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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0090.PDF
8S FLIGHT, 23 January 1953 Civil Aviation LOWER AIRLINE FARES IN EUROPE LAST week saw the announcement of the largest international * programme of airline fare-reductions ever to result from an I.A.T.A. traffic conference (that held at Cannes last November). Cut-fare services on the North Atlantic route were introduced in May, 1952, as a result of the agreement reached at the previous conference. It will be remembered that by increasing the seating capacity of their aircraft, reducing freight and baggage load, and doing away with the "frills" previously characteristic of trans atlantic operations, the airlines were able to carry more passengers at lower fares, the standard summer reduction being 30 per cent. The experiment succeeded; Air France, for example, reported a 70 per cent increase in their transatlantic passenger traffic last year and most of the other carriers experienced a comparable expansion of business. Thus encouraged, the airlines determined at Cannes to extend cut-fare services, to all the world's routes. So far the airlines have always referred to this relatively new type of service as "tourist" to distinguish it from the more luxurious type which has hitherto been normal. It already seems logical, however, to refer to the cheaper rates as "standard" or second-class fares; the majority of transatlantic passengers now use these services, which will shortly be the rule rather than the exception throughout Europe—and in just over a year will probably carry nine-tenths of the world's scheduled air traffic. In Europe, the new fare-levels become effective on April 1st, although the full benefits will not be apparent until summer schedules begin 18 days later. Practically all B.E.A.'s services will be operated at cheaper fares, the exceptions being a handful of "Silver Wing" luxury services—from London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast to Nice, and from London to Paris. The new standard fares will be roughly 20-30 per cent cheaper than last summer's, the only penalty to the passenger being a reduction in free baggage allowance (from 44 lb to 33 lb) on short and medium routes. On the whole, seats on B.E.A. aircraft will probably be more comfort able than on many transatlantic "tourist" aircraft; Viscounts and Elizabethans will each carry a maximum of 47 passengers on Standard and Silver Wing services. Only the Admiral-class Vikings, modified to carry up to 36 instead of 27 passengers, will display a high-density type of interior. The price of the standard ticket will include complimentary meals (or light refreshments, according to the length of the flight), and meal cartons, for passengers requiring sustenance on short flights, will be on sale at airports. It would obviously be uneconomical to serve expensive multi-course meals on all services (the champagne lunches served on the London-Paris "Silver Wing" service cost B.E.A. 18s per passenger), but this standard will be retained on the new "Silver Wing" routes. B.E.A. have gradually been acquiring a highly competitive fleet, which shows up to full advantage under the new fares agreement. When summer schedules come into effect the Corporation should have in service six Viscounts and most of the 20 Elizabethans on order, together with Vikings and Pionairs for the less competitive routes. By July, the newer types will be employed as follows :— Viscount.—London-Copenhagen-Stockholm (daily); London-Milan direct (daily); London-Nice "Silver Wing" (3 weekly); London-Rome- Athens-Istanbul (5 weekly); London-Rome-Athens-Nicosia (2 weekly). Elizabethan.—London-Paiis "Silver Wing" (2 daily); London- Brussels (daily); London-Amsterdam (2 daily); London-Zurich (daily and nightly); London-Geneva (daily, and five night services per week); London-Vienna (daily); London-Frankfurt (daily); London-Dusseldorf (daily); London-Hamburg (daily); London-Hanover (daily); London- Milan via Geneva (daily); London-Nice (daily); London-Rome via Nice (daily). The following table gives some examples of summer return fares between London and various points on the Continent; validity of ticket is now normally 12 months :— Nice Nice (night) Milan Rome Barcelona Stockholm Paris Paris (night) .. Brussels Frankfurt Zurich (night).. Geneva Geneva (night).. 1952 £ * • 38 14 . 28 0 • 49 16 • 59 3 • 44 10 • 57 5 • 15 19 . 10 10 • 15 19 . 30 16 . 24 0 . 31 0 . 23 0 X953 (standard) £ * 32 8 25 10 35 2 48 12 35 1 49 19 12 0 10 0 14 17 26 19 22 6 25 6 21 0 ,„ . S9S$ (Silver Wing) £ * 40 14 — — — — — 16 0 — — — — — — B.E.A. hope that the new fare structure will attract 30-40 per cent more traffic and 15 per cent more revenue; break-even load- factor will be in the region of 70 per cent. They estimate, inci dentally, that an increase in the £25 foreign-currency allowance would bring the Corporation a £1 m increase in revenue. Air France will offer 30 per cent more capacity on their European services, all of which will be operated with four-engined aircraft. Like B.E.A., the French airline will fly only a few first-class services, using 44-seat DC-4S or Constellations of similar capacity. Most services will be flown by 59- or 55-seat DC-4S. The trend towards use of larger aircraft on European routes is also illustrated by the S.A.S. plan to employ DC-6Bs on the London-Copen hagen-Stockholm route; in this case, first-class passengers will occupy the 16-seat rear compartment; the remainder will be carried in the higher-density main cabin, with capacity for 50 passengers. The Oslo-Stavanger-London route will be flown by 55-seat DC-4S. The long-range airlines, including B.O.A.C., will also operate cut-fare services after April 1st—on routes between Europe and the Middle Eastern gateways. They will be extended to India, Pakistan, Ceylon and South Africa on October 1st, and to the Far East and Pacific areas on April 1st, 1954. On certain Commonwealth routes, where no traffic rights are held by foreign airlines, B.O.A.C. will anticipate the I.A.T.A. programme by offering reduced fares before the agreed date. Details of new B.O.A.C. return fares from London are as follows :— Effective ist-class Standard date Destination return ("tourist") return £ s £ s March 1st Lusaka ... ... 293 8 234 o April rst Singapore 370 16 295 4 „ Hongkong 414 o 327 12 „ Cairo, Beirut, „ Damascus and Lod ... 154 16 124 4 Oct. 1st Karachi 268 4 212 8 „ Bombay 279 o 216 o „ Colombo 311 8 246 12 „ Calcutta 309 12 246 12 „ Johannesburg 315 o 252 o Despite newspaper reports to the contrary, Comets are likely to be retained on first-class services; standard services to the Far East and certain parts of the Middle East will be operated by 56-seat Argonauts, while 56-seat Hermes will fly to Central Africa and Cairo. CAR-FERRY FARES ALSO REDUCED R EDUCED fares attract more passengers, generate more services, increase fleet utilization and decrease aircraft operating costs. This is the principle behind the new I.A.T.A. rate-pattern for Europe, reviewed above; application of the prin ciple is by no means confined to I.A.T.A. airlines. Silver City Airways, now offering remarkably low fares on their cross- Channel vehicle-ferry services, are proving its effectiveness daily in a not-so-small way. The cheap winter fares, which produced a 300 per cent traffic- increase on the Le Touquet service, will be maintained—and in some cases reduced—in the summer programme, which is effective from April 1st. The result, it is hoped, will be an increase of 100 per cent on last year's traffic (7,000 cars, 4,000 motor cycles and bicycles and 27,000 passengers). The extent of the reductions is apparent from the following table of single fares on the Lympne-Le Touquet route:— Type of vehicle 1953 rate 1952 rate .. . £ » £ s Bicycle 5 x o Motor cycle (up to 250 c.c.) ... 1 15 40 Motor cycle (over 250 c.c.) 2 10 40 M.c. combination 3 10 60 Scooter 15 40 Cars up to 12ft 6in ... ... ... 7 10 16 o Cars, 12ft 6in to 13ft 6in 10 o 16 o Cars, 13ft 6in to 14ft 6in 2 10 20 o Cars, 14ft 6in to 15ft 6in 15 o 20 o Cars, 15ft 6in to 16ft 6in ... ... 17 10 24 o Cars over 16ft 6in ... ... ... 20 o 24 o Passengers accompanying vehicles will pay £2 instead of £2 5s, and other passengers will pay £2 5s. Return fares are in every case exactly twice the single fare. Silver City's general manager, Mr. W. G. Franklin, has quoted the operating cost of the Bristol Freighters used by the airline as 12s per mile. On the 47-mile Le Touquet crossing, a typical load of two cars (say, a Morris Minor and Ford Consul), one 500 c.c. motor cycle and four bicycles and twelve passengers would produce only £39 ios revenue. Simple calculations show that the company is cutting profit per flight to the minimum in this enterprising attempt to attract more traffic.
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