54.—(1) Before such date as the Department may direct, the Holding Company shall make a scheme (the “transfer scheme”) for the transfer to the successor company or the Department of—
(a)specified airport assets and airport liabilities of the Holding Company; and
(b)specified assets and liabilities of NIAL.
(2) On such day as the Department may by order appoint (the “transfer date”)—
(a)such specified assets and liabilities as are allocated under the transfer scheme to the successor company shall, by virtue of this paragraph, become assets and liabilities of that company; and
(b)such specified assets and liabilities as are allocated under that scheme to the Department shall, by virtue of this paragraph, become assets and liabilities of the Department.
(3) The provisions of Schedule 7 shall apply in relation to any transfer effected under paragraph (2); and that paragraph shall have effect subject to the provisions of that Schedule.
(4) The transfer scheme may—
(a)specify the assets and liabilities to be transferred to a particular body by describing or identifying them in such manner; and
(b)make such supplementary, incidental and consequential provisions,
as the Holding Company considers appropriate.
(5) The provisions of the transfer scheme shall bind the Crown, including the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, to the full extent authorised or permitted by the constitutional laws of Northern Ireland.
(6) In this Article “specified” means specified in the transfer scheme.
55.—(1) The transfer scheme shall not take effect unless it is approved by the Department; and the Department may modify the transfer scheme before approving it.
(2) If—
(a)the Holding Company fails, before the date specified in the Department’s direction under Article 54(1), to submit the transfer scheme for the approval of the Department; or
(b)the Department decides not to approve the transfer scheme that has been submitted to the Department by the Holding Company (either with or without modifications),
the Department may itself make the transfer scheme.
(3) It shall be the duty of the Holding Company and of NIAL to provide the Department with all such information and other assistance as the Department may require for the purposes of or in connection with the exercise of any power conferred on the Department by paragraph (1) or (2).
(4) The Department shall not exercise any power conferred on the Department by paragraph (1) or (2) except after consultation with the Holding Company.
56.—(1) The Department shall have power to hold, manage and dispose of any assets transferred to it under Article 54 and to discharge any liabilities so transferred.
(2) The power of the Department under paragraph (1) to dispose of any assets transferred to it under Article 54 includes power to dispose of those assets to a body corporate formed by the Department for the purpose of exercising on behalf of the Department its functions under paragraph (1).
(3) The repeal by this Order of section 16 of the Aerodromes Act (Northern Ireland) 1971(1) shall come into operation on the transfer date, but, notwithstanding that repeal, the Holding Company shall on and after that date have power—
(a)to hold, manage and dispose of any airport assets of the Holding Company which are not transferred under Article 54 and to discharge any airport liabilities of the Holding Company which are not so transferred; and
(b)to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of any assets of NIAL which are not transferred under Article 54 and to discharge any liabilities of NIAL which are not so transferred.