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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0196.PDF
FLIGHT Cathay's DC-4, which flies for 80 hours each week, and has logged nearly 22,000 hours in its lifetime, seen over Hong Kong Harbour near its base at Kai Tak. It pro vides first-class accom modation for 46 passen gers on services to Singa pore and Calcutta. In the picture opposite, Gover nor Adlai Stevenson of the U.S.A. is seen disembark ing from the DC-4 at Saigon during his "fact finding" tour. CATHAY PACIFIC A British Independent Airline's Enviable Record of Regularity and High Utilization AT Labuan, in British North Borneo, a DC-3 of Cathay Pacific Airways was delayed some months ago for the lack of certain engine spares. The captain sent an urgent AOG ("aircraft on ground") signal to the company's base at Hong Kong. At about midnight that evening a Chinese radio officer employed by Cathay Pacific returned to his home from a visit to the cinema and, idly tuning his own "ham" radio station, picked up the Cable and Wireless frequency. He found himself listening to the text of the AOG telegram, which he scribbled down on an envelope and then telephoned to the chief pilot's home. The chief pilot rose from his bed and drove to Kai Tak Airport, where he sorted out the parts needed and put them on a Qantas service which left at 8 a.m. for Labuan. At nine o'clock the original tele gram was delivered at the Cathay office. This incident illustrates the enthusiasm and team spirit of this British airline, attributes which play a large part in the driving force that is enabling it to respond very successfully to the challenge of competition from the major trunk operators in the Far East. Camay Pacific was formed in February 1946 by an American, Roy Farrell, and an Australian, Sydney de Kantzow, with some other partners. Both had been pilots with the China National Aviation Corporation, flying over "the hump" from Calcutta to Chungking in DC-3s. Their venture sprang from a plan to use their own aircraft to import manufactured goods from Australia and sell them at a well-earned profit in a Far East still suffering from acute shortages after the Japanese occupation. The fleet soon built up into seven busy DC-3s. As yet there were no problems over traffic rights, for all the Far East govern ments were only too glad to see trade and people on the move again. By 1948, however, post-war aviation legislation was beginning to make itself felt, and a requirement for the local ownership of capital led to a reorganization. A new Cathay was registered in Hong Kong, with interest vested in Australian National Airways, in the old Eastern shipping firm of Butterfield and Swire, and in some of the original partners led by de Kantzow himself, who remained general manager. In 1951 there was a further reorganization when de Kantzow retired, his shares and those of the other remaining original partners being taken up by Butterfield and Swire and their associated shipping interests. Present-day operations are in many respects a model of high utilization combined with administrative economy. The fleet consists only of one DC-4 and two DC-3s, yet a formidable volume of work is achieved. The DC-4, registered VR-HEU, began life with K.L.M., in whose hands it put in 6,000 hours before Cathay bought it; before that it had flown some 3,000 hours in military employment. It is fitted for 46 passengers and is operated with catering and passenger-service facilities to first-class-travel standards. Each week this one aeroplane makes two return trips Hong Kong - Bangkok - Singapore (40 hours); then one 17-hour return trip Hong Kong - Saigon - Singapore; and a return trip Hong Kong - Bangkok - Rangoon - Calcutta (23 hours). Thus 80 hours per week are clocked up the year round, with two months out of service for a complete C. of A. overhaul every 8,000 hours, as demanded by the approved inspection schedules. The overhaul becomes due approximately every two years, and a substitute aircraft is then chartered. HEU has logged nearly 22,000 hours to date. A feature of the operational plan has been a weekly con nection with the Comet service at Bangkok; the schedule allows 1| hours' margin, and Cathay have never yet been late. The two DC-3s, VR-HDA and HDB, make two return trips each week Hong Kong - Manila - Sandakan - Jesselton - Labuan and one return trip Hong Kong - Haiphong - Hanoi. The very high utilization of the DC-4 is made practicable by one main principle. In the event of serious delay, the trip is abandoned and the passengers are transferred to other lines; if the cause is an engine failure, the aircraft may make a three- engine ferry flight to Hong Kong for the trouble to be attended to. In any case action is taken with the one object of getting back to punctual schedule as soon as possible. This may sound some what drastic, but indicative of what occurs in practice, up to mid- December of last year there had been only one such abandoned trip. Kai Tak Airport is notorious for its difficult picturesque approaches through the mountainous islands which surround the Colony, and also for its bad weather during five months of the year. The experience and local knowledge of Cathay pilots frequently gives them an added factor of safety which enables them to land in weather conditions which cause other operators to divert. Out of a total of 211 civil diversions for weather in the last four years, Cathay's DC-4 has suffered only six. As a result, the company now have a high reputation for regularity and reliability in the Far East. Maintenance standards also influence regularity. Cathay's engineering repute rests in the hands of the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, who look after the aircraft under con tract and under the eye of J. T. Gething, the airline's chief engineer. H.A.E.C. do the transit maintenance for most of the international operators using Hong Kong, including B.O.A.C., Canadian Pacific, K.L.M. and half a dozen others. Cathay's centralization of engineering is a factor in the reduction of overheads which is the keystone of management policy. A small fleet operating at high utilization; contracted engineering with the minimum of directly-employed ground staff; the use of agents at all out-stations; the principle of bringing the aircraft back to base daily so that all maintenance checks are done at the centre; together, these enable Cathay to quote passenger and freight rates which average twenty per cent below I.A.T.A. rates, without detriment to safety or comfort. The lower fare-structure is largely accepted by I.A.T.A. operators in the region, with most of whom inter-line agreements exist. The traffic on the main routes has increased steadily over the past three years. Cathay's management attributes this to the continuously growing public respect for the company's operations. There is a firm traffic-foundation of Chinese, Indian and European businessmen, the last predominating; many more Chinese would travel were it not for the severe immigration restrictions on Chinese in most South-East Asian countries. Even so, Cathay
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