MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1985
DECISION ON HONG KONG DRAGONAIR'S LICENCE APPLICATIONS
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BETWEEN DECEMBER 2 AND 9, THE AIR TRANSPORT LICENSING AUTHORITY CONSIDERED APPLICATIONS BY HONG KONG DRAGON AIRLINES LTD FOR LICENCES TO OPERATE SERVICES FROM HONG KONG TO VARIOUS POINTS IN THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
OF THESE, SEVEN POINTS WERE WHAT WERE DESCRIBED AS SECONDARY ROUTES, XIAN, XIAMEN, HANGZHOU, HAIKOU, ZHANJIANG, GUILIN AND NANJING. THREE WERE FOR THE MAJOR CITIES OF BEIJING, SHANGHAI AND GUANGZHOU,
ORIGINALLY OBJECTIONS HAD BEEN LODGED BY ANOTHER APPLICANT, CALEDONIAN FAR EAST AIRWAYS LTD, IN RESPECT OF FOUR ROUTES - BEIJING, GUANGZHOU, GUILIN AND HANGZHOU - AND BY CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS TO XIAMEN, BEIJING AND SHANGHAI.
BEIJING AND SHANGHAI, CATHAY PACIFIC ALREADY HOLDS LICENCES FOR BEIJING AND SHANGHAI BUT HAS ONLY BEEN ABLE TO OPERATE TO SHANGHAI.
HOWEVER, ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE HEARING CALEDONIAN FAR EAST AIRWAYS WITHDREW ALL ITS APPLICATIONS AND OBJECTIONS. CATHAY PACIFIC HAD ALREADY WITHDRAWN ITS OBJECTION TO HONG KONG DRAGONAIR ON THE XIAMEN ROUTE, WHILE MAINTAINING ITS OBJECTIONS TO BEIJING AND SHANGHAI. CATHAY'S OBJECTIONS WERE SUBSTANTIALLY THAT THESE ROUTES WERE NOW SERVED BY THE CIVIL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OF CHINA (CAAC) AND, ALSO IN THE CASE OF SHANGHAI, BY CATHAY.
AGREEMENT HAS NOW BEEN REACHED BETWEEN THE CHINESE AND
UK GOVERNMENTS, AFTER VERY LONG AND INTENSE DISCUSSIONS, THAT CATHAY SHOULD COMMENCE SCHEDULED OPERATIONS TO BEIJING, LIMITED TO TWO SERVICES A WEEK INITIALLY, IN THE EARLY PART OF 1986. CAAC WOULD ALSO ADD TWO WEEKLY SERVICES TO ITS EXISTING SIX.
THE TOTAL, INCLUDING BRITISH AIRWAYS' SINGLE SERVICE WILL THEREFORE INCREASE VERY SUBSTANTIALLY. CATHAY OPERATE THREE SERVICES A WEEK TO SHANGHAI AGAINST 10 BY CAAC. HOWEVER THERE ARE FLEXIBLE ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN CAAC AND CATHAY WHEREBY AT TIMES OF PEAK DEMAND MORE CAPACITY HAS BEEN PUT ONTO THE ROUTE.
THE AUTHORITY HAS DECIDED THAT HONG KONG DRAGONAIR SHOULD BE GRANTED A LICENCE WITH THE FREQUENCIES APPLIED FOR, FOR ALL POINTS EXCEPT BEIJING AND SHANGHAI, IT CONSIDERS THAT THE OVERALL CAPACITY ON SHANGHAI IS NOW ADEQUATE AND THAT WITH THE VERY SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN CAPACITY ON BEIJING TO BE MOUNTED IN EARLY 1986 IT IS IN NO POSITION TO GAUGE IF THERE WILL BE A SHORTAGE THEN AND CERTAINLY NOT TO THE EXTENT THAT
IT SHOULD LICENSE ANOTHER CARRIER BEFORE THE EXISTING LICENSEE HAS EVEN BEGUN TO OPERATE.
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