§ Mr. Silvesterasked the Secretary of State for Transport what was the outcome of the Council of European Community Transport Ministers held in Brussels on 10 and 11 November.
§ Mr. MooreThe Transport Council earlier this week concentrated primarily on the content of a first three-year step towards liberalisation of air transport in the Community by the agreed target date of 1992. While some progress was made on the important issues of capacity controls and access to the market, there was a disappointing unwillingness on the part of some countries to make progress on the vital issue of air forces.
A substantial majority in the Council now supports the United Kingdom's proposal that, as a first step, restrictive capacity sharing agreements which currently require airlines operating between two countries to share capacity on a 50:50 national basis should be loosened to 60:40 within three years — so that there can be real competition for capacity. A substantial majority also supports our ideas for allowing additional airlines to compete on existing routes, and for enabling airlines to open up new services, particularly on the important routes linking regional and "hub" airports. On fares, six countries, and the European Commission, support our efforts to ensure that airlines are free to offer the public new types of fare at genuinely low levels, and without the sort of restrictive conditions, such as the requirement to stay six nights or a Saturday night, which limit the usefulness of many cheap fares at present. I made clear that, unless there was reform of fares arrangements in this way, the United Kingdom would not be able to agree to the package of aviation measures under discussion.
The Council also discussed a number of inland transport items. It agreed on the objectives and criteria for a medium term programme for supporting transport infrastructure projects and also considered the next steps for work on liberalisation of road haulage on the basis of new Commission proposals.