GOVERNMENT negotiators are due to begin talks on a new agreement with Tokyo this morning in a bid to maintain air services between Hong Kong and Japan after 1997.
The talks, which were scheduled to continue until Friday in Tokyo, were to have been led by the Economic Services Branch principal assistant secretary for air services negotiations, Andrew Pyne.
Four Japanese airlines recently pressed their Ministry of Transport to accelerate bilateral negotiations with Hong Kong before the 1997 handover.
Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Japan Asia Airways and Nippon Cargo Airlines issued the request after negotiations were suspended last year when China declined to participate further, industry magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology said.
A key part of the negotiations will centre on Japan Airlines' services to Hong Kong, which include services to Taiwan.
Since China insisted that Taiwan was part of that nation, the Taiwan-Hong Kong segment would become a domestic route for China in 1997, the magazine said.
All three Hong Kong-based airlines - Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines and all cargo carrier Air Hong Kong - serve Japan and it is a high-yield destination for all three.
