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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0287.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 March 1953 285 TRENDS IN AIR TRANSPORT . . . selves have potential value as a reserve for wartime transport purposes are further entitled' to support as instruments of public service and prestige. While hidden subsidies can be criticized as being liable to abuse, there are also arguments against straightforward compensation for deficit, as paid to the British Corporations. The latest B.E.A. report, noting that Air France and S.A.S. received large revenue payments for domestic services far in excess of their declared profits, complains that subsequent unfavourable comparisons on a profit-and-loss basis are discouraging to the staff. It must be admitted, in fairness to B.E.A., that it receives low mail-rates, pays excessive fuel tax, operates "social" services as a duty to the public and has no opportunity to work on the long-haul routes which enable other European operators to offset the losses often incurred on regional services. International Mail-rates.—About three-quarters of international air-mail is carried by aircraft of the country of origin at a rate determined by the government or postal authority concerned. The rates for mail flown by foreign aircraft are fixed by the Universal Postal Union; since 1948 these rates have been six gold francs per metric ton-km (about 10s per ton-mile) for long-haul services and three gold francs for short- haul services. Last year the U.P.U. decided to introduce lower rates of four and three gold francs in these respective categories. This unilateral action was taken without negotiations with the airlines. In the interests of stimulating traffic-growth (which benefits users of air-mail in addition to other services), the airlines contend that a high mail-rate, based on the price which the sender is prepared to pay rather than the actual cost of carriage, is fully justified. The effect on passenger-traffic of an increase in fare is obviously far greater than the effect on mail-traffic of a proportionate increase in mail-rates. These arguments, however, were ignored by the U.P.U. Combined Operations.—The past few years have shown a pro nounced trend towards greater co-operation, and in some cases merging, of airlines as a means of improving efficiency of economy. An out standing example was the formation of the Scandinavian Airlines System "consortium" in 1951, by which the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish national carriers became a single, sizeable airline which has since greatly strengthened its competitive position. The individual companies retain their identity but, for traffic purposes, can be regarded as a unit. Four mergers of American domestic operators have taken place, the latest— between Delta Air Lines and Chicago and Southern Air Lines—being due to take effect in June. Further American mergers are likely, and the possibility of similar combinations of British independent operators is not to be excluded. References by B.O.A.C.'s chairman to projected global services by British Commonwealth operators suggest the possibility of closer group ing of the companies likely to be concerned. A degree of Commonwealth co-operation is found in the partnership Springbok and Kangaroo routes operated jointly by B.O.A.C. and, respectively, South African Airways and Qantas. Pooling of services—and in some cases of spares and overhaul facilities —is already widely practised on the Continent. A number of proposals have been put forward for unifying European air transport, but so far such schemes remain on paper. Trends towards gradual reduction of the number of large operators have been accompanied by a very marked contraction in the field of private and non-scheduled operators—particularly in America. Employ ing war-surplus aircraft and keeping their overheads at a minimum, the "nonskeds" played a major role in bringing down the cost of air travel— not only in America but on the North Atlantic route, the Europe and Mediterranean region and—before very long—in practically every region of the world. By undercutting the subsidized scheduled airlines, and thus forcing them to become "coach"-minded, these small but tenacious American operators greatly accelerated the advent of a policy which is now the basis of practically all forward planning in civil aviation. Airline Parliament.—International agreements on traffic rights, as outlined earlier, are naturally dependent upon accepted standards of rates and fares for each route. Since the airline operators are clearly best qualified to assess the costs of air transport, the formation of the Inter national Air Transport Association, at Havana in 1947, was a logical step in the post-war evolution of an orderly civil-aviation structure. I.A.T.A., which is a more powerful revival of the pre-1939 International Air Travel Association, has its headquarters in Montreal under the same roof as I.C.A.O. Its director-general is Sir William P. Hildred. The most important of I.A.T.A.'s activities is that of fixing rates on international routes in each of three traffic areas—No. 1, North and South America, Greenland and the Hawaiian Islands; No. 2, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, including Iran; and No. 3, Asia, Australasia and the Islands of the Pacific, with headquarters at New York, Paris and Singapore. Each area is the scene of a traffic conference, held annually, at which delegates of most of the 67 member-airlines determine the exact cost of fares on each route. Their decision must be unanimous; as bitter arguments are sometimes carried down to the last farthing of a fare or even the contents of a passenger's sandwich, the traffic conferences are liable to run for several weeks. The results of recent conferences, the most significant in I.A.T.A.'s history, were the now well-known decisions to introduce cheaper "tourist" services in the following stages: North Atlantic, May ist, 1952; Middle East, India, Pakistan and Ceylon and Europe and South Africa, October ist, 1953; from Europe to the Middle East and from Australasia to North and South America, April ist, 1954. These new standard fares (in a few weeks there will hardly be any first-class air services in Europe, so the term "tourist" loses its point) are normally made possible by a reduction in baggage allowance and an increase in the number of seats per aircraft. The full effect of the reduced North Atlantic fares will not be apparent until completion of a year's operations by the 11 air lines concerned; provisional 1952 figures show that 400,000 passengers flew the Atlantic last year, about 20 per cent more than in 1951—as Route Adelaide-Mel bourne Adelaide-Syd ney New York- Minneapolis Salisbury-Bula- wayo Aberdeen- Wick London- Nairobi ... London-Glas gow London-Sydney (via India). London-New York Zurich-Geneva San Francisco- Sydney Rio-Salvador London - Paris London-Johan nesburg ... Nelson- Wellington Buenos Aires- Santiago ... Cairo - Khar toum Bulawayo- Lusaka Moscow - Hel sinki No. of Services Weekly 22 16 6 16 6 8 47 7 24 10 4 43 98 6 8 11 4 3 2 Dis tance 404 717 1,018 217 151 4,346 344 10,575 3,443 144 7,434 757 216 5,650 96 702 1,004 327 550 Single Fare Stan dard £17 0 0 £4 10 0 £110 0 0 £92 0 0* £4 0 Of £96 9 0 £6 10 0 1st Class £4 10 0 £11 15 0 £22 0 0 £6 6 0 £3 5 0 £154 0 0 £8 0 0 £294 0 0 £141 2 0 £4 0 0 £223 5 0 £213 10 0 £22 10 0 £8 17 0 £175 0 0 £3 0 0 £23 0 0 £31 0 0 £12 12 0 £40 10 0 Cost per Stan dard 4.0 5.0 6.2 5.2 2.8 f 6.7 7.2 .pence mile) 1st Class 2.7 3.9 4.7 7.0 5.2 8.9 5.6 6.7 9.9 7.0 7.2 7.1 7.1 9.8 7.4 7.5 8.8 8.9 9.2 18.0 * Colonial Coach, + Hypothetical case; based on £8 weekly return fare (winter only). against a 6 per cent increase between 1951 and 1950. Although it was hoped to attract a completely new class of passenger by introducing lower fares, while maintaining the same level of first-class bookings, there are signs of a not unnatural shift to standard services on the part of passengers who formerly flew first-class. There have been a number of threats to the unity of action which I.A.T.A. regards as a fundamental part of its efficiency as a rate-fixing authority. On some occasions governments (who normally accept I.A.T.A.'s proposed rate-structures for the routes covered by bilateral agreements) have permitted local operators to undercut I.A.T.A. airlines exercising the Fifth Freedom; the most significant example of such action occurred in the Argentine last year. Strong protests were regis tered at the annual meeting of I.A.T.A., where the director-general expressed a hope that "governments will be tolerant and understanding in the use of their undoubted rights . . . and continue as far as they possibly can to leave rate recommendations in the hands of a body of men who have done it well for seven years, who understand its rami fications to the last cent, the last lira, the last krone and the last little sixpence." A more serious threat to I.A.T.A.'s powers is the possibility of an open breach in fares policy between its members. The purpose of the unanimity ruling is to keep dissension within the bounds of the conference. One of the largest and most influential members—P.A.W.A. —threatened to walk out of I.A.T.A. when, in 1951, its proposals for a $250 Atlantic single fare were rejected. An extra traffic conference was called, and PanAm agreed to the slightly higher rate introduced in May, 1952. At the time of writing this situation is repeating itself in New York, where an I.A.T.A. meeting is attempting to set acceptable cargo rate* for the North Adantic. P.A.W.A.'s proposals for a 45 per cent cut have, according to W. G. Lipscomb, the airline's vice-president (traffic and sales), "been blocked by some airlines which have not had experience with low rates. . . . We are therefore planning to go ahead on our own." The Price of Air Travel.—A striking illustration of the effects of differing geographical, technical and political circumstances upon the cost—and consequently the price to the travelling public—of air trans port is provided by the table above. This shows approximate fares in terms of pence per mile on a number of routes in various parts of the world. It should be emphasized that these figures are intended solely as a guide and no special significance should be placed on the selection of routes. In each case the great-circle distance is assumed, and the current bank exchange rate has been used in converting foreign fares. The figures certainly show that real progress has been made in some parts of the world, where operating conditions are most favourable, towards reducing airlines fares to the level of, and even below, surface- transport charges. This encouraging trend is certain to be accelerated and become more universal as new and more economic aircraft are intro duced. Such a development is essential if air transport is to fulfil the promise given in recent years of a new era in world travel. R.B.
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