The Parliamentary Under Secretary for Transport, Nusrat Ghani MP has today (16 January 2020) made a statement in the House of Commons extending the deadline for the DCO decision to 18 May 2020. While frustrating, the delay is not unexpected – the last five decisions on DCO applications have all been delayed and none have yet been made. Undoubtedly, the recent General Election, ongoing Brexit process and significant infrastructure workload for which the government is responsible have also played a part.

RSP has not received any additional questions from the minister, as part of the deliberation process, to date – but stand ready to respond, should there be any requests for additional information needed to reach a final decision. The delay does not affect the current CAA airspace change consultation process, which is entirely separate from the DCO.