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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1879.PDF
363 FLIGHT, 14 September ic.si CIVIL AVIATION HIGHER NORTH ATLANTIC FARES 'T'xlANSATLANTIC passenger fares and freight rates are to be•*• increased with effect from October. 1st if agreement is reached between the governments concerned in a new I.A.T.A. rateproposal. The fares will conform to those recommended by the I.A.T.A. Traffic Conferences at Bermuda in May, with theexception that the 17-day excursion rate will be omitted during the tirst three months of the new year. The basic transatlanticfare would then be S395 (£141) for the one-way flight between New York and London. B.O.A.C. now charges $375 (£133 19s.)Thera will also be provision for round-trip, off-season and other discounts. The new agreement provides an interesting commentary on thevalue of the I.A.T.A. organization which, by quickly arranging and carrying through a mail vote on the new fare resolutions,managed to avoid the "open-rate" situation which would other- wise have arisen on October 1st by reason of the American C.A.B.'srefusal to participate in the deferred "tourist" fare programme on which the other resolutions were based. The C.A.B. dis-approved of a Bermuda Traffic Conference resolution which coupled the normal fare-structure with a further provision for theopening of an experimental transatlantic tourist service on October 1st, 1952. No decision has yet been reached on a course of action toreplace the rejected tourist proposal. The question is to be discussed further at a meeting of the North Atlantic operators, tobe held in London on September 19th. This meeting will con- sider various aspects of experimental tourist fares and will alsoreview the airlines' long-range programme for generally reducing the cost of international air transport. ONE AIRCRAFT, THREE CLASSES BEGINNING on October 16th, United Air Lines will introduce,on their Pacific Coast route, Stratocruiser flights on which three distinct kinds of service will be offered on the same aircraft.Application has been made to the C.A.B. to authorize three fare- levels, for cabin, tourist and stateroom accommodation, on thedaily Mainliner round-trips between Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle-Tacoma. This is almost certainly the first experimentof its kind in the history of air transport. For accommodation on the upper deck of the main cabin,which seats 55, passengers will pay the standard fare of $21.05 between Los Angeles and San Francisco and $42.50 between SanFrancisco and Seattle-Tacoma; tourist travellers in the lower-deck lounge (seating 14) will pay $17 between the former points and$37 between the latter; and passengers using the luxurious state- room at the rear of the upper deck will pay the standard fare plusa surcharge of $5 between the first two points and $9 between the second. Meals will be served only to upper-deck and stateroompassengers. Together with "coach" fares, United thus will be offering four different fare-levels on Pacific Coast routes. Although, at the moment, no similar facilities exist elsewhere,we learn that K.L.M. are planning three classes of comfort in their DC-6Bs and Super-Constellations which are to go intoservice next year. A suggested layout comprises one cabin with sleepers for 24 first-class passengers, another with limited sleepingaccommodation for eight second-class passengers, and a third for 14 third-class passengers with no sleeping accommodation. B.O.A.C.'S PROFITABLE MONTH AN indication of the encouraging progress now being made by- B.O.A.C. towards eliminating its operating deficit is given by the fact that in July, for the first time in its history, the Corpora-tion showed an overall surplus for a month's operation. The net profit for July was £202,000 which, after payment ofinterest on capital amounting to £80,000, left a surplus of £122,000. The four months of April, May, June and July are said to havebeen by far the best ever experienced. The overall deficit in this period was reduced from £1,748,000 last year to £365,000—animprovement of 80 per cent. At the same time, revenue rose from £7,450,000 in 1950 to £10,500,000 in the period under review.The overall revenue load-factor also increased from 56.1 per cent to 66.2 per cent. Although the total of operating costs is greaterthis year than in 1950, because of increased output, unit operating costs were reduced from 38.2d to 36.6d per capacity ton-mile. In announcing these achievements, B.O.A.C.'s chairman, SirMiles Thomas, pointed out that it was especially gratifying to note an improvement in the results for the South American routeswhich were causing so much concern last year. Considerably better load-factors are now being achieved in this area. U.S. CONTROL-OFFICER SHORTAGE ACCORDING to a statement published by the C.A.A., -he**• present recall of American air traffic controllers to military service is threatening to cause serious breakdowns in the civil airtransport system throughout the United States. The C.A.A. has stressed that on no account will the safety standards be loweredeven if, in bad weather, it becomes necessary to slow aircraft movements to a fraction of their normal rate, or even cancelLights altogether. The coming winter is expected to bring forth a repetition of the delays and excessive stacking periods whichwere seen in the immediate post-war period. These were respon- sible, incidentally, for turning away a great many passengers. The C.A.A. has admitted that the level of experience amongcontrol-tower operators in America's 30 traffic-control centres at 175 major airports has been lowered. Thus far, the C.A.A. haslost 274 reservists out o'f a total strength of 3 ?395- In some casesseveral men have been recalled from a single control point, fifty-seven of the 60 personnel at Cleveland, for example, arereservists whose recall would present a critical problem. Conges- tion in such an area might even disrupt traffic 1,000 miles away.Apart from those already recalled, the C.A.A. has another 1,179 personnel on the "reserve" list. A few months ago 73 airlineflights were delayed for periods of up to 10 hr because the Foit Worth traffic-control staff had been depleted by reservist recalls. TWO AWARDS FOR B.O.A.C. FOR its "great work and success" in building up and operatingthe North Atlantic air service from 1946 to 1950, B.O.A.C.'s No. 3 Line has been awarded the Cumberbatch Trophy for 1949-50. This decision was reached unanimously by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators on the grounds that, during the period inquestion, No. 3 Line had originated and operated North Atlantic schedules without any fatal accidents whatsoever; despite the factthat several different types of aircraft were in use, and that operations were further complicated by the transfer of bases fromMontreal to Britain, the unit also achieved the creditable utilization figure of just over 8| hr per day and a load-factor of 60 per cent. The Cumberbatch Trophy was presented by Miss AliceCumberbatch in m;rrory of her brother; it is awarded annually by G.A.P.A.N. for the year's greatest contribution to air safety,and last year was held by the Irish airline, Aer Lingus. In this instance it will be presented by H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth, theGrand Master of the Guild, at a ceremony later in the year. Coincident with the announcement of the Cumberbatch award,G.A.P.A.N. has also stated that the Brackley Memorial Trophy (for outstanding work in the field of flying-boat operations) willgo this year to Capt. H. W. C. Alger, previously manager of B.O.A.C.'s No. 4 Line, which was responsible for the operationof the Solent services withdrawn last year. The trophy was presented by Mrs. F. Brackley in memory of her husband, thelate A.Cdre. H. G. Brackley, O.B.E., D.S.O., D.S.C. SECOND SOUTH PACIFIC SURVEY? THE Australian Minister for Air, Mr. William McMahon, hasannounced that his government is considering the possibilities of a second exploratory flight by Capt. P. G. Taylor across the South Pacific. It will be remembered that Capt. Taylor flew a Catalina flying-boat from Australia to Chile last March. The new flight would probably include visits to Brazil and Argentina. Capt. Taylor has commented that on his flight in March he was forced to change his plans to fly across the Andes from Chile because bad weather made it impossible to land at Easter Island on the homeward flight. It was most important, he said, that the double crossing of the South Pacific shpuld be made. He believed that there was a trend towards migration from the northern hemisphere to the southern, and it was important that Australia should become the leading influence in that area. THE COMET ON COMMONWEALTH ROUTES ALTHOUGH the time for the introduction of the D.H. CornetsL into regular Commonwealth service is drawing near (the most recent estimate for B.O.A.C.'s first schedule is "early in the new year"), it is, perhaps, still a little difficult to appreciate fully the extent to which the high cruising speed of this type will affect world air transport. As yet no definite cruising figure has been accepted on which schedules can be calculated, but the cruising speed can be said to be roughly double that of existing piston- engine equipment now used on these routes. A good idea of the drastic reductions in elapsed time for flights between points of tie
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