80% of the UK public see aviation important to the economy: NATS

Eight out of ten of the British public have a positive view of aviation, which they see as important both personally, and to the UK economy as a whole; and two thirds said the pros of aviation outweigh the cons. This is according to a new survey performed for the UK's air traffic services provider, NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services).

However, the support has been diluted compared with attitudes a year ago, a decrease which "may be linked to people's increasing concerns about air and noise pollution and reflects the public's growing environmental consciousness".

And, in contrast to a recent report produced for the UK government appointed Committee on Climate Change, only a third of respondents agreed that people should be discouraged from travelling.

Meanwhile, Europe's archaic ATC system is creating an additional 3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, for no added value and for no other reason than to maintain separate national ATC systems.