§ 31. Mr. Dalyellasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give a general direction to British European Airways to ensure that spare parts are available at all airports.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsNo, Sir. This is a matter for B.E.A.
§ Mr. DalyellDoes not my right hon. Friend think that the long-suffering passengers and, indeed, pilots using Edinburgh Airport have enough to contend with, without waiting for spare parts to be brought over from Glasgow? Will he look into the matter?
§ Mr. RobertsPunctuality depends on a number of factors. The number of delays at this airport due to the lack of spare parts was as low as 0.1 per cent. There are thousands of spare parts, B.E.A. tries to provide a good library in each place, but it cannot hope to have every spare part at every place where there is a difficulty.
§ Mr. CorfieldIs it not clear from the answer which the Minister gave to another Question that the regularity maintained by the independent airlines has, on the whole, been very superior to that of B.E.A.?
§ Mr. RobertsNo. I could not agree with the hon. Gentleman. That is not so.