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The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Government of the United Kingdom today (November 27) reached agreement on a new set of air traffic rights after three days of negotiations in Hong Kong.

The new traffic rights provide for unlimited capacity on routes between Hong Kong and the UK, a comprehensive code-share arrangement as well as additional fifth-freedom rights for both sides. The new arrangement will be brought into effect after the UK has completed the necessary procedures with the European Union.

Mr Wilson Fung, the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, who led the HKSAR delegation in this round of negotiations, said that he was very pleased with the outcome.

He explained that in pursuit of the Government's "progressive liberalisation" policies on air services, the two sides had agreed to remove all existing capacity restrictions on air services between Hong Kong and the UK.

"The new set of traffic rights liberalises air services between Hong Kong and the UK," he said. "This will greatly enhance competition on this very important route and will benefit the travelling public and consumers."

The new package includes fifth-freedom rights for the UK airlines to operate beyond Hong Kong to Sydney and for Hong Kong airlines to operate beyond London to New York. "The equitable exchange of fifths will enable airlines of the two sides to further expand their network, thus bringing more flights into and out of the Hong Kong International Airport," Mr Fung said, adding this was clearly important for Hong Kong to maintain its role as an international aviation and logistics hub.

Mr Fung was optimistic that once the new package of rights was brought into effect, it would contribute significantly to Hong Kong's aviation industry and to our overall economy.

He said the Government would continue to pursue its progressive liberalisation policy and he looked forward to meeting other open-minded aviation partners.

Ends/Thursday, November 27, 2003

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