25Transitional provisions as to air service licences
(1)An air service licence in force immediately before the appointed day shall be deemed on and after that day to be an air transport licence and may be revoked, suspended or varied accordingly.
(2)Any application for an air service licence (except such an application as is mentioned in the following subsection) and any appeal to the Secretary of State from a decision in respect of such a licence shall, if it is pending immediately before the appointed day, abate on that day; and where by virtue of this subsection an application abates or an appeal against a refusal to grant an air service licence abates, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to pay out of money provided by Parliament, to the person who was the applicant for the licence in question, a sum equal to the fees paid by that person to the Air Transport Licensing Board in respect of the application.
(3)An application for an air service licence which is pending immediately before the appointed day and as to which no proceedings by way of an oral hearing before the said Board have taken place before that day shall be deemed to be an application for an air transport licence duly made to the Authority on that day; and the Secretary of State may give directions to the Authority containing such supplemental and such further transitional provisions as he considers appropriate for the purposes of this subsection.
(4)In this section—
“ air service licence ” means a licence under section 2 of the [1960 c. 38.] Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act 1960; and
“ the appointed day ” means such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint for the purposes of this section.