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CPA is a Hong Kong airline and it is registered there as a company. Its immediate reporting line is therefore to the Hong Kong Government, not HMG. Nevertheless, CPA is, of course, technically, until 1997, under British jurisdiction, and equally importantly HMG should be aware of the very strong ongoing U.K. involvement in CPA over and above the normal U.K. trading relationships relative to insurance, fuel, catering, pilot training (with BAe at Prestwick), advertising, etc., viz.:-
1. The underlying U.K. (as distinct from Hong Kong) shareholding in CPA
is estimated at 32%, with a current value of some £640 mn.
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Rolls-Royce: The CPA fleet is exclusively powered by R-R RB211 engines Boeing 747 and Lockheed Tristars. CPA has also specified R-R (Trent engine) for its A330-300 order. R-R is also very much in the running if CPA decided to place orders for the Boeing 777 or the A330-400.
British Aerospace: BAe have, of course, a direct and significant involvement in the manufacture of the A330s already ordered by CPA.
Total CPA purchases from U.K. manufacturers for engines, simulators, galleys, etc. plus an aircraft from BA, amounted to £895 an. in the period 1975-1991. Purchases from 1992 to 1997 inclusive, covering both aircraft on firm order and those under option (and including the BAe-produced wings for the A330-300), are estimated to total some £1,635 mn. This latter figure does not take into account any purchases that would arise from an order for Boeing 777 or A330-400 aircraft (item 2 above). It is not perhaps out of place to mention here that Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (a Hong Kong carrier in which the Swire Group has over a 40% equity interest and which is managed by CPA) could have Airbus fleet and equipment requirements amounting to £240 mm. for British firms' order books between now and the end of the century.
CPA's associate company in Hong Kong, Hongkong Aircraft Engineering Company, is deeply involved in maintenance and overhaul of R-R engines; and is, inter alia, carrying out significant refurbishment work on British Airways 747 aircraft to a value in the period. 1990-1994 estimated at some £55 mm.
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A considerable proportion of CPA management and technical specialists, currently 125 in total, are expatriate Britons. addition, 450 of CPA's cockpit crew are British, many of them service-trained. Overall, they constitute a unique pool of highly skilled Britons operating in the aviation field.
In
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A total of 21 CPA services per week (Heathrow daily, Gatwick daily, Manchester twice per week; cargo services London five per week) is currently operated into the U.K., with a natural flow-on into and benefit for the U.K. economy. This total is likely to increase to 25 services by mid-1992.
The above illustrates that CPA has an important U.K. dimension, and its actions and its future have significant implications for the U.K. economy. I think I scarcely need add that CPA makes a vital and significant contribution to Hong Kong's economy and would hope to continue to do so up to and beyond 1997.