TNAG-0863-FCO40-1073-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1979 — Page 54

4. AS YOU KNOW, WE ARE KEEN TO HAVE A QUICK SETTLEMENT AND EARLY

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HONG KONG FARES AND THEREFORE SUGGEST A NEY

PACKAGE TO INCLUDE FIRST AND NORMAL ECONOMY FARES AS AGREED IN

JANUARY, TOGETHER WITH APEX FARES AS IN PARA.2 ABOVE. (THE CURRENT

ECONOMY FARE IS FAR TOO HIGH AS WAS WELL DEMONSTRATED AT THE JANUARY

TALKS.) THE NEW FARES COULD BE EFFECTIVE FROM 15 APRIL WITH THE

ADVANCE 300KING REQUIREMENT WAIVED FOR THE FIRST MONTH. ADDITIONALLY,

CPA AND QANTAS COULD BE ASKED TO CONSIDER URGENTLY THE LEVEL AND

CONDITIONS OF A GIT FACILITY BETWEEN HONG KONG AND AUSTRALIA.

5. WE WOULD HAVE NO OBJECTION TO THE AGREED BUSINESS ECONOMY FARE

BEING INCLUDED IN THE PACKAGE ALTHOUGH CPA ARE LOSING INTEREST IN

THIS CONCEPT AND DO NOT PLAN TO REVISE THE SEATING CONFIGURATION

OF THEIR 37475 ON THE LINES OF THE WANTAS PROPOSALS.

6. AS REGARDS CANBERRA TELNO.186, ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

REPORT MENTIONED IN OUR TELNO.419 NIXON SAID QUOTE THE NEW FARES

TO BE OFFERED BY CPA AND WANTAS WILL BE 650 DOLLARS A ROUND-TRIP

FOR THE ECONOMY CLASS, DOWN FROM THE CURRENT 1,135 DOLLARS AND 490

DOLLARS FOR THE GROUP INCLUSIVE, DOWN FROM 654 DOLLARS. THE FIRST CLASS FARE, WHICH IS 1,660 DOLLARS A ROUND-TRIP WILL NOT BE REDUCED

UNDER THE NEW AGREEMENT UNQUOTE,

CATER

FILES: MAED

SPD

HK & G D

SEAD

MR CCRTAZZI

MISS BROWN

MR MURRAY

[COPIES SENT TO CAD/DOT]

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COPIES TO:

HK GO, 6 GRAFTON ST