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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1363.PDF
FLIGHT, 16 May 1952 585 THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY SPEAKS Special Messages to "Flight" from the Chiefs of Fifteen Leading Companies Operating International Services BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS CORPORATION From LORD DOUGLAS OFKIRTLESIDE, G.CB., M.C., D.F.C. A LTHOUGH B.E.A. already carries more passengers than any **• airline outside the U.S.A.—we carried 1,200,000 last year— I feel that there is still a vast potential of air traffic open to us along both our international and domestic routes. This year we shall see the beginning of tourist-class travel on our London- Paris route, and next year we should spread our wings even fur ther, with the expected introduction of tourist-class fares on many more routes. So far we have only scratched the surface of the market: there are many hundreds of thousands of passengers, both at home and abroad, whom we shall expect to attract to air travel with tourist fares which will, in many cases, be cheaper than second-class surface travel. Meanwhile, we in B.E.A. will press forward with our plans for B.E. A.'s Background.—With the passing of the Civil Aviation Act, 1946, all British scheduled airline operations became the responsibility of State airline corporations and the British European Airways Corpora tion was formed on August 1st, 1946, with the maintenance of British Isles services and services to Continental Europe as its allotted task. At the end of the 1939-45 war, R.A.F. Transport Command had begun to operate essential air services to Europe, but at the beginning of 1946 • these were taken over by the B.E.A. Division of B.O.A.C. until the formation of the second Corporation. British internal services had been developed by a number of private companies and the essential services had been maintained throughout the war by some of these companies, most of which worked together as the Associated Airways Joint Committee. These operations were continued from August 1st, 1946, under charter to B.E.A., and in February, 1947, B.E.A. took over the routes, aircraft and staff of A.A.J.C. In April that year the operations of Channel Islands Airways and Allied *3L- \^M£aJi\^a (Chairman) introducing the Elizabethan 40/50-passenger and Discovery 40-passenger airliners just as quickly as they are delivered to us. The Elizabethan on service between London and Paris sets a new standard of comfort and speed, and with the introduction of the Discovery in October B.E.A. will be the first airline to operate turboprop aircraft. So, with these two fine British aircraft for first-class travel and with the prospect of a great increase in traffic with tourist-class Vikings rT^\ Q and Pionairs, we look forward J^cs"i-W<-£i^i to expansion and prosperity. u Airways were taken over and B.E.A. became the sole operator. B.E.A. has developed its system until today it maintains a network of British Isles services and a route system reaching over 30 centres in Continental Europe. The Corporation's operations in association with the Malta Airlines take its aircraft into North Africa to Cairo. B.E.A. has been responsible for much pioneer work with helicopters, having been the only airline to operate regular passenger services with this type of vehicle. At present B.E.A. is operating a regular helicopter freight service between London and Birmingham. The Corporation, in 1950, flew the first domestic and international passenger services ever to be operated by a gas-turbine powered aero plane—the Viscount—a fleet of which will be in service next year. The main units of the Corporation's fleet consist of 49 Vikings, 38 Pionairs (B.E.A. DC-3S), and 18 Islanders (B.E.A. D.H.89S). Twenty- one Elizabethan-class Ambassadors are in process of delivery and the type is already in regular service. BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION. From SIR T HE world of civil aviation is on the threshold of historic and momentous new developments. It is entering the era of faster and cheaper air transportation. By a coincidence, though not without significance, the world's first regular jet-airliner service is being inaugurated by the B.O.A.C. at the same time as the introduction this year of tourist-class travel on the busiest, most highly competitive, air route of the globe. Many people in the aviation business are naturally wondering how these two far-reaching developments will affect airline economics. At this early stage anyone attempting to make a firm prophecy would indeed be bold. My own belief is that as jet aircraft come increasingly into use they will make profits for the operators and stimulate a steady and healthy expansion of airline traffic. I am equally sure that once tourist-class services have been launched there will be a widespread public demand for their extension to all parts of the world—a demand which airlines may not be able to meet in full for some time ahead without serious disturbance to their economics. Tourist traffic, however, has come to stay and it is well that this should be so, even if carriers must inevitably face the prospect of a decline in first-class book ings—a decline that may in some degree subside in due course, for the simple reason that on the tourist services, if they are popular, insufficient seats will be available. Moreover, there is always likely to be a substantial proportion of travellers desiring first-class accommodation and amenities. In B.O.A.C. we envisage within a few years two all-British round-the-would routes—one encircling the Northern Hemi sphere and the other going south ofthe Equator through Australasia. This vision (which is no pipe dream) is given reality by the technical craftsmanship of British engineers in producing B.O.A.C.'s Background.—The British Overseas Airways Corpora tion is responsible for the operation of all the British long-distance scheduled air services, and the Corporation can trace its ancestry back to the beginning of British air transport. On April 1st, 1924, Imperial Airways was formed, as the national airline, from the four pioneer airlines: Handley Page Transport, Ltd., the Instone Air Line, Ltd., British Marine Air Navigation Co., Ltd., and the Daimler Airway, itself a direct descendant of Aircraft Transport and Travel, Ltd., the company which operated the first British air service from London to Paris, on August 25th, 1919. The main task of Imperial Airways was the development of trunk air routes linking the United Kingdom with British territories overseas. Routes were surveyed and regular services operated to East and South Africa and to India and Australia. Feeder services were later opened to West Africa and to Hong Kong. The Empire Air Mail Programme was inaugurated in 1937 and in the same year the company began the first UA^/CC* 1 l*~r <v>. .>«». MILES THOMAS, D.F.C. (Chairman) the pure-jet and the turboprop engines that power the Comet Series I and Series II and the Bristol Britannia. With these two types we plan to cater not only for first-class express services but for tourist services which will girdle the earth. It is an aim that excites the imagination and inspires all our efforts. Sometimes I am asked whether the flying- boat has a place in the future pattern of our international air routes. This is not an easy question to answer for, apart from economic considerations, much depends on the attitude of foreign airlines. At present there is no evidence that any single major carrier is inclined to operate flying-boats; nor, I feel, would other operators fly them if B.O.A.C. alone decided to reintroduce them. I remain convinced, therefore, that the problem is a national issue with an important military and strategic aspect. It would be financially impossible for us to maintain flying-boats without imposing fresh burdens on the British taxpayer. Whatever the future holds for British civil aviation, it is essen tial that the whole question of flying-boats, their survival and possible revival, should be regarded not as one which a commercial operator can, or should, be called upon to solve by itself, but as a vital matter of policy with wide national implications and respon sibilities. Technically, and when viewed from the aspect of passenger psychology, the flying-boat has potential advantages that deserve very close study. Of that I am convinced. experimental airline flights across the North Atlantic. On April 1st, 1940, Imperial Airways became officially merged with British Airways, which had been flying Continental services and with which I.A.L. had been working since 1939. The new organization was called the British Overseas Airways Corporation, and it began life in the difficult war period, in which it distinguished itself. Since then the Corporation has established itself as one of the world's greatest air lines and its routes stretch some 70,000 miles to all continents. The Corporation's fleet consists of Comet, Stratocruiser, Constella tion, Hermes and Argonaut passenger aircraft, and York freighters. Bristol Britannias are on order. On May 2nd this year B.O.A.C. introduced the world's first passenger services to be flown by jet-propelled aircraft, when Comets began flying between London and Johannesburg. In the year 1951-1952, B.O.A.C. made a profit of about £^-million —the first overall profit to be made by a British State airline.
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