Air transport of the British royal family and government

Air transport for the Royal Family and executive of the United Kingdom is currently provided by No. 32 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF); chartered civilian aircraft; and occasionally scheduled commercial flights, provided by the company British Airways. No. 32 Squadron's executive transport role is secondary to its principal function of providing communications and logistical support for military operations. Given that, the fact that the aircraft are increasingly unsuitable to an executive transport role and the security concerns of chartering commercial aircraft, the government plans to acquire two dedicated executive transports for the use of the Royal Family and executive.

History

A BAe 146 aircraft, delivered to the Queen's Flight in 1986 and now part of The Royal Squadron

The first aircraft ordered specifically for transportation of the Royal Family, two Westland Wapitis, were delivered to No. 24 Squadron at RAF Northolt in April 1928. Between 1929 and 1935 the Prince of Wales purchased 13 aircraft. Although the RAF maintained at least one of these aircraft for a time the Prince of Wales eventually became solely responsible for the aircraft. When the Prince ascended to the throne in 1936 as Edward VIII the King's Flight was formed as the world's first head of state aircraft unit. This unit initially used the King's own de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide, however this was replaced in May 1937 by an Airspeed AS.6J Envoy III.

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the replacement of the Envoy III with an armed Lockheed Hudson. A de Havilland Flamingo was added to the King's Flight in September 1940.

In 1942 the King's Flight was disbanded and its responsibilities transferred to No. 161 Squadron. 161 Squadron was an operational military squadron, involved in the dropping of supplies and agents over occupied Europe throughout the War. The King's Flight was reformed on 1 May, 1946 at RAF Benson with a single aircraft, a de Havilland Dominie. As the Queen's Flight from 1952 the unit operated Vickers Viking, Avro York, de Havilland Devon, Douglas Dakota and Hawker Siddeley Andover aircraft.

In 1983 the RAF leased two BAe 146 aircraft to assess their suitability as replacements for the Queen's Flight's Andovers. The trial was a success and three BAe 146-100s entered service with the Queen's Flight from 1986 as the flight's first jet aircraft.

No. 32 Squadron

The Metropolitan Communications Squadron was formed on 8 April 1944 by the renaming of No. 510 Squadron for VIP air transport. The Squadron moved to RAF Northholt in 1957. In February 1969 No. 32 Squadron assumed the role of the Metropolitan Communications Squadron. 32 Squadron received Andovers as well as Westland Whirlwind and Westland Wessex helicopters.

No. 32 Squadron was re-equipped with four HS125 CC.1s in 1971. These would be supplemented and then replaced by two CC.2s delivered in 1973 and 6 BAe 125 CC.3s delivered in 1982 and 1983. Five CC.3s remain in service.

The Royal Squadron

On 1 April 1995 the Queen's Flight was merged into No. 32 Squadron to become No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron. This ended the RAF's provision of dedicated VIP transport aircraft, the aircraft of 32 Squadron are only available to VIP passengers if not needed for military operations. This was declared officially in 1999, with the MOD stating "the principal purpose of 32 Squadron [is] to provide communications and logistical support to military operations; the Squadron's capacity should be based on military needs only; and any royal or other non-military use of.. spare capacity is secondary to its military purpose."

Other aircraft

Other RAF aircraft have transported members of the Royal family and ministers, particularly for long range trips for which the Queen's Flight and Royal Squadron planes were unsuitable. This most often involved Vickers VC10s of the now disbanded No. 10 Squadron.

Present arrangements

Current travel options for the Royal Family and Ministers are aircraft of No. 32 Squadron, scheduled commercial flights and chartered aircraft. The Royal Family also has access to the Sikorsky S-76C+ of The Queen’s Helicopter Flight (TQHF), managed and operated by The Royal Travel Office.

Most air travel by cabinet and junior ministers is on scheduled commercial flights. Travel on 32 Squadron aircraft is recommended where it is more cost-effective than using commercial air transport, or where security considerations dictate that special flights should be used.

With the military burden on the VC-10 fleet increasing as the number of aircraft in service decreases (and they increase in obsolescence) the Prime Minister and senior members of the Royal Family have increasingly used chartered jets for long range travel (typically British Airways Boeing 777s). Concorde was also used to transport the Prime Minister and Royal Family from time to time, particularly to international conferences abroad.

Future

The Labour government has consistently shown its support for a dedicated aircraft. The aircraft has been labelled Blair Force One by the media; a play on the existing United States equivalent, Air Force One, and the incumbent Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Proposals made in 1998 were subject to criticism, with the government proposals failing to tally with the requirements of the Royal family of Queen Elizabeth II, who would share the aircraft.

The proposals were re-evaluated in 2003, when the UK parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee recommended two dedicated aircraft with secure, advanced communication equipment for the use of the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence; the latter position was then held by Geoff Hoon, who supported the recommendation. Hoon added that the proposed £80 million budget was worthwhile given the then-estimated £5.6 million yearly cost of ministerial travel in the "shuttle diplomacy" era.

In December 2004 Sir Peter Gershon was asked by the government to undertake a study regarding the future requirements of Royal and ministerial air travel. His report, published in June 2006, recommended that "the Government establishes a new VIP air service based on two dedicated fixed-wing aircraft for the provision of air travel for the Royal Family and senior Ministers" and that this should be acquired through "a competition... to allow the private sector to bid to provide [the service] to private sector standards and disciplines."

The new aircraft will have communication facilities, the ability to carry press corps, and state of the art security systems. To reduce costs, the planes will not be purchased outright, but will be on permanent lease; the government estimates the cost at £12 million, claiming that it is comparable to the increased cost of Prime Ministerial travel (now £9.5 million yearly). The aircraft are proposed to be ready for service in early 2008.

The plans have received opposition from many groups; the Conservative Party condemned diverting public funds to the project from core services like health, and the Liberal Democrats and pressure groups including Transport 2000 and Friends of the Earth condemned the environmental impact of personal jet travel. However the UK is the only G8 country without dedicated ministerial aircraft, Peter Gershon's report also argued that chartered planes involves security risks and Tony Blair's 2006 trip to South Africa has been highlighted as an example of the problems of relying on such aircraft.

See also

• Air transports of Heads of State
• Royal Train
• The former Royal Yacht