JOHN SWIRE & SONS LTD
Swire House
59 Buckingham Gate
London SWIE GAJ
Registered Office
Registered Number 133143 ENGLAND
From Sir Adrian Swire
Chairman
In Richetto, HD
Ats
Ps/ hood Caithness
Mr Burns. Ami
The Rt. Hon. John Major, MP.,
Prime Minister,
10 Downing Street,
LONDON, SW1A 2AA.
HKC | 187 |
Telegrams
TEMSELOAF LONDON 8W1
Telephone:
071-8347717
Fax: 071-630 0353
Teler: 888800
Answer back:
SWIRE O
15th January, 1992.
Dear
Prime
Minister
dess p.a.
Cathay Pacific Airways:
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Useful Ammu
in discussing Hay Kany shared need
I am writing about Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA). I am doing this not in my capacity as a Director of CPA, but as Chairman of John Swire & Sons Ltd., the U.K. parent of the Swire Group of which CPA forms an important part.
CPA is, by most standards, a large international airline. It has a current market capitalisation of over £2 billion, and the last reported profit (1990) was a post-tax result of about £200 million. It currently operates from its Hong Kong base to 38 cities in 25 countries, with a fleet of 45 wide-bodied jets, carrying some 7.5 million passengers and over 300,000 tonnes of cargo annually. It directly employs 13,000 staff, including 1,000 cockpit crew. It is the only airline in the world of anything like its size with an all Rolls-Royce powered fleet.
CPA is, however, at something of a watershed, faced at present by certain exceptionally difficult decisions, which include in particular the placing of orders for new aircraft for delivery stretching up to and beyond 1997. Before proceeding with these orders, CPA is seeking assurances: from the Hong Kong Government as to a reaffirmation of their stated air transport policy on the allocation of traffic rights and as to the likely ground rules for what is bound to be a very expensive move to Chek Lap Kok, the new airport in Hong Kong. In addition we are concerned to re-establish Peking's long-term intentions. The successful negotiation and implementation of separate Hong Kong Air Service Agreements is crucial in this latter context; the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department of Transport are well aware of Chinese intransigence on this issue within the Joint Liaison Group, and are doing all they can to sort the problem out, but time is of the essence.
In short, CPA is faced by a simultaneous and formidable combination of factors in the run-up to 1997:- the need for massive re-equipment of its fleet in the period from 1992 to the end of the century, and beyond; the need to uproot its base from Kai Tak and move to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok; and the need to secure, without ambiguity, the confirmation of traffic rights beyond 1997.
Mone
ASAS
WB
*
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