Flying Matters

Flying Matters (FM) is a airline industry lobby group, which says it "seeks to contribute to a balanced and informed debate on aviation's contribution to climate change". It states: "We aim to demonstrate that the environmental costs of aviation can and are being addressed effectively, efficiently and fairly."

Their remit

Michelle Di Leo, director of FlyingMatters, said: “The terms of the debates on aviation were being set by those opposed to a growth in air transport. Our main objective is to rebalance the public debate.”

Funded by BAA

According to an article in The Sunday Times

BAA funds two key groups – Future Heathrow, led by Soley, and FlyingMatters, which is headed by Wilson and has also investigated opponents of expansion.Their precursor was Freedom to Fly, which was set up at a time when BAA was concerned that its arguments for more air travel were not being given the same prominence as those of environmental groups, which were warning of the dangers of growing carbon emissions.

BAA is also one of the biggest backers of FlyingMatters, contributing £48,000 in 2007-08. The lobby group operates from offices a short stroll from Westminster where it campaigns for airport expansion and investigates groups opposing BAA’s plans.

Flying Matters' precursor

According to an article in The Sunday Times, the precursor of Flying Matters was

Freedom to Fly, which was closed after the 2003 aviation white paper was published, was followed by Future Heathrow, the lobby group headed by Soley. As well as BAA, the group’s backers include British Airways, the pilots’ union Balpa and the London Chamber of Commerce.

Links with Labour government

As related in an article in The Sunday Times

The airport operator BAA has used an elaborate network of lobbying and PR groups, headed by senior Labour figures with access to the government, to promote its controversial plans for a third Heathrow runway. Among the Labour insiders recruited to front pro-aviation lobby groups are Brian Wilson, a former industry and energy minister, and Lord Soley, a former chairman of the parliamentary Labour party. Jo Irvin, now a member of Brown’s inner circle in Downing Street, not only headed BAA’s public affairs department but also fronted one of the prime lobby groups backing Heathrow expansion. Another Labour apparatchik, Stephen Hardwick, was closely involved in the same lobby group, as well as being employed as director of public affairs for BAA. Freedom to Fly, an aviation industry lobby group,

was chaired by Brenda Dean, the Labour peer, and was supported by other aviation companies, including British Airways, and unions. The director was Irvin, who is now a special adviser in Downing Street on trade unions.

Science Museum complaints

John Vidal and David Adam, writing in The Guardian, commented on Flying Matters's response to a 2008 exhibition at the Science Museum in London about the environmental impact of aviation. Vidal and Adam said the exhibition

does a decent job of running through the scale of the problem, and an equally decent job of putting forward how the industry says it can respond. The latter is to be expected, given the whole thing was put together with the help of EADS, owner of Airbus. Airbus is a member of Flying Matters, the industry lobby group that has now written to Chris Rapley, director of the museum, to criticise the exhibition as "tendentious and unscientific". The lobbyists are unhappy with a pledge that visitors are asked "to buy less air-freighted produce".

Principals

• Brian Wilson (former MP)
• Michelle Di Leo (director)

Members

• ABTA
• ACTE Global
• African Organic Farming Foundation
• Airbus
• BAA
• Boeing
• British Airways
• easyJet
• Farmers Own
• QinetiQ
• Rolls Royce
• Unite the Union
• Virgin Atlantic

Contact, References and Resources

Contact

Flying Matters

Unit 7 Salamanca Square

9 Albert Embankment

London SE1 7SP

Website: www.flyingmatters.co.uk