FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0610.PDF
FUG LIT, 30 Mnvrn 1950 -| CIVIL AVIATION\v - r .NEWS WHILE YOU WAIT : This photograph of the arrival at Kastrup airport was flown back to Hatfield in the D.H. Comet which, as described on this page, established (subject to confirmation) its third international point-to-point record last week. COMET'S THIRD RECORD ON March 21st the de Havilland Comet paid another one ofits lightning calls on Continental capitals; this time it flew from Hatfield to Copenhagen covering the 590 miles in 1 hr 18 min 36.5 sec, at an average speed of 453.98 m.p.h. Although officially a test flight, the trip will rank as a capital- to-capital record, subject to F.A.I, homologation. There were 24 people, including a crew of six, on board the aircraft, which took off from Hatfield at 9.58 a.m. and was immediately picked up by London Radar; two minutes later it swept across London Airport at low level, where officials of the K.Ae.C. were waiting to take the starting-time for the flight. The Comet was visible on the long-distance radar screens lor 125 nautical miles, flying at approximately 30,000 ft. On arrival at Kastrup, G/C. John Cunningham with the crew and passengers (mainly representatives of the national Press) were greeted by the British Ambassador and officials of S.A.S.; they were later entertained at a luncheon in Copen- hagen . After being refuelled by B.P. Aviation Service with 1,000 gallons of aviation turbine fuel, the Comet left on the return journey at 4 p.m., crossing the timing-line at London Airport at 5-37 p.m. after flying at an average of 417 m.p.h. The passengers reported an extremely comfortable trip, most of which was flown at about 32,000 ft. Cabin pressure was equivalent to only 12,000 ft, and the almost complete absence of vibration was very noticeable in spite of the fact that the Comet has only temporary soundproofing. B.E.A. scheduled time for the London-Copenhagen service is approximately 3 hr. THE CORPORATIONS IN 1949 LAST Saturday's statement—published by the M.C.A.—ofoperating and traffic statistics for the British Airways Corporations in the calendar year 1949 (as distinct from the financial year ending on March 31st) reveals overall traffic increases for both BO.AC. and B.E.A. The total of passen- gers carried rose by nearly 30 per cent to 917,000 from 713,000 in the calendar year 1948. Passenger-mileage increased by 11 per cent, and freight and mail ton-mileage by 17 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Although the capacity ton-mileage was 17 per cent higher than in the previous year, the figure for aircraft-miles-fiown showed a slight decline, partly due to the introduction of larger capacity aircraft in B.O.A.C.'s fleet. Compared with the first nine months of the financial year 1948-49, the figures show tiiat the Corporations and their associates flew approximately 50 million passenger miles more in this period of the current financial year. The number of passengers carried increased from 000,000 to nearly 800,000, while tht tonnage of mail and freight showed increases of 21 and 84 per cent respectively. The detailed figures for the calendar year 1949-50 reveal that, of this general improvement in traffic, B.E.A. enjoyed the lion's share. In capacity ton-miles and passenger-miles flown, B.E.A. showed increases of 37.7 and 33.4 per cent, while B.O.A.C.'s figures were 11 and 0.7 per cent respectively. B.E.A.'s mail ton-mileage rose by 67.2 per cent, while that of B.O.A.C. decreased by 0.2 per cent; freight ton-mileage figures rose by 26.8 and 13.3 per cent for B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. respectively. A detailed analysis will appear in Flight next week. Although the financial year 1949-50 does not end until tomorrow, the extent of a supplementary estimate, introduced last week by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Mr. Frank Beswick, reveals further heavy losses by B.O.A.C. Mr. Beswick said in the House of Commons that the grant was originally estimated at £3% million and that the additional requirement would be £ ,057,000. Although this would not be the total amount of the Corporation's deficit for the current financial year, it was the maximum that the Exchequer could be asked to meet; there would be no addi- tional burden on the taxpayer, however, because of savings effected by M.C.A. in other directions. He stated, "the year-1 949-5O has been a difficult one, and the financial results are most disappointing. Devaluation has caused a net increase in the deficit of ^650,000. . . . the biggest and unhappiest item was £\, 750,000 caused by the decision to withdraw Tudors from South American services." Late deliveries of replace- ment aircraft had been another major cause of the Corpora- tion's difficulties. Although it will be some considerable time before any large- scale financial improvement is actually apparent it is to be hoped that the introduction of Hermes and later, of Comets, on the Corporation's routes will colour the monetary picture in somewhat happier tones. SCANDINAVIAN EFFORT THE most extensive timetable ever to be announced by -*- S.A.S. will take effect from April T6th. A number of new services, frequency increases and time reductions on existing flights are included in the new schedules. Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this Scandinavian bid for increased traffic is the introduction of a low-fare night return service, to be flown by DC-4S between Copenhagen and Paris. The flight will leave Copenhagen just before midnight, arriving at Paris 3^ hr later, and on the return flight will reach Copen- hagen at daybreak. The return fare is 125 per cent of the normal single rate. Another night service is to be flown non- stop from Copenhagen, on which fare reductions are also being made." New routes will be added, one from Oslo via Copen ha gen, Hamburg and Frankfurt to Madrid, and another ironi Cairo to Copenhagen via Rome. From May 15th, the frequency •if the Copenhagen-North America service is to be increased to
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
