HONG KONG STUDY
ANNEX N
SECRET:
CIVIL AVIATION AND SHIPPING
Civil Aviation
Present Situation
1. Hong Kong's air services are managed within the colony
by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department, but international
air service relations and negotiations with other countries
for traffic rights at Hong Kong are dealt with by the
Department of Trade. The combination of Hong Kong with
London air traffic rights makes the UK a very powerful
negotiating party in bilateral bargaining for traffic rights.
2. At present two UK based airlines (British Airways (BA)
and British Caledonian (BCal)) and one Hong Kong based airline
(Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA)) operate a total of 20 weekly
services between Hong Kong and London. BA also have an
important interest in their service linking Hong Kong with
Tokyo and Johannesburg, and CPA have a large network of services
from Hong Kong to various points within South East Asia, the
Far East, Australasia and the Middle East and, from next year,
to points in Canada and Europe.
3. These airline operations give rise to substantial
benefits to the UK balance of payments current account in
the form of net overseas earnings secured by BA and BCal
SECRET
/and