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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0528.PDF
524 FLIGHT, 24 April 1953 CIVIL AVIATION . . . AMERICAN AIRLINES IN 1952 P I his annual report, C. R. Smith, president of American Air lines Inc., says that the total revenues for 1952 were the high est in the history of the company, namely, £66,905,000. The airline also succeeded in increasing its profit over that of the previous year to a figure of £4,465,000. American Airlines can claim to be, on the basis of passengers carried, the largest airline in the world, although their network does not extend outside North America and has a total length of but 10,825 miles. The secret of A.A.'s power lies in their hold over nearly all the major routes within the United States and to Toronto and Mexico, on all of which traffic is extremely heavy. The number of passengers carried in 1952 exceeded 5 million for the first time (5,094,000) and passenger mileage exceeded 2,900 million. It is worth noting that the average return per passenger- mile declined slightly during the year, principally due to the in creased proportion of tourist flights. It is pointed out that some airline fares were only slightly higher than in 1940 while the remainder were substantially lower. The company's freighters were busily engaged during the year and freight and express ton mileage amounted to 47 and 10 million respectively. About half of A.A.'s freighters are partici pating in the Korean air lift, the aircraft being flown by American Airlines' crews under arrangement with the U.S.A.F. At the end of 1952 the company operated 158 aircraft, consisting of 78 Con- vair 240s, 66 DC-6s and 14 DC-4S. (All the DC-4S are freighters except for one 65-passenger military charter aircraft.) At the present time the airline is receiving nine DC-6Bs and 3 DC-6A freighters and will shortly take delivery of the first of 25 DC-7S. MORE SUPER CONSTELLATIONS ORDERED PREDICTED in Flight several weeks ago, an order has now been placed by VARIG, a Brazilian international airline, for three compound-engined Lockheed Super Constellations. The order was announced by the manufacturers, who claimed that the major factors influencing the airline's choice were : the versatility of the L-1049C "Connie," which can provide 50 different seat ing combinations, ranging from a 58-seat international luxury version to a 99-seat coach-type interior; the operating cost per ton-kilometre on either long or medium routes, "lower than any other aircraft known at present"; and the prospect of eventual conversion to turboprop power. Including spares, the order is worth $7 m (£2! m) to Lockheeds, who already have orders totalling £44 m for Super Constellations not yet delivered. VARIG will receive its new aircraft early in 1955- It is also confirmed that Qantas Empire Airways have increased their order for three Super Constellations (also compound-engined) to one for seven of these aircraft. ALL-BRITISH; The fleet operated by West African Airways Corporation on its 5,000 miles of domestic and international routes is made up entirely of British-built aircraft: nine de Hqvilland Doves, five Bristol 170s and—recently acquired—six Handley Page Marathons. Five of the Doves are pictured here at Lagos, the centre of the network. BELGIAN HELICOPTER ROUTES S ABENA, the Belgian airline, recently announced its intention to inaugurate Europe's first international helicopter services, using seven-seat Sikorsky S-55S. Starting dates for the services are not known, but it is hoped to begin them before the end of the year. It is now announced that there will, initially, be three sep arate routes : to Liege and Cologne; to Antwerp and Rotterdam; and to Luxembourg and the Saar. Brussels will, of course, be the focal point. AIR-SURVEY VARIETY A LIST of contracts undertaken in 1952 by Hunting Aero-surveys, Ltd., emphasizes the growing importance of air photography as an aid to modern industrial and urban develop ment. Tasks completed are grouped under the following headings : town-planning; reservoir-planning; railway development; agri cultural surveys; industrial development; power-line surveys; and models. In addition, details are given of surveys completed in no fewer than 15 countries abroad, many of them in the Com monwealth. These extracts give some idea of the variety of tasks under taken by the firm :— Air survey of 277 acres, plans at 1:500 with 5ft contours (Pontypool U.D.C.); plans of 42 miles of track at 1:1,584 scale (British Railways, Western Region); survey of 650 acres, mosaic at 1:2,500 scale (New Frome Quarry Co.); Perspex model of the "High Paddington" project at 1:384 scale (for author and architect Sergei Kadleigh). In Thailand, Hunting Aerosurveys undertook the training of local personnel while carrying out a photographic survey of over 15,000 sq km for development purposes; and maps covering a further 3,750 sq km were produced for an irrigation survey. Other examples of the company's overseas work included surveys for dam sites in Iraq, for oil in East Africa and for minerals in Rhodesia. Photographs of aircraft equipment used for oil-pros pecting appear on page 507 of this issue. WORLD NAVIGATORS' CONFERENCE THE fourth convention of the International Airline Navigators Council, held in Montreal March 25th-27th, provided an opportunity for the navigators of 29 of the world's major airlines to exchange technical information. A member of this growing organization contributes the following report of the meeting. In his opening remarks to the delegates, the chairman, Mr. John Nicholas (T.W.A.), noted that since its modest beginning four years ago the I.A.N.C. had grown consistently; it now repre sented approximately 85 per cent, of the world's active airline navigators. Thirteen nationalities and 29 different airlines were included in the membership list. Mr. Nicholas said that, despite lack of airline passes, it was gratifying to be able to welcome dele gates from points as far distant as the Philippines, Switzerland and Spain. The navigators had worked their way on commercial flights to points as close as possible to Montreal and had paid their own fares for the balance of the routes. The Council now seeks recognition by I.C.A.O. as the official B.K.S. TO THE RESCUE: An interlude at Bahrein, Persian Gulf. The Skymaster (left), operated by the French company T.A.I., is being fitted with a replacement P. and W. R-2000 after "landing on three." The new engine was flown from Orly by a Dakota (right) of B.K.S. Aerocharter, Ltd.
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