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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1519.PDF
SEPTEMBER I6TH, 1948 FLIGHT 335 VIATIO UNDER THE HAMMER: Days of service with B.O.A.C. are numbered for the Hythe flying-boats, one of which is here seen anchored at Korangi Creek, Karachi. Several have already been sold. Three services a week between Southampton and Sydney will continue until Constellations are introduced on the Australia route by B.O.A.C. One flight a week is at present made as far as Karachi only. The Short Plymouth class will, of course, continue on the Far East routes. Amphibians for B.W.I.A. : British Aircraft in Central Africa : Irish Airlines' High Load Factor I.A.T.A. MEETING AT BRUSSELSS PEAKING at the fourth annual general meeting ofI.A.T.A. which opened in Brussels on September 14th, Sir William P. Hildred, Director-General, reviewed the pro-gress of aviation in 1947. During the year, he said, there had been a tendency towards rising costs and dwindlingrevenues, and if governments continued to insist on airlines paying increasing shares of airport and ground costs withouthelping to increase their profits, airline operations would be reduced to an unprofitable and sorry conclusion. Some pro-gress had been made, he said, in the elimination of border formalities, but the position was still far from ideal. Therewere also too many cases of interference from governments. Dealing with air traffic during the year, Sir William saidthat I.A.T.A.'s members' route network of 500,000 miles and aircraft fleet of 2,000 showed little change from the precedingyear, but services had been intensified and improved, with the emphasis on increased frequencies and larger and morecomfortable aircraft rather than on extensions to routes. The 1947 international safety record was also much the same as inprevious years. While the load factor had declined, the num- ber of revenue ton miles flown increased by 67 per cent overthe 1946 level, and Sir William predicted that international airlines would probably fly about 5 billion passenger miles in.1948 and increase gross revenues by 50 per cent. Continuing, the Director-General said that although the-aviation industry as a whole was relatively small, its political "importance was tremendous. He went on to point out thati there existed an enormous passenger market for air travel as "yet untapped owing to the present high rate structure, andgave it as his view that airlines might profitably consider the establishment of different grades of service, luxury as well asausterity. He also urged vigorous action to develop second- class international air service at lower rates as a step towardssuccessful airline operation. In conclusion, Sir William expressed the airlines' apprecia-tion of the new Recommendations for facilitation of inter- national air transport drafted by I.C.A.O., which, he said,although not entirely ideal, would still be flexible enough te B 11 suit their purpose. He also chose at random a few points fromlast year's work of I.C.A.O., many of which had the effect of increasing operators' costs. SEALANDS FOR WEST INDIES "DRITISH WEST INDIAN AIRWAYS, a subsidiary of-D British South American Airways, has ordered three Short Sealand amphibian aircraft to fly on the " Sea Island Service "between Trinidad and the Windward and Leeward Islands. Hitherto some of these islands have been without any regularmeans of inter-communication, even by sea. and B.W.I.A. intend to provide, eventually, day return services fromTrinidad to Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St.Kitts, with "request" stops at some of the smaller islands. Since some of the islands have no landing strips but excellentflying-boat harbours, an amphibian is the ideal aircraft. On water the Sealand requires a take-off distance of 550 yards, andon land 430 yards. DAKOTAS FOR U.S. FEEDER SER VICESM ODIFICATIONS to the Douglas Dakota to make it suit-able for internal feeder services in America are likely to keep this type in useful employment for some time to come.All-American Aviation Inc. have co-operated with the Douglas company to convert Dakotas from the normal 21 seaters tocarry 24 passengers; they will also be fitted with " step down " doors and an extra cargo-loading door giving access to theluggage compartment at the rear of the fuselage. All-American Aviation will operate these feeder Dakotas over a system ofroutes connecting 45 cities, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio.The decision to undertake this conversion was based on the desirability of spending a minimum of time on the ground andto keep as small as possible the number of ground personnel. U.S. AIRLINE SUBSIDY '"THE possibility of making large-scale loans to United States -L airlines is being examined by the U.S. government. It
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