§ Mr. L. SMITHasked the Undersecretary of State for Air whether he is satisfied that the existing civil aviation policy of this country will enable British commercial air services to meet the increasing competition from foreign sources; and, if not, what steps are under contemplation to deal with this?
§ Sir P. SASSOONCompetition in air transport services depends on a number of factors such as comparative safety, comfort, regularity, speed and cost. The results achieved to date establish that, in the combination of these factors, our 1557W commercial air services are at present holding their own against foreign competition. For example, they carried a larger number of passengers to and from the Continent in 1933 than all their foreign competitors combined; and their operations as a whole were more nearly on a self-supporting financial basis than those of any other European country. Civil aviation policy is, however, and will continue to be, kept under constant review.