§ 6. Mr. Teelingasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation since Castel Benito in foreign territory is being preferred to Malta as a stop-over on the B.O.A.C. London-Cairo route, whether he has considered the promises on this subject made by Lord Swinton as Secretary of State for Air in 1945 and how he proposes to carry them out; how many people in a year have stopped off on this route in Malta up to now; how much money is being spent per year on Castel Benito as a result of the new change in policy; and whether this is a hard currency area.
§ Mr. LindgrenThe answer to the first part of the Question is "Yes," and the services now operating fulfil that undertaking. The number of passengers in the last 12 months who left the British Overseas Airways Corporation London-Cairo service at Malta is 512 outbound and 294 homebound. No extra expense is being incurred at Castel Benito, which is not in a hard currency area.