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Mr William
76.4
I have
196
W+
You said chai MAED wished to reply to Mr wong objection. But we their donf
sha
fee
R J T McLaren Esq
Hong Kong and General Department
FCO
Dear ille Laren,
Your reference
Our reference
ED/49/331
Date
"2 April 1979′′
Hige 184/1.
- 6 APR 1379
по
зан
لا
AIR CARGO CHARTERS HONG KONG/USA
185
Ji
137
John Steele asked me if I would get in touch with you about David Wong's (CR3/951/79) of 23 March.
Washington's Telno 664 of 14 February was in fact prepared by the UK delegation following that particular round of discussions on air services matters with the Americans in Washington. In order to clarify matters, we subsequently sent ALLOT 22 of 16 February copied to MAED which was intended to clarify the fact that the talks in Washington had been almost totally related to North Atlantic matters. In particular, all discussions about charters and cargo liberalisation have been confined to routes between the USA and the United Kingdom across the North Atlantic and have no bearing whatsoever on other areas such as Hong Kong, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
In replying to David Wong, you may therefore want to make it absolutely clear that all talks on charters and on cargo liberalisation have been and will continue to be confined to the North Atlantic services. It is entirely for the Hong Kong Government to decide on their charter policy with the Americans and indeed world-wide.
In fact the Americans raised with us the question of the TIA request to operate what are generally known as "combination charters" ie charters on which both passengers and cargo are carried between points in the USA and Hong Kong. The Americans seem concerned that we might have advised the Hong Kong Government to refuse these charters. I was able to assure them that since this was the first we had heard of the matter, we had done no such thing.
Since therefore the policy on and the authorisation of charters are a matter for the Hong Kong Government, we can see no objection to them dealing direct with the American carriers and authorities on charter matters. We should of course very much like to know of any policy changes as they arise but I am sure that you will want to make it clear to David Wong that we have no intention of interfering in their prerogative in this specific aspect of air services.
Your macerley
I D/S Brown
сс
M Morgland Esq M ED/FCO Mr R M Rumbelow
Mr T Stables, CAIR 1
C2591