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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1461.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 May 1952 639 CIVIL AVIATION FUEL STRIKE SETTLED TAURJNG the past week operators all over the world have *-* been forced to announce further ser/ice cuts as a result of the American oil strike, though at the end of last week conditions began to look more promising for a settlement, and a Mr. Knight, who is described as directing the strategv of the unions involved, said on the 15th, "we are calling the strike off." Nevertheless, a statement by the Ministry of Fuel and Power, made last week end, said that full production was unlikely to be reached for ten days. Airline operators, therefore, are not by any means'out of the wood. Since the loss of Abadan, stocks of aviation fuel have been some what precarious, but United States suppliers have been able to meet demands to compensate for approximately one third of the world's requirements (excluding America and the Soviet coun tries) which have been lost. B.O.A.C. have managed to maintain their Mayflower and Beaver services to New York and Montreal, and, of course, the Comet services are all unaffected. Nevertheless, the Corporation will suffer considerable loss. Sir Miles Thomas is quoted as saying that, should the service-cuts amount to 30 per cent, B.O.A.C. might lose £30,000 a day. B.E.A. cancelled 46 nights last Monday; the London-Paris schedules were nearly halved, and cruising speeds of Vikings and Elizabethans were reduced. An official statement from I.A.T.A. representatives in Paris announced that the scheduled international operators who cut their fuel consumption by 35 per cent were expected to be running normally again by June 2nd. Transatlantic flights would not be reduced, but aircraft might have to land at Shannon or in the Azores to refuel instead of making the flight non-stop. Like the airlines, the charter firms have been adversely affected, and several have been unable to meet their commitments. Aggravating the 35 per cent fuel cuts (on the basis of the April consumption) was the fact that the full summer services did not begin until April 22nd, and thus the cuts represented almost 50 per cent reduction on normal May schedules. CORPORATION TRAFFIC IN FEBRUARY PASSENGER traffic on United Kingdom airlines in February, as indicated by M.C.A. figures announced last week-end, showed a continuing increase. The Corporations and their associates flew 67 million passenger-miles. International traffic accounted for 64 million passenger-miles, a 15 per cent increase over the total for February, 1952, while internal traffic was 24 per cent higher. B.O.A.C. increased their total revenue traffic by 13 per cent to &i million short-ton-miles. The overall revenue load factor reached 64.6 per cent, compared with 61.5 per cent in February, 1951. B.E.A. carried more than 50,000 passengers and 1,000 short tons of freight, increases of 17 and 35 per cent respectively. AUSTRALIA'S SOUTH AFRICA SERVICE PI the course of a review of Australia's overseas and internal air services the Commonwealth's Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr. Hubert Anthony, has announced that the Qantas service between Australia and South Africa will be operating before the end of this year. This is not only of importance in providing another link with South Africa, but from the defence point of view it will provide an alternative air route to Britain if communi cations should be broken in the Far East as in the last war. Mr. Anthony also said that work was proceeding on the big new airports at Sydney and Adelaide, and that a number of great new navigational aids were now coming off the production lines. Thirty new radio ranges were expected to come into use in the next two months at 13 airports. Ever-increasing numbers of Australians continued to use the airlines: more than 1,700,000 passengers were carried last year, compared with 1,200,000 in 1948, and 41,000 in 1938. Other news from Australia mentions the preparation of Sydney Airport to receive the twice-weekly Comet service which Canadian- Pacific Airlines are to introduce on the Pacific routes. Representa tives of the Canadian and Australian Governments have been discussing R/T. communications for the Comet, and meteoro logical services—particularly for upper-altitude information—in ROYAL CONVEYANCE: The King of Saudi Arabia spends the summer at Taif, one hour's flight by DC-3 from Jeddah, and the winter at Ruyadh; these moves involve the transport of a lurge party of members of the household, some of whom travel in the royal DC-3 seen above, whilst others are flown by Saudi Arabian Airlines. Australia, New Zealand and across the Pacific. Initially, Canadian- Pacific Comets will fly between Sydney and Honolulu, and on the twice-weekly service one Comet will call at Auckland and the other will fly direct from Sydney to Nandi in Fiji. Flying times foreseen are 2 hr 45 min between Sydney and Auckland, 4 hr 5 min between Sydney and Nandi, and 11 hr 30 min between Sydney and. Hono lulu. C.P.A. hopes to inaugurate the service in October. MORE SUPER-CONNIE ORDERS IOCKHEED have recently announced additional orders for J Super-Constellations; they come from six countries, including Spain and Columbia. The total of recent orders is 12—three for Lineas Aereas Espanolas (Spain) and one for Braathens (Norway), both these companies thus placing their first orders for modern four-engined equipment; three for Avianca (a subsidiary of P.A.W.A. in Columbia); two for Air India International; two for Qantas (Australia); and one more for K.L.M. The manufacturers state that the total order for the Super-Constellation is now 85, and for the Constellation (including those delivered) 392. The first two prototypes of the Pratt and Whitney turboprop- powered Super-Constellations which have been ordered by the U.S. Navy are expected to fly during the summer of 1953. The top speed of the present model with Wright R-3350 engines is 379 m.p.h. The Navy's prototypes are expected to give 435 m.p.h. LONDON-ICELAND RESUMPTION FLUGFELAG ISLANDS' (Iceland Airways) well-known DC-4 Gullfaxi has resumed its weekly service between Reyk javik and London, after operating only as far as Prestwick during the winter. Flights leave Reykjavik every Tuesday at 0800 hr local time, and arrive at London at 1515. The return service begins two hours later, reaching Reykjavik at 2245 hrs. Gullfaxi has been modified to carry 52 instead of the usual 40 passengers. This has enabled Flugfelag to reduce the single fare to £32 3s and the return fare to £57 18s (the former fares were £35 and £63 respectively). The company's internal services have been expanded recently, as the other Icelandic airline, Loftleidir, no longer operates internally. Flugfelag now serve 24 points in Iceland, using
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