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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0016.PDF
Flying Dutchmen . . . 16 FLIGHT, 2 January 1953 Pictured on final approach at Schiphol is Petrus Plancius, one of the seven DC-6Bs bought by K.LM. for transatlantic services. ports in several areas, including Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Venezuela, Trinidad, Colombia, British Guiana and the Lesser Antilles. K.L.M. also has a 50 per cent holding in Garuda Indonesian Airways, whose fleet includes eight Convairs, 22 Dakotas, and eight Catalinas. The European services, which play an important pan in feeding traffic to the more profitable long-haul flights, are operated mainly with 40-seat Convair 240s. Two charac teristics of K.L.M.'s European operations are the emphasis on its cabotage traffic in Germany—which will presumably suffer when the peace treaty is ratified—and the extent of pooling arrangements with other operators, notably Sabena, Swissair, and S.A.S. From Schiphol, K.L.M. Convairs fly to London, Man chester, Glasgow, Dublin and Shannon to the west, and to Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm on the north-east. Southward, services radiate to Prague, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Paris and Frankfurt—which serves as a second terminal. Rhein-Main is directly linked by K.L.M. Convairs with several cities both in and outside Germany, including Nuremburg, Munich, Istanbul, Rome, Milan, Nice and Madrid. Other points served include Stuttgart and Vienna. Use is also made of DC-3S, which operate a few services to London, Manchester, Dublin, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Brussels, and do invaluable work as freighters. So far K.L.M. has made no pronouncement on the popular subject of Dakota-replacement, and, it may be that most of the requirements of the K.L.M. route-pattern are met by the larger aircraft-types already in service or on order. The possibility of a K.L.M. order for the projected Fokker F.27 Friendship has been discussed, but the need for such an order (particularly one involving large numbers) is not immediately apparent. The Friendship will carry only about 30 passengers—and a reduction in capacity would mean an increase in costs on most of K.L.M.'s regional routes. Elsewhere, however, there is a future for such an aircraft, and a national order would be necessary to stimulate sales. There may also be plans for utilizing the Freightship cargo version; K.L.M. is making an all-out bid to develop this class of traffic, and its efforts have been rewarded by a threefold pay load increase within three years. Last year the company opened at Schiphol one of the best-equipped freight-terminal buildings in the world. K.L.M. has a very active "special flights" division which recently celebrated five years of operations; during that time 2,150 charter flights were made, carrying 64,000 passengers (many of them Dutch emigrants to Australia, New Zealand and Canada) and 2,500 tons of freight and animals. Dr. Plesman has shown keen interest in the possibilities of helicopters, and tentative plans have been announced for the acquisition of two Sikorsky S-55 helicopters for experi mental services a la B.E.A. or Sabena. Without initiating technical advances of a revolutionary nature, K.L.M. has nevertheless made an enormous con tribution to airline progress. The picture which emerges from this brief survey is one of a successful airline : a hard working company which deserves its reputation. K.L.M. has played a full part in the realization of its founder's belief that "The Air Ocean Unites all Peoples." DC-4s are used by K.L.M. for regular all-freight services to Montreal. New York, Curacao, Johannesburg, Tehran and Bangkok. Britain's initiative in employing jet propulsion for com mercial aircraft. . . . The reason why K.L.M. has not placed any orders for the Comet is that it does not think the time is yet ripe. ..." The statement added that the main require ments were improvement of the jet transport's carrying- capacity and range, and adaptation of traffic-control organiza tion to suit it. It would be hard to find a better illustration of the dilemma, faced by so many airlines, resulting from the advent of turbine travel. Superficially, it appears a risk to adopt the new British airliners, the "safer" policy being to buy developed versions of proven American designs. But the conservative policy also brings a risk of losing traffic to a better-equipped competitor. The operational qualities of Britain's turbine-powered trio—Comet, Viscount, and Britannia—cannot yet be measured; only time can show whether K.L.M. chose wisely. Meanwhile, having turned down the chance of cake, the airline hopes to retain its share of bread-and-butter—most of which, as earlier recounted, comes from long-range routes. There follows a condensed survey of current K.L.M. operations, based on the winter schedules. From Amsterdam the company's four-engined aircraft fly east, south and west. Constellations are used mainly on the Near and Far East routes, flying through Frankfurt, Rome or Geneva to Beirut, Damascus or Cairo. The ultimate points on the eastern route are Singapore, Jakarta and Sydney, with Dhahran, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Bangkok, Okinawa, Manila and Biak as intermediates. The main southern route to Johannes burg, via Rome, Kano and Brazzaville, is flown by DC-6s, which also serve the Near East terminals of Tel-aviv, Tehran and Istanbul. Freight services to Johannesburg are operated by DC-4S, which fly through Cairo, Tripoli, Kano and Brazzaville. On the highly competitive North Atlantic routes K.L.M. employs DC-6Bs. One interesting interior layout adopted by the company for this type caters for three classes of passenger; it has a four-seat "standard" section out the front, a 45-seat main cabin for tourists, and a luxurious rear compartment with 12 "Sleepair" berths. DC-6Bs fly four times weekly from Amsterdam to New York, via Glasgow or Shannon and Gander; a weekly service extends south to Curacao through Montreal and Havana. Montreal is also served by DC-6s, which now fly on through Monterrey to both Mexico and Havana. Prince Bernhard flew on the inaugural service to Mexico in November. An additional tourist service to New York is also flown by Constellations. Other K.L.M. services are routed south to Lisbon and Dakar for the South Atlantic crossing to Latin America. DC-6B services to Curacao fly via Paramaribo and Caracas; those to Santiago call at Recife, Rio, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. There are also five weekly transatlantic freight services, all with DC-4S; four link Amsterdam and New York, the fifth serves Curacao, flying via New York and Miami. Curacao is the centre of K.L.M.'s Caribbean services, operated almost exclusively with Dakotas. Impending use of B.W.I.A. Viscounts in the area will increase competition and may force K.L.M. to put Convair 340s into Caribbean service, instead of transferring 240s, as originally planned. These regional services connect Curacao with over 20 air- <
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