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SUMMARIES OF PRESS REPORTS
AIR SERVICE
Some newspapers reported in July that an unscheduled chartered flight service between Hong Kong and China would probably commence on October 1, 1978. They said that the service would be from Hong Kong to. Canton, Shanghai and Peking.
The Express added that the service would probably be "run by the China Travel Service using planes hired from the China National Aviation Corporation or a British group or both."
The papers said the intention was to organise some non-scheduled passenger flights from Hong Kong to Canton during the Autumn Trade Fair.
The Commercial Daily speculated that Mr. David Newbigging, Chairman of Jardine, Matheson Co. Ltd., who was in Peking at that time, would have discussed the new civil aviation service with the Chinese authorities.
In August, Mr. Edmund Dell, Secretary of State for Trade told a press conference in Hong Kong on his return from a visit to China, that China had agreed negotiations on civil aviation rights between China and Britain, could be resumed.
Local papers quoted him as saying that "China had agreed to hold further talks on the introduction of civil aviation services between Hong Kong and China."
They pointed out that an aviation agreement was first drafted in June 1973 to allow British aircraft to fly to Peking via Hong Kong, and Chinese planes to London. The agreement, however, had not been signed because of the operation of the Taiwan-based China Airline in Hong Kong, and the possibility of conflicting interests.
The Ta Kung Pao reported in mid-September that air flight proposals between Hong Kong and Canton had reached an advanced stage and there was a distinct possibility of the service going into operation before October 15. It said that initially, there would be two flights a day and the journey was expected to take 35 minutes. The estimated cost of the ticket was about $200, it added.
The Hongkong Standard, however, said the first flight would be on October 12, a few days before the Canton Autumn Trade Fair. Tin Tin Daily News added that by then both sea and air services would have become operative "to provide comfortable travel for businessmen attending the Autumn Trade Fair in Canton."
On September 27, the papers picked up a Ta Kung Pao report saying that a "regular passenger flight" between Hong Kong and Canton would operate in mid-October before the opening of the Canton Autumn Trade Fair. Some papers, however, reported the air service as being "scheduled chartered flights."
Ta Kung Pao said a Canton Bureau member of the Civil Aviation Administration had confirmed that a team from Peking was arriving in Hong Kong shortly to finalise the details of the service.
The flight between the two cities by Tridents would take 25 minutes and the plane would carry 100 passengers, said the paper. The frequency of flights would depend upon the demand, it added.
The paper went on to say that the China Travel Services and the China National Aviation Corporation would handle the booking of tickets while the ground service at Kai Tak would be commissioned to Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Most papers reported that the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department had not as yet received a formal application for the "chartered flights" and that 72 hours were necessary to process such an application.
On September 29, the papers reported that a five-member delegation of the Civil Aviation Administration of China had arrived from Peking the previous day to hold discussions with the Hong Kong Government on details for charter flights between Hong Kong and Canton.
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