20 JUNE 1981, Page 19

Sabena's price

Sir: following your Notebook item (13 June) about my plan to bring the EEC Commission before the European Court over high air fares, I must reassure your readers that not even Sabena would have the nerve to charge passengers £28.67 per mile on the BrusselsLondon route.

It is true that this is one of the most disgracefully overpriced air routes in the world. This is because Sabena use the London route to subsidise the Brussels-Kinshasa (Zaire) route, because of its importance in terms of Belgian foreign policy. But the figures you quote refer of course to pence not pounds.

Nicholas Bethel! 73 Sussex Square, London W2