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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0981.PDF
MAY IITH, 1944 FLIGHT 509 International Air Operators Conference A Permanent Organisation Established : Lord Qrimthorpe Chairman of C.l.A.T.O. monoplise future air transport THE conference of international air traffic operators which concluded its three days' deliberations under the very able chairmanship of Lord Grimthorpe last Friday was a definite success. To its sponsors, North - Eastern Airways, it must indeed be very gratifying tbat their efforts have not been in vain and that the confer ence has made so promising a start. For the pre-conference stage was marked by muchftilool ness and hesitation; both the Air Ministry anm-^at B.O.A.C. kept in splendid isolation, well-nigh ignoring the • efforts made to con voke the conference. It is presumably be cause of this attitude that some major •*®ritish and Empire interests did not take part in this gathering, which might have appeared to them too bold. But this shyness appears to have been not only the privilege of the non-co-opera tors ; even those British companies which took part would not, it seems, come into the open, their names remain ing discreetly behind a screen of secrecy. «A)d if in the case of operators from enemy-occupied countries this secrecy was attributed to some obscure security reasons, this was certainly not applicable to British companies represented. One is forced to ask oneself if this shyness of press lime light, particularly as the name of at least one company, North-Eastern Airways was mentioned, was not dictated by a nervous apprehension in face of the official attitude and the desire to please everybody. Of the twenty-six companies represented at the con ference and hailing from fourteen countries, six were British. The representatives of Russia, China and of the two present American cqmpanies, the T.W.A. and American Export Lines were observers and not active delegates. From the list of countries represented, comprising Bel gium, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, U.S.A., U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia, it is evident that a number of fully participating delegates were from pre-war Government-controlled enterprises. Throughout its sessions a friendly spirit prevailed during the conference, demonstrated by the unanimous resolutions made. This, despite the fact that the driving motives which brought the many companies together might have been somewhat different. For while the initiators and their British colleagues may have desired to demonstrate their existence in face of, and ia advance of, some future shaping of aviation policy, the foreign representatives came, perhaps, to the conference wishing to remind the - world of their past existence, glad to find a forum upon which to assert their claims to a share in post-war aviation. The all too prevalent suspicion that countries which have developed their aircraft industry and air power during this GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS : Lt. Col. the Rt. Hon. Lord Grim thorpe, Chairman of the conference, opens the proceedings. war might endeavour was doubtless a The r.qnJe^enraitflEn<; clearly no place for ventilating any body's grieva^es^^c^apprehensions as to the future air policy ofj^nie BritifcnNjOvernment. The foreign com- panies^rould hav#*|^rt!nad from the prospect of getting er of domestic policy. And re air policy were exchanged, red clear of issues oi major politics. So much for the background. The significance of this conference lies in two aspects:' first, for the first time since the outbreak of war representatives of air traffic operators have come together to dis cuss their problems. And while surely the future of air transport is of as much imme diate concern to the man in the street as it is to those who are in this line of business, the fact that the latter have started to co operate may augur well for the future. Secondly, the con ference decided to establish a permanent organisation under the name of Conference ot International Air Traffic Operators, the C.I.A.T.O., the future membership of which is apparently not to be limited to operators of international air lines. Lord Grimthorpe was elected chairman for the ensuing year. Of special importance is the Conference's decision to sug gest to the United Nations' Governments that they set up an international committee to deal with the question of making transport aircraft available to the air line com panies, and that the latter should be represented on an advisory sub-committee of this committee; the Conference considered that equipment to be provided should be at least equal to what they had before the war so that they may resume their operations as soon as possible after hos tilities cease. From the phrasing oi this resolution one gathers the desire ot air transport operators to pick up th<. threads with the past and to continue their existence as independent bodies as well as their apprehension as to the availability of aircraft for civil transport. For, quite obviously, no matter how efficient and how well-planned their future operations or how sympathetic the attitude of Governments, if aircraft is not made avail able, there will be no flying. The apprehension is of course for the transitory stage, before civil aircraft becomes normally available, and while the envisaged objective is to secure aircraft on some basis or other. It surely embraces a suggestion for allocation of aircraft of such reparations as may be imposed upon the enemy. In this there is both justice and expediency. If the desire to make aviation a real instrument of peace will guide them, the C.I.A.T.O with all its cumulative experience and well be in a position to render good counsel. knowledge ma'.
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