§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) when and on what basis Ministers were involved in negotiations with their Polish counterparts and representatives of Lot Airlines during October;
(2) why Lot airlines has been forbidden to land at Heathrow with effect from 1 November;
(3) what representations the Government have received from Lot Airlines or the Polish Government on the number of winter flights to Warsaw by British Airways originating in (a) London and (b) North America, and on the summer schedules;
389W(4) when and in what circumstances agreement was made between Her Majesty's Government and the Polish Government and Lot Airlines on the winter flights schedule; and what is his policy on the number of British Airways flights between London and Warsaw;
(5) on what occasions over the past 10 years a dispute has occurred between British Airways and the national carriers of other countries about the increase in the number of flights from London to the other countries' principal airports where (a) Her Majesty's Government have been involved and (b) the sanction of removing the permit for the other national carriers to land at Heathrow has been imposed;
(6) what is the policy underlying Her Majesty's Government's support for British Airways to increase the frequency of its winter flights between London and Warsaw; and what impact he expects the increase to have on transatlantic flights made by United Kingdom and Polish air carriers;
(7) what intergovernmental agreements govern flights between London and Warsaw.
§ Mr. NorrisI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) on 4 November 1993 and the subsequent letter I wrote to him on 16 November which was deposited in the Library. Since then there has been continuing contact between the United Kingdom and Polish Governments and between the airlines concerned and I hope that it will be possible to reach agreement on the resumption of services soon.