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<p> </p><p>The Government announced on 6 June that a Public Service Obligation will
be established on the air route between Dundee Airport and London Stansted Airport
from 1 July 2014 for a two-year period, with support from the Regional Air Connectivity
Fund announced in last year's Spending Round.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Scottish
devolved administration or regional body may apply for access to this fund to maintain
an air link from other Scottish airports to London, where there is a risk that an
existing link may be lost, and where the case for a Public Service Obligation has
been made.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Chancellor announced in this year's Budget
that the funding would be doubled to £20 million per year, and also extended to allow
for the support for start-up aid for new air routes from UK regional airports. European
Union aviation State aid guidelines allow for provision of start-up aid to facilitate
start-up of new routes from airports which handle fewer than five million passengers
per annum. This will therefore cover all Scotland's airports apart from Glasgow and
Edinburgh.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department for Transport is working with
the Treasury to develop guidance that will clarify how the Government will ordinarily
expect to interpret the European Union guidelines, and explain how the funding process
will work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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