I therefore judged it essential to intervene: and in a private talk with John Bremridge and Duncan Bluck (Chairman and Managing Director respectively) I pointed out that as a British airline which received very considerable support from the UK Government in negotiating the traffic rights upon which its prosperity was founded, Cathay Pacific had a wider responsibility than the pursuit of immediate financial gain. I had been careful not to intervene in CPA's negotiations with Rolls Royce and if they wanted to squeeze Rolls Royce for a further reduction on their price that was a matter entirely between CPA and Rolls Royce. But if, weighing all the factors, CPA seriously intended to go for an engine other than the Rolls Royce, I would expect them to consult me again before coming to a final decision.
I subsequently met Jim Wilks, (now Chief Executive of the BOTB) in Kuala Lumpur. He said that he had met John Bremridge the day after my meeting with him and that the latter had told him of our conversa- tion and had added that "he had got the message". It was therefore no very great surprise to me when I heard that the Cathay Pacific Board had decided to buy the RB211-524 engine!
We have some current differences of opinion with Cathay Pacific regarding their ambitions for further expansion: but both John Bremridge and I were clear that their decision to buy the Rolls Royce engine would not in any way affect our attitude over these issues. On the other hand, in pressing CPA to opt for the Rolls Royce engine, we have clearly drawn to some extent on the fund of goodwill that we have built up with them over the years as we did at an earlier stage over their initial Tristar purchase. This is not therefore something that we can afford to do too often.
One final point. CPA commented very favourably on the extremely professional job that Rolls Royce had done in presenting and marketing their product. They commented that in this respect Rolls Royce were now pretty well as good as their American competitors. This is high praise indeed! Their exception to this was Donald Pepper himself, who was also in Hong Kong at the time, and for whom I am afraid they had no regard. Indeed, judging from their comments he was an encumbrance rather than a help to the Rolls Royce sales team.
Yours sincerely sincerely
Koj
(G T ROGERS)