the Hong Kong Government believes that, inter alia, the following important considerations should be given due weight in reaching the decision as to which airline to licence as a competitor to the existing carrier, namely that it should:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
cater for the full range of passengers and shippers;
offer scheduled services with a full spectrum of fares and rates;
be well versed in the needs of the travelling public of Hong Kong;
(iv) provide services dedicated so far as possible
to serve the market for Hong Kong/London end-to-end traffic, and promote Hong Kong as a travel destination;
(v)
(vi)
(d)
(i)
be a true competitor, and ought not enter into pool arrangements that would inhibit competition; satisfy the Authority as to its competence, viability, standards of service, and ability to maintain services;
the Hong Kong Government further believes that the interests of the Hong Kong public will be best served if;
one of the competing airlines operates into and out of Heathrow and the other into and out of Gatwick;
(ii)
(iii)
one of the competitors is a Hong Kong based airline;
the Hong Kong/London route is not served, at least for the time being, by more than two airlines, so that they can develop the services in an orderly and viable manner.
Possible consequences of operating a Hong Kong/ London route for a Hong Kong based carrier
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First, in air services negotiations conducted by HMG, the interests of a Hong Kong based carrier would come into increasing conflict with those of UK-based airlines. Such conflict has always existed (and it exists in respect of BA and other UK airlines) and in the past decisions have been made which sometimes favoured UK-based airlines and at other times the Hong Kong based carrier. On the whole the balance has been fair and reasonable and there is no reason to suppo se that it would be any different in the future given a fair and open-minded British chief negotiator.
CONFIDENTIAL