HC Deb 14 July 2003 vol 409 cc28-31W
Mr. Stringer

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the countries which have(a) agreed, (b) failed to agree and (c) not responded to his predecessor's statement of 10 June 1998 on multilateral agreements on 3rd and 4th freedoms at regional airports. [125342]

Mr. McNulty

Officials wrote to our bilateral aviation partners in June 1998 proposing to lift all capacity restrictions on services between UK airports, other than London Heathrow and London Gatwick, and points in the other country by airlines of both sides.

The responses to the offer are:

(a) accepted the offer

  • Bahrain
  • Belarus (subject to finalising air services agreement)
  • Bulgaria
  • Cameroon
  • Fiji
  • Hong Kong SAR
  • Jamaica
  • Jordan
  • Republic of Korea
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Mexico
  • Namibia
  • Pakistan
  • Qatar
  • Sri Lanka (not yet implemented)
  • Tanzania
  • Turkmenistan

(b) rejected the offer

  • Armenia
  • Australia (to be considered as part of liberalisation talks)
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bangladesh
  • Botswana
  • Brazil
  • Brunei
  • Egypt
  • Georgia
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Japan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan (originally rejected, but now reconsidering)
  • Lebanon
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Moldova
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • Nigeria
  • Oman (originally accepted, but subsequently reconsidered)
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Seychelles
  • Singapore (initially rejected, but capacity on all routes now unlimited)
  • Syria
  • Thailand (replied-still considering offer)
  • Ukraine
  • Vietnam
  • Yemen

(c) no reply

  • Algeria
  • Antigua & Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Chile
  • Congo Democratic Republic
  • Cote d'lvoire
  • Cyprus
  • Ethiopia
  • Gabon
  • Ghana
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Israel
  • Kenya
  • Kuwait
  • Morocco
  • Nepal
  • Philippines
  • Russian Federation
  • Senegal
  • Sierra Leone
  • South Africa (new offer made)
  • Sudan
  • Turkey
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

(d) We did not write to the following countries because the air service arrangements do not specify capacity or frequency limits, which in our view provides unlimited access to UK regional airports:

All European Union Member States

  • Angola
  • Bahamas
  • Barbados
  • Bolivia
  • Canada
  • Costa Rica
  • Czech Republic
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Estonia
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • New Zealand
  • Poland
  • Rwanda
  • Slovakia
  • Switzerland
  • Tunisia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United States of America
  • Uruguay
  • Uzbekistan

(e) Due to political and/or aviation bilateral considerations, we have not made the regional access offer to the following countries:

  • Afghanistan
  • People's Republic of China
  • Colombia
  • Gambia
  • Iraq
  • Liberia
  • Libya
  • Macao Special Administrative Region
  • Taiwan
  • Tajikistan

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