Discussion on Papers 3 and 4

MR C. STUART, British Airways My question to Dr Raben rests on two assumptions. The first is that cheap fares are the commonly-agreed objective for civil air transport; the second, that a cost-based fares policy is the main criterion for a semiregulated industry.

Given these assumptions, there seems an economic case for excluding what Dr Raben calls 'transit airlines' (fifth/sixth freedom) from point-to-point charter-competitive (cheapest) scheduled fares, as their costs like-for-like are higher.

If this case is denied does that not drive third/fourth freedom airlines into charter mode to protect their natural traffic flows from increasingly numerous 'transit airlines'? On prime long-haul routes scheduled service viability is now threatened by the rapid, cumulative, growth of 'transit airlines'.