DRAFT
LETTER
To:-
JR Steele Esq
Department of Trade
1 Victoria Street SW1
In Confidence
1.
DSR 11
Type 1 +
From
MR CORTAZZI
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
Thank you for your letter of 18 June.
the draft telegram you enclosed despatched.
1 have had
I am however
not happy, and I do not believe FCO Ministers here would
be happy either, with the prospect of CPA taking their
chances at a CAA hearing without anything being done to
rectify the bias in the Civil Aviation Act 1971 in favour
of UK-based airlines. In your letter you say that your
Secretary of State rejected the idea of giving the CAA a
direction to treat CPA on the same basis as the UK airlines
concerned, on the advice of your Solicitor.
Would it be
possible for you to let me have (or your Solicitor might
be able to let our Legal Advisers have) a fuller explanation
of why this solution would cause difficulty. If nothing
was done to remedy the bias, I should have thought that
public opinion in this country would have much sympathy
with the Hong Kong Government's complaints, on the grounds
of natural justice.
2.
11
I am sure you will agree that we should do all we
can to avoid an outcome where a second British airline
got on the route and CPA did not. From Hong Kong's point
of view this would be much worse than the present position.
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Dd 0532000 800M 5/78 HMSO Bracknell