GOOD NEWS ON bmi REGIONAL, AND A CALL TO ACTION - WE NEED YOUR AVIATION COMMENTS!

There is real strength-in-depth in the new ownership and management team at bmi Regional. Ian Woodley and Graeme Ross - the founders of Business Air - are known for their commitment to regional aviation, and it augurs well for the future of this vital network of business and leisure air services from Scotland's northeast, and for the job security of several hundred hardworking employees. It's an excellent outcome - for Scotland's travellers and the Scottish economy - and one that we warmly welcome. We're confident SPAA Members will do all they can to continue and strengthen their long-established support of bmi Regional, under the new ownership. Meanwhile, the integration of bmi mainline into British Airways gathers pace and you will find progress updates in Associate News below. Our dialogue with British Airways continues of course, and next week sees a meeting with BA's Richard Tams, on which we will report in due course.

Our deadline to present the SPAA's submission to Westminster's All Party-Parliamentary Group on Aviation, which has called for evidence to its Inquiry into the competitiveness of the UK in global aviation is fast approaching. Given this week's re-confirmation by Government that there will be no 3rd runway for Heathrow, it is vital that we take this opportunity to hammer home our case on behalf of regional aviation - on APD and air travel's economic importance, and on route development and environmental impacts. It's increasingly evident that the Coalition is not nearly focused enough on aviation's future, so we must keep up the pressure on Government, and this All Party group is a potentially potent target. Please take a few moments to read the Group's (very brief) briefing document click here and let them have your comments, remembering that the deadline is midnight, 16 May.