§ Mr. Youngerasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he has received a request for his assistance in making the Concorde aircraft available to fly a Scottish trade mission to Houston, Texas, and back; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MeacherI received such a request at the beginning of June. I had to reject it because it would have meant 367W detaching an aircraft for a significant period from the vital flight development programme, whose object is to enable Concorde to enter regular airline service as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will give a date for sanctioning the production of Concorde aircraft numbers 17, 18 and 19, in order to avoid impending redundancies at British Aircraft Corporation factories.
§ Mr. MeacherMy right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made it clear in his reply to the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Blaker) on 23rd July that in his agreement with the French President no commitment was made beyond the 16 aircraft the production of which has already been authorised.
§ Mr. Michael McNair-Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether any of the 16 Concorde aircraft which are being built jointly with the French are to be modified to enable them to have a longer range.
§ Mr. MeacherThe 16 aircraft already in production are being constructed to the existing production standard.