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of my audience this evening. And as is usual and entirely proper, much of the
advice of each party to the case was devoted to explaining why I should on
no account follow the advice given to me by the others. So after considerable
thought - and I did indeed devote many hours to pondering the issues I took
the decision I announced earlier today. I upheld the decision of the Civil
Aviation Authority to license British Caledonian, and I directed the authority
to grant in addition licenses to Cathay Pacific and to Leker.
The view has for some time been widely held that it would be in
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the interests of travellers between London and Hong Kong to have a wider choice
of service then exists at present. In Hong Kong it was argued strongly that
both on grounds of equity and of the loyalty which Cathay command locally
there should be a competing airline based in Hong Kong. I then had to decide
whether I should allow all four airlines British Airways, BCAL, Cathay and
Laker to compete together on the route or whether I should exclude one or
even two of them, and on what grounds.
-
"In passing I should say that I am also responsible for competition
policy in the United Kingdon.
"In taking the decision my philosophical starting point was a strong
belief in the virtues of competition, in the interests of consumers and
producers alike. This belief was an essential part of the platform on which
by party was elected to government just over a year ago: it is also
fundamental to the philosophy and indeed to the commercial success of Hong
Kong.
/"I Sp