§ 6. Mr. Fortescueasked the President of the Board of Trade what report he has received from British European Airways on the possibility of its secondary domestic routes being taken over by British Air Services, as recommended by the Edwards Committee and endorsed by the recent White Paper on Civil Aviation Policy.
§ 42. Mr. Onslowasked the President of the Board of Trade what request he has made to British European Airways regarding a study of the effects of handing over the corporation's secondary domestic routes to British Air Services.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsB.E.A., at our request, is considering the possibilities and hopes to let me have its views in the summer.
§ Mr. FortescueCan the Minister give an undertaking that if these routes are handed over to British Air Services there will be no question of eliminating the 1225 private shareholding in British Air Services?
§ Mr. RobertsI know of no such intention. It is not the Government's aim to disturb the present structure in that sense. The aim is to create a new organisation which will be more viable.
§ Mr. OnslowAs British Air Services is not without its own problems at present, does the Minister think that it has the management capacity to take on this extra work?
§ Mr. RobertsI am sure that it has. Domestic secondary services are a very difficult sector. B.E.A. and B.A.S., as well as other operators, have found it very difficult to make them viable.
§ Sir A. V. HarveyIs the Minister aware that if this happened the timekeeping on the domestic services could not be worse than it is? It could be considerably better.
§ Mr. RobertsThe hon. Gentleman makes an unwarrantable assertion.