§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for Transport what steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government between 1979 and 1982 to encourage greater competition within the airline industry.
§ Mr. RidleyThe Civil Aviation Act 1980 required the Civil Aviation Authority when licensing services to give greater emphasis to competition between United Kingdom airlines on domestic and international routes. The scope for encouraging competition on international routes has in practice been very limited, usually because of the attitude of overseas Governments. In 1980, however, four carriers were licensed on the London-Hong Kong route though one ceased business before it could start operations. Throughout the period we pressed the European Commission and other member states to take a more liberal attitude towards scheduled services within the Community. The main domestic development was the licensing in 1982 of services from Heathrow to Glasgow and Edinburgh in competition with what had previously been a British Airways monopoly.