CONFIDENTIAL
4. WE WILL ALSO HAVE TO KEEP CLEARLY IN MIND THE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS
WHICH MUST BE DEALT WITH IF OUR DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AVIATION IS TO
AGREE TO A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF FURTHER FLIGHTS BETWEEN HERE AND
CHINA. THE PRESENT COMMUNICATIONS AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
ARRANGEMENTS WITH CANTON ARE BARELY ABLE TO COPE WITH THE ODD
CHARTER FLIGHT. A SERIES OF SCHEDULED CHARTERS'' DURING THE
AUTUMN CANTON FAIR COULD BE EVEN MORE OF A PROBLEM.
5. THE D.C.A HAS TRIED TO GET CHINESE AGREEMENT TO INTRODUCE
IMPROVEMENTS.
A DRAFT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AGREEMENT, SPECIFYING E.G A REVISED ROUTE, AGREED ALTITUDES, ETC., WAS HANDED OVER TO
THE AUTHORITIES IN CANTON IN MARCH 1977. THERE HAS SO FAR BEEN
NO RESPONSE. IF WE ARE TO EMBARK ON MORE FREQUENT CHARTER
FLIGHTS IT WILL BE IMPORTANT TO HAVE AT LEAST A CONTROLLER-TO-
CONTROLLER ENGLISH LANGUAGE VOICE LINK BETWEEN CANTON AND HONG
KONG. WE HOPE THEREFORE THAT IN ANY CONVERSATION WITH REPRESENT-
ATIVES OF JARDINES OR BRITISH AIRWAYS THE POINT WILL BE MADE THAT THEY SHOULD KEEP CLOSELY IN TOUCH WITH THE DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AVIATION HERE SO THAT HE CAN MONITOR AND APPROVE THEIR PLANS.
ROBERTS
FILES FED
HK & GO
MAED
MR MURRAY
MISS BROWN
COPIES TO
MR STEADMAN C/AIR DOT
HONG KONG GOVT OFFICE
-2- CONFIDENT I AL
LONDON
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