Civil Aviation Act 1980
Civil Aviation Act 1980
1980 CHAPTER 60
An Act to provide for the reduction of the public dividend capital of the British Airways Board and otherwise to make provision in relation to the finances of the Board; to provide for the subsequent dissolution of the Board and the vesting of all its property, rights, liabilities and obligations in a company nominated by the Secretary of State; to make provision with respect to the finances of that company; to amend the Civil Aviation Act 1971; to amend section 4 of the Civil Aviation (Eurocontrol) Act 1962; to require soundproofing grants to be taken into account in determining compensation for depreciation due to the use of aerodromes; to make further provision with respect to the investigation of accidents arising out of or in the course of air navigation; to amend the Protection of Aircraft Act 1973; to extend the powers of the British Airports Authority in relation to aerodromes outside Great Britain and clarify its powers in certain other respects; to enable that Authority to acquire certain land by agreement; and to enable the owners and managers of certain aerodromes to make byelaws in relation to lost property found at those aerodromes.
[13th November 1980]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
The British Airways Board
Reduction of public dividend capital of British Airways Board
1 Reduction of public dividend capital of British Airways Board.
(1) The public dividend capital of the British Airways Board (referred to below in this Part of this Act as ‘the Board’) shall be reduced by virtue of this section by the sum of 160 million, and any entitlement of the Secretary of State and any liability of the Board in respect of the Board's public dividend capital shall be correspondingly reduced.
(2) References in this Part of this Act to the public dividend capital of the Board are references to the capital amount for the time being outstanding in respect of payments to the Board under section 7(1) of the Act of 1977 (including payments deemed to have been made under section 7(1) by virtue of section 8(b ) or 14(1)(b ) of that Act).
(3) Nothing in subsection (1) above shall be taken as affecting any arrangements made by the Board before the passing of this Act for the payment of any sums to the Secretary of State in consideration of the reduction of the public dividend capital of the Board by virtue of this section; and any sums received by the Secretary of State in pursuance of any such arrangements shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Increase of Board's financial limits
2 Financial limits of the Board.
2. In section 9(1) of the British Airways Board Act 1977 (limit on borrowing powers of the Board) for the words from ‘shall not’ to the end there shall be substituted the words ‘shall not exceed 1,000 million.’.
Vesting of property, etc., of British Airways Board in a company nominated by the Secretary of State
3 Vesting of property, etc. of British Airways Board in a company nominated by the Secretary of State.
(1) On the appointed day all the property, rights, liabilities and obligations to which the Board was entitled or subject immediately before that day shall (subject to the following provisions of this section and section 5(1) of this Act) become by virtue of this section property, rights, liabilities and obligations of a company nominated for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State (referred to below in this Part of this Act as ‘the successor company’).
(2) The Secretary of State may, after consulting the Board, by order made by statutory instrument nominate for the purposes of this section any company formed and registered under the Companies Act 1948 ; but on the appointed day the nominated company must be a company limited by shares in which all the issued shares are held by or on behalf of the Crown.
(3) Any agreement made, transaction effected or other thing done by, to or in relation to the Board which is in force or effective immediately before the appointed day shall have effect on and after that day as if made, effected or done by, to or in relation to the successor company, in all respects as if the successor company were the same person, in law, as the Board; and accordingly references to the Board—
(a ) in any agreement (whether or not in writing) and in any deed, bond or other instrument;
(b ) in any process or other document issued, prepared or employed for the purpose of any proceeding before any court or other tribunal or authority; and
(c ) in any other document whatsoever relating to or affecting any property, right, liability or obligation of the Board which vests by virtue of this section in the successor company;
shall be taken on and after the appointed day as referring to the successor company.
(4) Section 1(3) of this Act shall continue to apply to any sums received in pursuance of any such arrangements as are there mentioned after those arrangements become binding on the successor company by virtue of this section.
(5) Schedule 1 to this Act contains specific provisions with respect to the effect in certain respects of the vesting of the property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the Board in the successor company by virtue of this section; but nothing in those provisions shall be taken as prejudicing the general effect of the preceding provisions of this section.
(6) References in this Part of this Act to property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the Board are references to all such property, rights, liabilities and obligations, whether or not capable of being transferred or assigned by the Board.
(7) No right, liability or obligation under any agreement for the rendering by any person of services to the Board as a member of the Board shall vest by virtue of this section in the successor company, except any liability for remuneration payable in respect of any period falling before the appointed day.
(8) It is hereby declared for the avoidance of doubt that—
(a ) any reference in this Part of this Act to property of the Board is a reference to property of the Board whether situated in the United Kingdom or elsewhere; and
(b ) any such reference to rights, liabilities or obligations of the Board is a reference to rights to which the Board is entitled, or (as the case may be) liabilities or obligations to which the Board is subject, whether under the law of the United Kingdom or of any part of the United Kingdom or under the law of any country or territory outside the United Kingdom.
4 Initial government shareholding in the successor company.
(1) As a consequence of the vesting in the successor company by virtue of section 3 of this Act of all the property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the Board, the successor company shall issue—
(a ) to the Secretary of State; or
(b ) to any person appointed as the Secretary of State's nominee under subsection (4) below; or
(c ) to any person entitled to require the issue of the shares in question following their initial allotment to the Secretary of State or to any such nominee;
such shares in the company as the Secretary of State may direct.
(2) Shares required to be issued in pursuance of this section shall be issued or allotted at such time or times and on such terms (as to allotment) as the Secretary of State may direct.
(3) Shares issued in pursuance of this section—
(a ) shall be of such nominal value as the Secretary of State may direct; and
(b ) shall be issued as fully paid and treated for the purposes of the Companies Acts 1948 to 1980 as if they had been paid up by virtue of the payment to the successor company of their nominal value in cash.
(4) The Secretary of State may appoint such person or persons as he thinks fit to act as his nominees for the purposes of this section; and any person holding any shares or rights acquired by virtue of this section as a nominee of the Secretary of State shall hold and deal with them (or any of them) on such terms and in such manner as the Secretary of State may direct.
(5) The Secretary of State may not dispose of any shares issued or of any rights to shares initially allotted to him in pursuance of this section, appoint any person as his nominee or give any directions for the purposes of this section without the consent of the Treasury.
(6) Any dividends or other sums received by the Secretary of State in right of or on the disposal of any shares or rights acquired by virtue of this section shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
(7) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable under section 47 of the Finance Act 1973 in respect of any increase in the capital of the successor company which is certified by the Treasury as having been effected for the purpose of complying with the requirements of this section.
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