§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on operations between British Midland from Heathrow to the USA. [84059]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Bermuda II agreement allows the UK to designate only two airlines to operate from Heathrow to the US, and British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the designated UK airlines. We have put proposals to the US for the full liberalisation of the UK-US aviation market, but these have not been accepted. More recently, we put proposals to the US Government for a partial liberalisation of the market, which would have allowed bmi British Midland to operate a limited number of Heathrow-US services, but the US felt unable to accept them either. We are currently considering whether a further proposal should be made.