Have you ever heard of Transaero? This mammoth Russian airline apparently suspended flights to Hong Kong recently.
According to the Board of Airline Representatives, Transaero didn't like the landing charges at Chek Lap Kok and it is one reason the board is pleading for a reduction of those charges.
Please, Transaero, come back. We love you. You mean so much to us.
But there are bigger reasons that the board wants this favour from the Government.
Would you believe an annual figure of $91 million in losses to the airport per suspended weekly flight or a suggested annual cost to the economy of $11.7 billion from all flights that might have been made over the past 10 months, but were not? You wouldn't? Well, neither would your correspondent.
These figures are so stretched that, much as he hesitates to use plain terms, the word nonsense just pops out. There. Couldn't help it. How did that come off the keyboard? To start with, while alleging that 82 flights per week have been lost since the new airport opened, the board admits that the number of flights in and out of Hong Kong is higher today than last year.
