Mr Gallagher
Miss Browny
Reference....
Hong Kong Airport
You may find it useful to have a note on the following points for tomorrow's meeting:
1. Value of Hong Kong to the United Kingdom
(a) to BOAC directly:
we know that BOAC put a high value in terms of revenue (£450,000) on each frequency between Western Europe and Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong element in this is no doubt substantial. But it takes more than one point to make a route.
(b) indirectly:
Hong Kong is a valuable bargaining point in our air services negotiations with other countries, and we should of course be worse off without it.
But apart from negotiations on purely regional services, Hong Kong is seldom the only element in such deals.
2. Benefits to Hong Kong from the present situation
(a) Airnort dues and other charges These are paid
by BOAC as by foreign operators. It can be argued that the British Government, with its world-wide network of air routes and civil aviation contacts is able to promote the steady growth of useful traffic into Hong Kong better than could be done in any other conceivable way.
(b) Tourism and trade The same argument applies as
under 2(a) above. These are all direct advantages to Hong Kong and of no benefit in themselves to the United Kingdom.
(c) Cathay Pacific
Under the wing of British air services negotiations, CPA has been able to build up a position in which it has 6 pages in the ABC World Airways Guide, and can boast that it has "jets to more major international cities of the Orient than any other airline. We have always been careful to preserve that position by securing the blinding of regional sectors when negotiating international trunk routes. Part of CPA's earnings no doubt find their way back to Britain, but it must make a financial contribution to the economy of the Colony, in addition to the advantage of the impressive range of regional services provided.
3. Striking a balance
Both Britain and Hong Kong draw substantial advantages from the present system, which neither could achieve alone. If Hong Kong airport were to become less accessible to
/ma jor
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