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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1510.PDF
Last month saw completion of the Viscount's first full year of regular passenger services. B.E.A.'s part in develo contributing to overseas sales, is well symbolized by the background to this picture—showing the "Epicurean," arriving at London Airport. the Report speak for themselves—an average turn-round time of 12 minutes for Convairs in U.S. domestic service Over stages of 125 to 370 miles, compared with 45-60 minute stops for European Convairs operating like stages. To some ex tent this difference is accounted for by the paper-work in volved in European international flying. City-airport travel times for Europe and America vary only slightly; the average time for Europe is 26 min for a 7^-mile journey, the corres ponding American figures being 25 min and 8 miles. Up to a distance of 500 miles more than half the passenger's time is spent on the ground. Since three-quarters of Euro pean regional passengers travel over distances of less than 500, it is concluded that reductions in ground time are, for the greater part of the traffic, more important than increased flying speed. The following table shows the distribution of aircraft time, in hours and minutes, for two popular types of aircraft used both in Europe and America. Short range: (DC-3) Europe America Medium range: (Convair 240) Europe America Block time 3.50 9.30 5.00 7.35 Loading Un loading 2.05 0.50 1.50 0.40 Main tenance Over haul 6.10 3.45 7.00 6.30 Time on ground 5.30 4.15 5.40 3.05 Dead time 6.25 5.40 4.30 6.10 Total 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 Since American domestic carriers fly shorter average stages than the European airlines, the U.S. machines spend more time on the ground away from base than European aircraft. Loading and unloading generally take four times longer in Europe, so there is obviously a large margin for improve ment. DC-3 maintenance work is performed four times as fast in the United States; and the times taken to overhaul Con vairs and DC-4s in Europe are 50 per cent longer than the cor responding times for U.S. carriers. In terms of ton-miles per employee, comparison is again unfavourable to European airlines, the average American air line worker producing anything up to six times as much as his European counterpart. Despite the higher salaries paid by American airlines, their total operating costs are lower than those of European operators. This is accounted for partly by the lower produc tivity by the European companies but also by some import ant factors outside the control of the airlines—notably fuel costs (about 60 per cent higher in Europe) and landing charges (two or three times higher). In conclusion, the Report suggests that both operators and passenger will benefit from action along the following lines : (1) Regular publication of data required for present comparison and future planning. (2) Better equipment for the European airports. (3) Reduction and standardization of landing fees. (4) Reduction in the amount of paper-work required for inter national traffic. (5) Relaxation of import duties on spare parts. (6) Standardization of laws concerning personnel licensing, to permit overseas recruitment by countries short of crews and to facilitate interchange services. (7) Airline support for the convertibility of currency. (8) Consideration of methods of improving travel conditions; in particular, air transport would benefit by the creation of a new type of hotel. (9) Improvements in frequency, providing at least a daily ser vice, and a slowing-up of the trend to increase the size of aircraft on European routes. The report also notes that "When over emphasized, the requirements of fast and direct connections between internal and inter-continental services lead to bunches of departures concentrated in the morning or in the evening. Such a situation is detrimental to a correct development of intra- European traffic." (10) Concentration on methods of improving utilization and of increasing productivity. (11) Adaptation of fares and rates to relate them more closely to market conditions. In this connection it is urged that the price of tickets should include cost of city-airport transport. REFERENCES I.C.A.O. Document 7456. An Examination of World Air Fares Per Mile: Aviation Studies, Ltd. Some International Aspects of Air Transport; 1950 British Com monwealth and Empire Lecture, by Sir George Cribbett. B.E.A. Magazine, April 1954. Internal Air Transport in Europe; Report by the Air Research Bureau. Aviation Age, March 1954. C.A.B. Docket No. 3041 et al (Transatlantic Cargo Case). As (6). The Financial Times, September 7th, 1953. Clipper Cargo (P.A.A. Freight Guide), April Ist-Iune 30th, 1954. The Recent Development of Passenger Air Transport; Lecture at XIV Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, by S. Tomasino. Grahame H. Aldrich, Special Projects Director of the Division of Air Transportation Economics, Air Transport Association of America. Air Transport, Lecture to Manchester Statistical Society by Peter G. Masefield. I.C.A.O. Document 7462. I.C.A.O. Digest of Statistics No. 42. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15)
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