing overseas markets risks undermining these efforts.
The underpinning analysis demonstrates the importance of establishing the right air links
with the right markets, with global patter ns illustrating the symbiotic relationships between
air links and trade links – where the UK’s connectivity has grown, new trading links have
been forged and vice versa.
The success of the daily Emirates flight from Newcastle to Dubai demonstrates the impact
of a single flight. In this case, opportunities for businesses in the North East to do trade in
the Gulf region, Asia and Australasia have been transformed. A recent CBI press release
highligh ts that trade bet ween the North East and Au stra lasi a has risen from less than
£150m a year to more than £275m a year in the period that the Emirates service has been
operating. Moreover, of the £173m worth of exports that are transported through Newcastle
Airport each year, as much as £150m of that is accounted for by the Emirates services
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and extract for wider transport links in the region:

A SINGLE NETWORK SMARTCARD FOR NORTH EAST BUSES
Following its investigation of the local bus market in Britain outside London, the Competition
Commission found that the lack of competitively-priced tickets valid on all bus operators’
servic es was an important factor in the lack of compet ition in the local bus market. This
detriments passengers and taxpayers, costing in the range of £115m to £305m per year.
The Competition Commission wishes to see more multi-operator ticketing schemes, and in
March 2013 the DfT launched guidance to get more such schemes up and running.
The need for a more integrated network and better solutions for fully integrated ticketing was
also a key finding from informal consultation on delivery of the Tyne & Wear Bus Strategy.
“Network One” is the range of all-operator season tickets already available in Tyne & Wear.
The day rover ticket is only available for all fare zones in Tyne & Wear, covering both bus &
metro. This means that it is priced at a substantial premium over single operator one day
rover bus tickets.
As the fare zone geography between operators differs, the price comparison is not exact.
There is a strong contrast with Sheffield and Oxford, where as a result of recent partnership
agreements, all operator daily tickets are available at a low premium.
In London, where bus es are regulated by Transport for Londo n, and a similar system to
quality contracts is in force, there are no single operator tickets. Instead, a very simple fare
structure is in place using the Oyster smartcard. Any bus trip is £1.40, with a daily maximum
fare of £4.30. This is available on a pay as you go basis. as