Economist

Requirements of the role

The economic regulation and competition policy team is a vital part of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Consumers and Markets Group (CMG). The focus of the team is to protect consumers by ensuring that airports and air traffic service (ATS) providers do not exploit their market position. Understanding the impact of policy options and our actions is essential in ensuring we protect the interests of consumers while allowing a fair investment opportunity for investors.

The team has responsibility for the economic regulation of Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL), Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) and the monopoly air traffic services provider for the UK, NATS (En Route) Plc (NERL). This includes the development, oversight and enforcement of price control arrangements and other licence obligations. The team is also responsible for discharging the CAA’s concurrent competition responsibilities relating to the provision of airport operation and air traffic services.

We are looking for an Economist to support our work in setting price controls and developing the regulatory frameworks for airports and air traffic services. This will include contributing to work on incentives, assessment of efficient costs, regulatory investigations, and mechanisms to set regulated charges. As an Economist, you will conduct economic analysis as part of our assessment of key policy issues and initiatives across the HAL, GAL and NERL price controls, and competition projects. This will involve working across the team to review and challenge submissions from the regulated companies (including the assessment of business plan information), develop policy options and support the coordination of the work of external advisors. It will also involve work on emerging issues in the aviation sector, supporting key workstreams, the drafting of high-profile policy documents and working effectively with our own external advisors and consultants.

These issues will have a highly material impact on the price control proposals we will make in coming years and are central to our statutory duties to protect consumers. The decisions also have the potential to be contentious and need to be robust to legal challenge.

This role is a permanent position and offers the opportunity for professional development, through working within a highly experienced team, directly influencing and engaging with senior leaders, and working across a wide variety of high profile and interesting economic and policy issues.

Core accountabilities

As an Economist you will be responsible for:

• Supporting the delivery of complex economic analysis that underpins our work on price controls and other aspects of the regulatory frameworks for airports and air traffic services.
• Ensuring that the analysis that supports the CAA’s decisions is robust to external challenge and scrutiny and supported by appropriate quality assurance processes.
• Engaging with stakeholders on a wide range of economic or regulatory issues.
• Coordinating the work of our technical advisors and consultants and providing a critical review of the analysis provided.
• Reviewing and challenging regulatory business plans and submissions from stakeholders.
• Contributing to the timely delivery of high-quality key deliverables.
• Translating technical economic and other issues into simple explanations, analysis and presentations that will be suitable for non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrating CAA values and D&I policy.
• You may also be expected to support the delivery of other aspects of the regulatory and price control framework as required and may need to work with other regulators and represent the CAA at external groups, such as the UK Regulators Network (UKRN).

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