ROOM S6/01
INTERNATIONAL AVIATION DIRECTORATE
FAX 071 276 5390 DIRECT LINE 071 276 0533
Joseph Lai Esq
Air Services Negotiations Unit Economic Services Branch
Hong Kong
AUSTRIA
21 May 1991
Thank you for your letter of 18 April, which we discussed last week. As I mentioned to you then, the Austrian Embassy has contacted FCO and DTp for advice on how to
advice on how to take forward the question of air services negotiations with Hong Kong. On the basis of that advice, they sent round the enclosed note. A copy of the FCO reply is also enclosed.
Assuming that you still wish to enter into ASA negotiations with the Austrians, I would suggest that the next step would be for the Hong Kong Government to send a telegram to the FCO referring to the enclosed notes and requesting authority to negotiate a Hong Kong/Austria ASA. I can foresee no difficulty in obtaining a positive response at this end.
Given the time that we are currently allowing for the Chinese to ruminate on such matters, it would be advisable to notify them of our intentions as soon as possible. This angle might also be covered in the telegram that you send.
Regarding paragraph 2 of your letter, the feeling here is that the issue of temporary operating permits under self-contained informal arrangements needs at most to be notified to DTP simply for the record. Prior clearance from this end would be unnecessary even if the Lauda services to Hong Kong were operated under the terms of the UK/Austria ASA. This is the procedure that has been established for similar cases in the past (eg the Gulf States, Papua New Guinea, Nauru).
MM GLASS
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