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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1712.PDF
FLIGHT, 7 September 1951 275. CIVIL AVIATION ... below the international level; (5) The heavy burden of landing fees (had the average Continental landing fees applied in the U.K., costs would have been reduced by 26 per cent). For these reasons, also, the cost of each ton-mile operated on B.E.A.'s Continental services was some 12 per cent less than on the internal ones. Revenue, on the other hand, was 29 per cent higher per c.t.m. With new types of aircraft, the report states, B.E.A. Continental services will certainly become profitable. Regarding air mail, it is stated that negotiations are under way with the Post Office for an increase in the rates paid for mails carried on the internal services. At present they are substantially less than the rate paid for Continental services. An important development during the year was the introduction, by B.E.A and Aer Lingus, of night mail services from Manchester to Belfast and Dublin respectively. Although B.E.A. carries all classes of Post Office mail—first and second, parcel and newspaper—by far the largest consists of first-class mail, and the average rates received by B.E.A. were: internal mail, 7s 3|d a ton-mile; British mail, 9s iojd a ton-mile; foreign mail, 10s z\d a ton-mile (3 gold francs per ton-kilometre). The last figure represents the internationally accepted rate which, had it been applied to all first-class mail carried by B.E.A., would have represented an increase of £60,000 in mail revenue. As in previous years the largest item in B.E.A.'s expenditure was the payment of wages, salaries, allowances and pension fund contributions. The total of nearly £4,300,000 under this head represents 43.8 per cent of B.E.A.'s operating expenditure and is a 15.6 per cent increase on the previous year. These payments for each member of B.E.A.'s staff average £609 in 1950-51 compared with an average of £573 in 1949-50. The second largest single item of expenditure during the year was the cost of fuel and oil, representing 15.2 per cent of the operating expenditure and including £200,600 paid in fuel tax. On the flights on which duty is payable, fuel tax is equivalent to £4 for every hour flown. Tax was increased from 9d a gallon to is 6d in April, 1950, and a further increase of 4ld was imposed by the 1951 Budget. Thus, in 1951-52 B.E.A. will pay approxi- mately £250,000 in fuel tax. This is a large factor in rendering B.E.A.'s internal services unprofitable. For comparison, only six states in America impose a non-recoverable fuel tax, the average being 5 cents (4.3d) per gallon. B.E.A. pays 22.5d a gallon. A great deal of interesting information regarding B.E.A.'s aircraft fleet is contained in the report. Four basic types were in use during the year—the Vickers Viking iB, the Douglas Dakota 3, the de Havilland D.H.89A, and the Sikorsky S.51 helicopter. On March 31st the total fleet stood at 115 aircraft, with a written- down book value, including spares, of £2,625,328. One Viking and one Dakota were lost. A Bristol Freighter was bought primarily for the purpose of transporting the Bristol Centaurus power plants for the Elizabethan class aircraft to outstations when engine changes are necessary. Between-times, the Freighter is operated on normal Continental freight services. Vikings again undertook the major portion of the Corporation's work—66.1 per cent—and Dakotas carried 24.8 per cent. It is B.E.A.'s policy to operate, so far as possible, only with British aircraft and to co-operate fully with the industry in the development of new and advanced aircraft types. At the end of the year 49 aircraft of four types, at a total cost of £9,400,000, including spares, were on order: 20 Elizabethan class (Ambassa- dors, 47 passengers); 20 Discovery class (Viscounts, 40 passengers); 7 Clansmen class (Marathons, 20 passengers); 2 Dart-freighters. It is now planned to bring the Elizabethans into service this autumn, the Discoveries late in 1952, and the Clansmen early in 1952. Looking to the future, the Corporation foresees a development of the Elizabethan, possibly with four Dart engines; an Eliza- bethan modified as a freighter; and two classes of multi-engined helicopter, to carry up to 20 and up to 40 passengers respectively. Orders have been placed with Air Trainers, Ltd., for two flight simulators, one for the Elizabethans and one for the Discoveries. They will be delivered in 1952 and installed at London Airport. Authorized overhaul periods for the aircraft now in service have been extended by the A.R.B., and on March 31st engine overhaul periods were for Vikings, 1,050 hours, Dakotas, 900 hours, and Islanders, 1,000 hours. During the year there have been developments of outstanding significance for the future in helicopter operations, notably the introduction of the Welsh passenger service. Regularity of 96.6 per cent was achieved during the summer, and 72.1 per cent during the winter, and punctuality was good. The main cause of irregularity was low cloud and low visibility, and only on three occasions was failure to operate caused by mechanical fault. BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION - TTHE efforts of B.O.A.C. have resulted in an even greater measure •*• of recovery than have those of B.E.A. The reduction in the former Corporation's adverse balance was an improvement of 41.4 per cent, while the operating loss was 49.6 per cent less than that of the previous year. For comparison, the improvements achieved by B.E.A. were 28.2 per cent and 34.6 per cent respec- tively. B.O.A.C.'s gross deficit was reduced by approximately £3i million, from £7,79^887 to £4,565,428. Staff strength has been reduced to 1,340 less than the previous year's total, and, with a modern and competitive fleet now in service, B.O.A.C. appears to have got into its stride at last. By the end of the year, the passenger fleet consisted entirely of four-engined, pressurized machines—22 Argonauts, 10 Strato- cruisers, 10 Constellations and 16 Hermes IVs. The new fleet, inci- dentally, made possible an increase in average payload-capacity, from 4.82 to 5.88 tons per aircraft. It also meant that the output per aircraft flying-hour rose from 973 to 1.297 capacity ton-miles. Other salient points from the statistical results are that operat- ing revenue rose healthily from £19.5 to £22.25 million, attributed generally to increased traffic throughout the world. Even more satisfying from the Corporation's point of view, however, was the fact that, in the face of the rising costs, it was found possible to reduce unit operating cost from 43.5 to 39.5 pence per c.t.m. An important indication of progress, also, is the fact that the break-even load-factor was brought down from 90 per cent in the previous year to 75 per cent. The average load-factor on scheduled services was seen to have risen to 59.7 per cent ofpayload capacity as compared with 55.5 per cent the year before. In point of fact, the actual load-factors achieved had been falling steadily until last March, but picked up as the result of an intensive sales drive. From the "balance-sheet" asoect it is interesting to note that the Corporation account actually showed an earned surplus of £1,434,572 against the original Exchequer grant of £6,000,000 for the year. In addition, there were profits from the disposal of aircraft and the redemption of Airwavs stock amounting to £620,951, which made a total surolus of £2,055,523. Normally this sum would have been available for writing-off the accumu- lated deficiency brought forward from the previous year, but it was decided that, in view of the rapid development of aircraft and engine design, it might be wiser to make some provision for the contingency of existing types being withdrawn before their normal period of obsolescence. (At the moment the Hermes IV amortization period is given as seven years). Accordingly, a special reserve of £2,000,000 has been set aside. Although a good one, this year was not without its disappoint- ments. The dislocation caused by the electricians' strike at London Airport in November was estimated to have cost approxi- mately £350,000 in loss of revenue. It was originally hoped, also, that, by introducing Argonauts on trunk routes to South America, traffic would pick up considerably. Although there was an improvement it was not up to expectations, and, in fact, 63 per cent of the Corporation's total operating loss (£3:311,956) was incurred on South American services. In view of this, services on the Western Coast route between Kingston and Santiago were temporarily withdrawn on May 1st. The South American East Coast route is considered to offer good long-term prospects and a drive is being made to achieve higher load-factors in the face of particularly strong competition in that area. On African routes the outstanding feature was the replacement of Solents and Yorks by Hermes IVs, and on Far-Eastern routes, in spite of an increase in the number of services operated, the average load-factor was maintained at over 75 per cent throughout the year. The popularity of North Atlantic flights also remained at a high level and during the year B.O.A.C. actually carried 36.4 per. cent and 32.6 per cent of the total passenger traffic on this route in the west- and east-bound directions respectively. Since the end of the financial year these percentages have risen; in April B.O.A.C. carried more passengers from New York to London, and Montreal to London, than any other Atlantic airline. So far as the Corporation's future fleet is concerned, plans are focused entirely on British aircraft. Nine Ghost-powered and six Avon-powered Comets are already on order and an option for six more Avon versions may be exercised if required. Six Bristol 175s (with an option on nine more) have already been ordered, and it is believed that, powered by Proteus Mk. Ill turboprops, this tvpe should be able to match the operating cost of the highly developed Super-Constellation. Freight traffic rose satisfactorily during the year with an increase of 28.6 per cent, and mail (at 2,272 tons) also showed an increase of over 20 per cent. Like B.E.A., however, B.O.A.C. seems to have just cause for complaint with regard to the mail rates which the G.P.O. are now paying. These are considerably below the six-gold-franc level internationally accepted, and must have a considerable influence upon revenue.
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