In the opinion of the Attorney General and of a specialist London QC, the combined effects of the guidances issued to the CAA and of section 3 of the Civil Aviation Act 1971 read together, are to create "legislative prejudices" so far as the CAA hearing is concerned, the results of which are:
(i)
(ii)
ts;
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likely to prevent any applicant at all from succeeding before the CAA unless BA consents; certainly to favour BCAL to the extent that the chances of Laker or CPA succeeding are minimal even if they prove best able to meet the public need; and
(iii) probably to disadvantage CPA to the extent that
it is simply unable to succeed before the CAA
due to the effect of section 3 of the Civil Aviation Act 1971.
The Attorney General advises that under section 4 of the Act the Secretary of State for Trade has powers to give directions to the CAA so as to remove the legislative prejudices.
The Hong Kong Government's first attempt to persuade the Secretary of State so to direct, failed. A second attempt to secure the necessary directions, reinforced by the advice received from the specialist London QC mentioned above, is being made.
Attitude of the Hong Kong Government
22
As the ATLA and CAA hearings involve issues of concern to Hong Kong generally and to the travelling public in particular, the Hong Kong Government proposes to put forward representations at both.
23
If Members advise that the Hong Kong Government should advocate the introduction of a second airline on the route, then the Government's representation will be generally on the following lines:
(a)
the Hong Kong Government believes there should be two airlines offering competing services on the cabotage route between Hong Kong and London because the monopoly services operated up to this time have proved inadequate;
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(b)
the Hong Kong Government believes that the airline best fitted to serve the interests of the residents of Hong Kong and of persons travelling or likely to travel to and from Hong Kong should be granted a licence to compete with the existing carrier;
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CONFIDENTIAL