§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what sums have been provided by Her Majesty's Government to date to help finance each type of the European Airbus; what rates of interest have been paid on such sums; what repayments have been made to date; and what repayments have yet to be made and when.
§ Mr. PattieTo date, Her Majesty's Government have provided launch-aid of £192.3 million to British Aerospace in respect of the Airbus A320 programme. British Aerospace funded its share of the development costs of earlier Airbus programmes wholly from its own resources. The Government's launch-aid for the A320 programme is repayable by a combination of fixed instalments and levies from aircraft sales calculated to yield a real rate of return on the Government's investment. No repayments have yet been made. The first fixed instalment is due to the Government on 1 January 1990 and levy payments are expected to commence during the 1989–90 financial year.