TNAG-2386-FCO40-3468-Asia-travel-budget-for-1991-1991 — Page 103

Ref: XEG 354/18

To: All AUSS

MANAGEMENT

IN CONFIDENCE

From:

RG Short, PSD

Date:

12 April 1991

CC: Mr Chase, RMD

AUS TRAVEL BUDGETS 1991/92

1.

-

- We have now been able, having taken advice from RMD, to draw

up-AUS budgets for the current financial year. This has been

delayed a little because some bids were received late.

2 =

Your allocation is £

The total quantity of bids for

"necessary" travel almost exactly equalled the total sum available - in the budget for AUS travel: therefore we have been able to meet

all necessary" bids in full, but no "desirable" bids. However, PSD

will seek to top-up AUS travel budgets from savings elsewhere-during

the course of the year, so that at least some "desirable" travel may

go ahead.

At the end of the last financial year, you were advised

that funds were available for you to book forward, so that some AUSS

at least will have been able to pay for this year's necessary travel

out of last year's funds, thus releasing some of this year's funds

for desirable travel. During the course of this year, we shall aim

to top you up as soon as we can safely do so, in order to help your

planning; but you will appreciate that at this stage I can give no

guarantees.

3. I should like to take this opportunity to make two comments about travel bookings.

(i)

Route Deals

We now have route deals, the details of which are commercially

confidential, with eight major airlines. The essence of these is that, if during the year we exceed a certain number of journeys on

any of these airlines, we receive a substantial rebate (about a year

later). This rebate is used to finance travel which we could not

otherwise afford; not only AUS travel, but also recreational

journeys from difficult posts, children's concessionary journeys