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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0098.PDF
52 FLIGHT, 8 January 1954 SISTER SHIP: During the last week of 1953 the original Bristol Britannia (foreground) was joined on flight trials by a second prototype; both are seen in this recent view from Filton. The first production Britannias should reach B.O.A.C. later this year for revenue service in 1955. CIVIL AVIATION . . . CO-ORDINATING EUROPEAN AIR TRANSPORT D ELEGATES of 20 major European nations will take part in the conference, beginning at Strasbourg on April 21st, called by I.C.A.O. to discuss methods of improving commercial and technical co-operation be tween the airlines of Europe. The Federal German Republic will be represented, but there will be no delegate from Iron Curtain countries. All non-European I.C.A.O. member states have been invited to send observers to the conference, and similar invitations have been sent to 13 international organizations, including I.A.T.A. Efforts to achieve multilateralism in the exchange of traffic rights have been made at regular intervals ever since the original post-war Chicago Conference, but none has succeeded. The Strasbourg conference represents an approach towards the problem on a regional basis. The agenda calls first for an examination of existing bilateral agreements in Europe with a view to eliminating or modifying any restrictive provisions. Under the heading of "exchange of traffic rights" delegates will also discuss the possibility of introducing interchange services as widely practised in the United States. "Interchangeability" is defined in the agenda as "the ability of an airline, operating inter nationally under a governmental agreement or authorization, to use an aircraft belonging to a foreign airline and registered in a foreign state, with or without the aircraft's crew." Interchange services can provide a simple way of increasing aircraft utilization, which is generally low on European short- haul networks, and this aspect will receive particular study at Strasbourg. Delegates will also discuss possible adaptation of Customs procedures to permit better co-operation between airlines in both the maintenance and operation of aircraft. Two final items on the agenda are "examination of other measures calculated to reduce ground-stop time" and "air navigation facilities in Europe." Under the latter heading, the conference will determine the extent and results of delay in the implementation of I.C.A.O. regional plans. PANAM'S FREIGHT PLANS REGULAR transadantic all-freight services will be resumed by P.A.W.A. this year, following the delivery of three DC-6As, each capable of lifting 26,000 lb compared with the 14,000 lb pay- load of the DC-4s formerly used. The airline expects to operate at least two cargo flights weekly—"three if the business requires more." PanAm's freight capacity is being increased by 50 per cent in 1954, providing for a total of 10m lb. NEW SERVICES APPROVED CONDITIONAL approval of the following domestic and inter national scheduled services is announced by the M.T.C.A.: B.K.S. Air Transport: an inclusive-tour service between New castle and/or West Hartlepool and Bembridge, Isle of Wight; an inclusive tour service between Newcastle and/or West Hartlepool and Tarbes (for Lourdes) via Jersey or Hum (technical stops). Both services are approved until September 30th, 1954. Silver City Airways: a vehicle-ferry service between Blackbushe or Lympne and Kloten, Zurich, for the period January lst- March 30th, 1954. The following amendments to existing services have also been approved: (a) Operation of terminating services between South ampton and Paris by Cambrian Air Services on their route Cardiff and/or Bristol-Southampton (on demand)—Paris; (b) operation of terminating services between Hum and Guernsey and/or Jersey by Jersey Airlines on their route Manchester and/or Coventry- Bournemouth-Guernsey and/or Jersey-Dinard-Rennes-La Baule. LONDON-MIDWEST DmECT ON May 1st, 1954, Pan American World Airways are to inaugur ate direct DC-6B services between London and Detroit and Chicago, by way of Shannon and Gander. These will be followed in June by a similar service from Stockholm, Copenhagen, Ham burg and Prestwick. They will take 21 hr 15 min for the 3,949- mile flight from London to Chicago and 18 hr 50 min for the 3,754 miles to Detroit. At present the company's plans involve only tourist-class services on the new routes. ..'..•.•.... • • ••••.-. •-•:• • • • • •••.••• :;••• .. .... . • . • :. :•...•• .:• •..,.,: • , . WORLD AIRLINE TRAFFIC IN 1954 ON average, a million passengers flew on scheduled airline services in each week of 1953. According to end-of-year statistics published by I.C.A.O., the average distance flown by each of the 52m passengers during the twelve months was 550 miles and the average number of passengers per aircraft was 24.5. As in previous years the I.C.A.O. traffic figures exclude Chinese and Russian airline statistics. The difference between last year's passenger total and that for 1952 (45 million) represents a gain of 16 per cent, compared with increases of 13 per cent between 1951-1952 and 28 per cent between 1950-1951 (an exceptionally good year for most air lines). The total distance flown on scheduled services last year was 1,170m miles, 10 per cent more than in 1952, and passenger- miles flown last year amounted to 28,580m, an increase of 16 per cent. Ton-mile totals for cargo and mail were, respectively 700m and 185m, increases of 7 per cent and 5 per cent. Between 1937 (when approximately 2.5m passengers flew on the world's airlines) and 1953 the number of passengers has thus increased by nearly 2,000 per cent. The corresponding increase in total distance flown is just over 600 per cent, indicating that a significant proportion of this vast increase in airline traffic has been on the shorter-haul routes. This trend is emphasized by figures showing average distance flown per passenger over the years. In 1937 this distance was 350 miles; the figure for 1947 was nearly 60 per cent greater—559 miles—but it decreased slightly in subsequent years and in 1951 the average passenger journey was 536 miles. The 10 per cent rise between 1952 and 1953 in the total distance flown by aircraft was accompanied by an increase of only 1 per cent in the average passenger journey. The number of passengers per aircraft was only 5.3 in 1937; with the introduction of large post-war aircraft there has been a gradual increase each year over the 1947 average of 16.6, so that the "average airliner" of today carries more than 3i times the com plement of its 1937 counterpart. Scheduled airline traffic in 1954 can be expected to increase by 10 per cent, according to a statement issued at the end of December by Sir William Hildred, director-general of I.A.T.A. (whose 69 member airlines carry about 85 per cent of all scheduled air traffic). He added that because of lower fares, extensive re-equipment costs and decreased airmail payments, operators could not expect a fully equivalent rise in their revenues; the balance of airline finances would remain "generally precarious." As an illustration of the airlines' "constantly creative attitude towards rates and fares," Sir William quoted the fact that completion of the world wide tourist network in 1954 will make it possible for a traveller to circle the globe over a choice of routes on a single tourist-class ticket costing slightly less than £400. The year ahead, he estimated, would see the introduction of some 300 new airliners. A straightforward example of the major contribution made by the shorter-haul airlines towards the overall increase in traffic is contained in the provisional results published by B.E.A. The Corporation carried 1,638,000 passengers in the calendar year ended December 31st, 1953, nearly 24 per cent more than in 1952. The peak month, incidentally, was August, when more than 250,000 passengers were carried. By comparison, the corresponding increase in B.O.A.C.'s passenger traffic was just over 5 per cent —from 273,000 to 287,000. K.L.M., who operate both regional and long-haul services carried 604,000 passengers in 1953, an increase of 17 per cent. The Dutch airline reports that the intro duction of tourist fares brought a 20 per cent increase in passenger traffic on its European network. Comparable traffic increases were achieved by T.C.A., whose aircraft carried 1,300,000 passengers, some 15 per cent more than in 1952.
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