§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will exercise his powers under the Civil Aviation Act 1982 to require British airlines to publish full details of revenue and capacity sharing agreements with foreign airlines.
§ Mr. David MitchellI have no powers under the Act to require British airlines to publish this information.
§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he is satisfied that the revenue and capacity sharing pools operated by British airlines are in conformity with the Government's competition policy.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe agreements to which my hon. Friend refers are exempt from registration under the Restrictive Trade Practices Act. Airlines are therefore in general free to decide whether and if so what revenue or capacity sharing arrangements they should make with other airlines. Draft regulations applying the competition rules of the European Community to such arrangements are being given consideration within the Community. We are questioning whether, and if so to what extent, such pools should be permitted within the developed aviation market of the Community.