| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 07/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 64 |
| Copyright: Other |
Government under fire over India services
THEGOVERNMENT has defended its decision to give British Airways extra weekly flights to India, saying that Virgin and British Midland did not have route licences in time.Virgin complained to the Department of Transport about the decision, saying it should have been decided by the Civil Aviation Authority as more than one airline had an interest.
But a spokesman for the department said as BA was the only airline to have a licence to Calcutta at the time there was no need for a CAA referral.
But a Virgin spokesman dismissed the defence as a “smoke screen”, claiming that obtaining a licence was a straightforward procedure dealt with by the CAA, which should not affect an airline being considered for a new route. He said: “Where there’s competition, there should be a hearing.”