§ 29. Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for Transport what progress he has made in negotiations with his colleagues in the European Economic Community towards the liberalisation of air transport.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerWe now have four liberal agreements with other EC members, and the results so far are most encouraging. Last June we reviewed with the Dutch the success of the first year of our liberal agreement: 10 new services were introduced and traffic grew by 16 per cent. In December I met my German opposite number to review the first year of the new Anglo-German arrangements; 12 new services had been introduced and there were signs that new low fares had stimulated traffic, which had grown by 14 per cent. This year we are pressing hard for real progress at Community level.