HC Deb 05 February 1958 vol 581 cc1182-4
26. Mr. Rankin

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he is aware that the percentage increases in passengers carried by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, British European Airways and the independent companies between 1953 and 1957 are 26, 47 and 190, respectively, and that the increase in the business of the last named operators is due to the preferential treatment given to them by the Government; and what steps he proposes to take to prevent further damage to the business of the public corporations.

Mr. Neave

The correct percentage figures are 60, 69 and 253, respectively. My right hon. Friend does not accept the inference which the hon. Member draws in the last part of his Question.

Mr. Rankin

Is the Joint Parliamentary Secretary aware that many other people accept the inference which is quite a direct one arising from the Question, and that the figures he gives are much more serious than those which I offer? Does not he realise that to many of us these stem from the directive issued by one of his predecessors in 1952 altering the functions and status of the Air Transport Advisory Council in favour of the independent operators? Is he aware that in view of this remarkable increase it is quite wrong that the shipping interests, which are the financial backers of the independent operators, should be represented on the boards of the two public Corporations and also on the licensing body, the Air Transport Advisory Council? Does he realise that B.E.A.—[HON. MEMBERS: "Speech."] This is the speech I did not get an opportunity to deliver in the recent debate—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Member cannot compensate for his bad fortune then at Question time today.

Mr. Rankin

Just one concluding point, Mr. Speaker.

Does the Joint Parliamentary Secretary realise that for the first time B.E.A. is complaining about the injustice now being done to it?

Mr. Neave

My answer to the hon. Gentleman's speech is that I am glad to hear his views on the flatter. I am sorry that he was not able to put them forward on a previous occasion. These figures date from 1953. Until then the traffic carried by the independent airlines on scheduled services was very small. We are talking about figures which relate to established services by the Corporation as a whole. Judging this matter by the number of passengers is very misleading, because many of the passengers carried by the independent companies on scheduled services are carried for short distances. When inclusive tours are taken into account, it is much more accurate to judge the percentages for passenger mileage, and that would give in 1957 the independents' total share of the traffic as 10.2 per cent.

Mr. P. Williams

Would not my hon. Friend agree that even then these figures are still totally misleading in that the general traffic being carried by the independent companies is newly created traffic and it is not a question of deflecting it from one line or another; and also it is a lower revenue type of traffic as well?

Mr. Neave

My hon. Friend is perfectly right. My right hon. Friend has taken care that this increase should not be at the expense of the Corporation whose established services have received adequate protection from the A.T.A.C.

Mr. Strauss

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the view he has just expressed is diametrically opposed to the view expressed officially by the British European Airways Corporation in its last Annual Report, where it is definitely stated that some of these new tourist services run by independent operators are seriously damaging the services provided by B.E.A.? In view of that fact, will he at least reconsider the directive given by the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation to the A.T.A.C. which is causing so much damage to British aviation as a whole?

Mr. Neave

The right hon. Gentleman raised this point during a recent debate and I answered him then, pointing out that in the B.E.A. Report it is stated that the Corporation had no complaint about the impartiality of the A.T.A.C. As I pointed out, it has been acting under its proper directions. That being the case, and since in the calendar year 1957 B.E.A. has made a profit of over £1 million, I do not think that we can seriously say that it has suffered any damage.