King's Speech 2026: Civil Aviation Bill

Civil Aviation Bill

“Legislation will be introduced to unlock the benefits of airport expansion”

● Civil aviation is vital for the UK: it provides jobs across the country, attracts
investment, and connects British people to the rest of the world. The sector as
a whole is a key enabler of economic growth.

● The Bill will strengthen consumer rights and protections, promote economic
growth and infrastructure provision, and enhance aviation safety, ensuring
that the UK retains its appeal as a competitive aviation hub. It will support the
UK’s world-leading aviation sector to continue thriving for decades to come.

What does the Bill do?

● The Bill will support consumers, and the aviation sector, by:

○ Strengthening consumer rights and protections – ensuring fair
treatment and boosting consumer confidence.

○ Promoting economic growth and infrastructure – keeping the
UK competitive in global aviation, which will unlock the benefits of
airport expansion, including attracting investment, enabling innovation,
and improving capacity for business, trade, and tourism.

○ Enhancing aviation safety – streamlining regulations to meet vital
standards and strengthen the safety of the UK aviation sector.

● The Bill will deliver:

○ Additional consumer enforcement powers for the Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA) to reduce consumer harm, ensure compliance, and
allow for timely regulatory intervention. It will enable the CAA to ensure
airlines and airports are meeting their legal obligations for passengers
more promptly. This will ensure the people of the UK feel their rights
are protected when they fly and have more confidence in the sector.
○ Aviation consumer rights reform with powers to ensure that the
Government can update the law on air passenger rights, providing
flexibility to ensure passengers have the best protections possible. This
could include, for example, strengthening alternative dispute resolution

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 or changes to compensation for damaged or lost mobility aids. This will
reassure passengers that they will be treated properly and receive the
support and compensation they are entitled to.

○ Reform to airport slots regulation, including updating the allocation
of take-off and landing permissions at certain airports, which will
support airport expansion, infrastructure development, and economic
growth. This will also provide flexibility for the Government to respond
to emergency situations that require changes to scheduling – such as
during the Covid-19 pandemic.

○ Airspace modernisation and stronger direction powers, to support
the operation of the UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS). The
UKADS has been created to streamline airspace change and drive
forward the modernisation of the UK’s airspace. The UKADS will help
plan better routes for aircraft so they use less fuel, cause less pollution,
and are less likely to be delayed. It also gives the CAA more flexible
licensing powers, so the cost of providing better air services can
continue to be recovered fairly.

○ Aviation safety regulatory reform to consolidate and streamline
safety legislation, delegating technical rulemaking to the CAA for a
more agile regulatory system.

○ Aviation safety criminal sanctions to empower the Government to
amend safety-related criminal sanctions in assimilated law, allowing the
UK to adapt regulations quickly where necessary.

Territorial extent and application

● The Bill will extend and apply to the whole of the UK.

Key facts

● In 2025, UK airports handled 2.1 million commercial flights and nearly 300
million terminal passengers (up from 251 million in 2015). Furthermore, in
2025, over 2.5 million flights were handled in UK airspace.

● CAA Aviation Consumer survey results (February 2026 [wave 14]) show that
overall passenger satisfaction is back to pre-pandemic levels, reaching 88
per cent, having dropped significantly from 84 per cent in 2019 to a low of 79 per

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 cent in 2023, before beginning to recover through 2024.

● However, satisfaction remains lower among more vulnerable passengers,
including disabled passengers (82 per cent), those facing digital barriers (80 per
cent), and those with financial constraints (80 per cent). Passengers who remain
dissatisfied most commonly cite flight disruption, overcrowding, accessibility
issues, and high prices for some services.

● Whilst satisfaction with complaint handling has improved, it remains the
element of the travel experience with the lowest level of satisfaction (72 per
cent satisfied with their last flight), highlighting the continued importance of
effective enforcement to ensure consistent outcomes for all passengers.

● Unlike other regulators, the CAA cannot issue direct penalties. Instead, it
must rely on court action or formal agreements, which can be slow and resource
intensive, delaying compensation for passengers. The CAA has only taken
court action in one case relating to air passenger rights. This took nearly four
years to reach a final judgment, leaving passengers out of pocket and without
recourse throughout that period.

● Airport slots regulation has remained virtually unchanged since its
inception in the early 1990s. Updating slot rules will help ensure the system can
respond more effectively to shocks and rapid changes in demand.

● The UK has some of the world’s most complex airspace, but its basic
design has not changed since the 1950s. This is despite a tenfold increase
in commercial flights since then. Modernisation is essential to keep flying safe,
reliable and efficient, and to enable safe integration of new technologies. If UK
airspace is not modernised, it has been estimated that by 2040, one in five flights
could experience disruption and delays. That is why the Government has
established the UKADs to lead the most strategically important airspace changes,
helping to create a modern, resilient, and flexible system capable of meeting
future demand.

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