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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1558.PDF
712 FLIGHT CIVIL AVIATION B.I.A.T.A.'s ANNUAL REVIEW T^HE annual dinner of the British Independent Air Transport •*• Association, held at the Mayfair Hotel, London, on November 19th, was a most successful and enjoyable occasion, some 150 guests being present. The chairman of the Association, A. Cdre. Griffith Powell, C.B.E., proposed "The Guests." He said that the Association was fairly well satisfied with the year's progress in the operating sense. "A little bread is better than no bread at all, but it is a dull commodity as a steady diet." The setting-up of Air Finance, Ltd., was welcome. The Association would welcome the Armed Forces setting up a reserve of aircraft to be let out for operation to the independents and other aircraft operators. [In connection with trooping requirements and the need to maintain an air transport reserve in the absence of a strong Transport Command of the R.A.F., a good case can be made financially for the purchase by the Services of transport aircraft to their own choice. Such machines could be operated in peace time by one or more of the independent companies, for example, who would look after the trooping commitments at an economical rate and at other times wouW operate the machines commercially, so making full and economical use of them.—Ed.] A. Cdre. Powell paid a tribute to Lord Terrington and to Viscount Runciman for the work of the Air Transport Advisory Council. Of the Anglo-Irish agreement now under review it was made clear that from the independents' point of view there had in the past been much that was regarded as unsatisfactory. The independents hoped for improvements. A. Cdre. Powell said that B.I.A.T.A. had assumed a very strong position in the European deliberations of F.I.T.A.P., and had come to the fore in world independent air-transport deliberations. During his speech the chairman also regretted that Mr. David Mclntyre, the vice-chairman, would not be able to take over the chair in the following year, but he welcomed the new vice-chairman, Mr. Maurice Curtis, and the new treasurer, Mr. G. H. Freeman, who was to succeed Mr. Bamberg at the end of the year. Concluding his speech, he referred to new friendships formed consequent upon the joining-up of the M.C.A. and Transport Ministries, and he welcomed former Ministers in Lord Winster and Mr. Maclay. Viscount Runciman, deputy chairman of the Air Transport Advisory Council, replied for the guests. He mentioned that since j une last, 237 applications had been submitted to the Coun cil, of which 214 had come from independents. Fourteen had been withdrawn while under consideration, 10 more had been with drawn after approval, 171 had been finally recommended, and of these 107 had so far been approved. The third speaker was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for War, Colonel J. R. H. Hutchison. He said that the War Office was the independents' best customer and he commended the independents upon bringing a flexible mind to joint problems and dealing with them in a reasonable manner. The original trooping plan had provided for 25,000 per annum, whereas the present rate was 72,000 per annum and in the last year there had been in addi tion the air movement of two brigades to Kenya. Trooping represented 24 per cent of the total passengers carried by the independents, or on a mileage basis, 72 per cent of die work. The War Office had some contracts and commitments with the ship ping companies but were anxious to continue air trooping, and to see that transport companies had safe and adeauate aircraft. Colonel Hutchison said that he had chosen for his toast the prosperity and future of British air transport. The final speaker was ths vice chairman of the Association, Mr. D. F. Mclntyre, A.F.C., who employed an amusing analogy of the fortunes of three, and later only two, fat and favoured pups by comparison with the lean ones in obtain'ng a share of the single dish of food. Thanks to the Army and Air Ministry another dish of food had been put down for the little and thin pups. The B.I.A.T.A. dinner is an occasion of considerable signifi cance to the independent airlines, and it was unfortunate that, as Mr. Lennox-Boyd (who has been out of the country) was unable to attend for the second year running, his Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Profumo, should also be absent. There follow some highlights from the B.I.A.T.A. annual report, which covers the period July 1st, 1952, to June 30th, 1953: Scheduled Services.—Available capacity ton-miles flown by British independent operators increased by 78.7 per cent—from 4,035,000 to 7,214,000. Load ton-miles performed increased 92 per cent—from 2,356.000 to 4,526,000—and the overall load factor went up from 58.4 per cent to 62.7 per cent. The number of passengers carried was over 149.000—more than twice as many as in 1951-1952—and the fact that traffic increases were mainly on the international routes is reflecred in the 135.7 per cent increase in passenger-miles flown—from nearly 15m to 35m. By operating 98.7 per cent of the 30,699 flights scheduled for the period, the independents achieved slightly higher regularity than either B.O.A.C. or B.E.A. Non-scheduled Operations.—Capacity and load ton-miles flown during the year were approximately eight times as great as those performed on scheduled services. Apart from normal charter operations, B.I.A.T.A. members flew nearly 50,000 refugees from Berlin to Western Germany, as well as 34,000 tons of freight. Trooping operations accounted for 50 per cent of the total passengers carried on non-scheduled flights by B.I.A.T.A. members, and for 84 per cent of the total passenger mileage. The report quotes some official comparative costs of sea and air trooping and notes the Select Committee on Estimates view that even if the cost of trooping by air were higher than trooping by sea, this would be outweighed by the saving in time and there fore of man-hours — an elimination of wastage particularly important in the case of National Servicemen. The figures show that charter aircraft can take a man from the United Kingdom to Egypt for £22, compared with an average troopship fare of £30; the corresponding cost by commercial ship would be £40 and by B.O.A.C. £86. Figures for the U.K. Singapore route are: charter aircraft, £100; troopship, £75; commercial, £135; and B.O.A.C., £206. Capacity ton-miles offered by B.I.A.T.A. aircraft on non-scheduled flights during the year totalled a record 57,994,000—an increase of 119 per cent. Load ton-miles performed increased by 116 per cent to 38,239,000. Even greater was the increase of 133 per cent in the number of passengers carried (175,584). Combined Operations.—On both regular and non-scheduled services B.I.A.T.A. members performed 42,765,000 load ton- miles, corresponding figures for B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. during the same period being 46,500,000 and 140,094,000. Fleet Strength.—At June 30th B.I.A.T.A. members were operating 40 four-engined aircraft, 113 twin-engined aircraft and 8 single-engined aircraft. The all-up-weight of this fleet, by comparison with the previous year, had increased by 62 per cent to 5,012.000 lb. In conclusion the report urges that the independents should not be considered as the "poor relations" of the State Corpora tions. In this respect, it adds, the present policy of blending private and public enterprise is emerging along the right lines "so long as the policy is given full and active backing." RAPIDE 4 TO NAIROBI NEWS has come from Mr. Alec Noon of his flight from Southampton to Nairobi in VP-KLL, the Rapide 4 whose performance was described by the Editor in last week's issue. Starting on November 4th, the aircraft was delayed by fog at Toussous le Noble, and later by severe thunderstorms and more fog in Southern France and Sardinia. The machine behaved extremely well on the flight, Mr. Noon reports, and was to have been demonstrated before representatives of East African Air ways Corporation and other local companies during this week. The operating companv, Noon and Pearce Air Charters, Ltd., are based at Nairobi West Airport. PIG-LIFT TO JUGOSLAVIA A PPROXIMATELY one thousand pedigree pigs (total value *^ some £50,000) are being flown from England to Jugoslavia by Eagle Aviation and Sabena. Following six trial flights in June of this year, on which a total of 120 pigs were carried by Eagle, the first flight of the maior contract was made on November 20th by the same company. Two specially equipped Dakotas are being used, and the route is Blackbushe-Munich-Belgrade (Zemun). Sabena, also, is using Dakotas and flying from Blackbushe to carry out their pig-lift contract. The first such flight by the Belgian airline was scheduled for midnight on Monday last, and two flights were subsequently to be made each night for a fortnight. The aim of the large-scale operations is to improve Jugoslav bacon production; the animals have been selected from over 100 English farms, and moved to a special "transit farm" near Black bushe, where personal details such as weight are listed and health documents checked prior to the flights. NEW SERVICES APPROVED CONDITIONAL approval of three new seasonal services by British independent operators is announced by the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. Air Kruise (Kent), Ltd., have permission to operate an internal service between Ramsgate and/or Lympne and Birmingham from April to September each year until September 1960. A second scheduled service is to be ooerated by Aquila Airways between Southampton Water and Capri with an optional traffic stop at Marseilles also from April
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