BODE 18 - N
Mr Goodenough
Mr Morland
UK/SWITZERLAND AIR SERVICES AGREEMENT
Reference
1441
HKK184/1
RECEIVE
? MAR 1978
NO. 31
OFFICER
INDEX
PA
REC'S RY
Asjon Tiken
which are to
1. I attended on 28 February the briefing meeting for the take place on 14 and 15 March in London. The last ocassion the British and Swiss aeronautical authorities met was in 1974 to discuss the Swiss requirement to operate beyond Hong Kong to Manila on a temporary basis.
2.
As will be seen from the attached table, the disparity between the earnings of the two parties has widened considerably since 1973/74. The earnings are now very much in favour of the Swiss and this is due to a considerable extent to their Hong Kong services. Mr Standen, DOT, said that our intentions should be to conclude an arrangement which would go some way to redress the balance over a period of a couple of years or so. In the light of our experience of similar negotiations with other European countries we concluded that it would take some time to reach such an arrangement. This month's talks will therefore be very much of an opening round.
3.
There are two aspects of our objectives:
(a) the services between the UK and Switzerland; and (b)
services beyond Switzerland, in particular to Hong Kong.
On (a) BA would be interested in changing their passenger pool into an unlimited one and in concluding a cargo pool. Following the introduction this summer of BA's services to. Switzerland from Gatwick, BA's services from Heathrow will be at
a certain disadvantage vis à vis Swissair. BA would therefore like to see Swissair persuaded to operate one of their 4 daily Zurich services from Gatwick also. We are possibly somewhat vulnerable over seeking improvements for our scheduled services because in the non-scheduled market between the UK and Switzerland last year the Swiss operators carried 35,000 passengers and British operators carried 230,000 passengers.
As regards (b) BA, who already serve the Seychelles and Mauritius over Zurich, would like to include on this route a point in the Gulf. BA have no plans in the foreseeable future to serve Hong Kong from Zurich. Therefore, Swissair's 5 weekly DC108 will continue to be unreciprocated. Swissair's Hong Kong services operate at very low 3rd/4th Freedom load factors ie between 14 and 18%. The DOT therefore propose that either the services be reduced (which will upset Hong Kong) or that Swissair should make some payment to BA on the lines of those recently concluded with the FRG and with the Netherlands.
4. We have informed Hong Kong and Berne about the talks. Hong Kong are likely to send a representative. We have asked Berne for any relevant information on air services and other bilateral issues before talks take place.
3 March 1978
cc:
GPR Boon
Maritime, Aviation and Environment Department
Mr Thompson, Hong Kong Department
Miss Irwin, WED
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