TNAG-1363-FCO40-1809-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 59

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jealously guarded and governments seek to retain the maximum

share for their own airlines. Often there is only one international carrier, which may well be wholly or partly state-owned. Consequently, many, if not most, bilateral air

services arrangements provide for only one airline to be designated by each party to operate all its routes; others permit no more than one airline per route for each side.

7.

In these circumstances designation of more than one Hong Kong airline on any route would be considered only in circumstances where it was judged that more competition was needed in the public interest and the traffic was sufficient to sustain a substantial operation by more than one Hong Kong airline. At the present time however the most heavily travelled routes to and from Hong Kong are already well served by several established operators. The Government has therefore decided that as a general rule, and subject to the existing arrangements in any given case, designation in respect of routes available to Hong Kong will be limited to one airline per route. The airline first licensed by ATLA for a route will normally be the one to be designated for that route.

8..

There are other circumstances in which the Government has a role to play in designation. They are -

(a), where one airline has been licensed and designated

for a route, but for commercial reasons chooses

not or ceases to serve that route or does not

operate services on it satisfactorily, consideration would be given to designating another licensed airline in place of the first;

and