į
We have told Laker in ccnfidence of the proposals and although
we have said that we have not yet made up our minds how to respond,
we have given no grounds for optimism that the decision will
favour Laker.
BRITISH AIRWAYS VIEWS
20 British Airways have discussed the policy aspect of the proposals
with us. They say that the proposal is in keeping with the
deliberate course which they have been following of moving towards
end to end services without intermediate traffic stops. They are
satisfied that the gains from the proposals are likely to outweigh
the losses and are not worried about any wider implications of other
countries seeking to follow the Australian precedent.
discussing certain areas of detail with Qantas.
BA are
21 The Civil Aviation Authority have had detailed discussions with
the Australian delegation. In general, they are satisfied that the arguments behind the Australian proposal stand up to examination.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF TURNING DOWN THE AUSTRALIAN PROPOSAL
22 The Australian scheme depends on our agreement.
They would
seriously resent our withholding that agreement and could be
expected to exert strong political influence to get us to change
our minds. One possibility would be for them to seek an agreement
for for a similar arrangement with another European country eg. Holland through which they would hope to channel traffic to and from the UK. But this seems an unlikely possibility.
TIMETABLE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF AUSTRALIAN PROPOSAL
23 The Australians have not yet finally decided on their tactics
viz a viz other countries. When they have our agreement in.
*
principle, they would probably make simultaneous approaches to
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