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Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT
MINUTE
Nick 184/5
Type 51
23 OCT 1979
OFICER
From
REGISTRY Mr Burton
Telephone
No-Ext.
n
To:-
Miss Brown
Mr Murray
Mo
In Confidence CPA AND THE LONDON/HONG KONG ROUTE
Department
MAED
DSR 11
A 1.
c.c. to:-
In his minute of 4 October Mr Murray asked about the present position.
Since his return the Hong Kong Government have taken up in their tel
No.1388 the main point Mr Griffiths made to him. They have since asked
HK&GD
B
C
us in addition to press for the amendment of the 1971 Civil Aviation Act
(Hong Kong tel No.1406).
2. I submit a draft reply to both telegrams which has been cleared with
DOT. HK&GD and Legal Advisers concur.
Background
3. The QC from whom the Hong Kong Government sought an opinion seems
to have caused them unnecessary worry by overlooking the actual Order
of the Court of Appeal in the Laker case. This declared ultra vires
those parts of the 1976 Guidance (para 7 and the proviso to para 8)
which required CAA not to license more than one operator of scheduled
services on long haul routes except with the consent of the existing
operator. There is therefore no BA veto. The CAA is still enjoined
(para 6 of the Guidance) to limit the grant of licences to airlines other
than BA and BCal so that these two airlines have adequate opportunities
to compete effectively in the world civil air transport market. This
very general guidance does not prevent the CAA from licensing other
airlines on a particular route. As Hong Kong's fears about the effects
of the 1976 Guidance are groundless the question of intervention by
the Secretary of State for Trade does not arise.
4.
The definition of British airline in the 1971 Civil Aviation Act
does on the other hand place CPA at a disadvantage as we acknowledged
Dd 0532000 800M 5/78 HMSO Brackne!!
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