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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1025.PDF
22 July 1955 This smartly styled DC-3, pictured last week on a morning flight from the Chan- nel Isles to its home base at Croydon, is one of ten operated by Transair, Ltd. The air- craft are employed largely on inclusive- tour flights (as 32- seaters) and on sched- uled newspaper ser- vices to the Continent. Transair have ordered two Viscount 800s for delivery in 1957. "Flight" photograph 137 CIVIt AVIATION GOOD FIRST QUARTER FOR B.O.A.C. AT the end of last week Sir Miles Thomas, speaking to overseas** travel agents in London, indicated that B.O.A.C.'s profits for the first three months of the current financial year (which beganon April 1st) were £158,000 better than for the corresponding period last year. This, he said, was due in part to the increasedfleet of aircraft which was now available. B.O.A.C.'s chairman took the opportunity of commenting onthe "restricted hotel accommodation in Britain." This was par- ticularly true of London, he said, where the lack of suitableaccommodation for visitors was handicapping B.O.A.C and other travel organizations. CYPRUS TROOPING CONTRACTT HE firm of Skyways, Ltd., whose successful "Colonial coach"service to Cyprus is flown by Yorks, has been awarded an important Air Ministry contract to transport troops and theirfamilies to Cyprus in Hermes aircraft. At least 12,000 people will be carried in the 12-month period, and the contract is valued atover half a million pounds. The route to be followed will be different from that for the Crusader service which operates throughMalta. The trooping aircraft will take off from Stansted and call at Rome and Nicosia. Operations are to begin on August 1st.Since they began their trooping operations, Skyways have carried more than 100,000 Servicemen and their relatives tovarious places in the Middle East, Africa and Far East. Satisfactory though the new Cyprus contract is, it seems unfor-tunate that work of this sort can be given for only 12 months; the contract is described as renewable after the first period. Sky-ways have also made application for an increase in the frequency of their Crusader service to Cyprus. U.K. TRAFFIC STATISTICS CTATISTICS covering the operations of the Corporations and^ their Associates during the financial year 1954-55 (which ended on March 31st last) were issued last week-end by the Ministry ofTransport and Civil Aviation. United Kingdom airlines provided 325 million ton-miles_ ontheir scheduled services, an increase of 6 per cent over the previous year, and total traffic rose by 5 per cent to 207 million revenueton-miles. Passengers carried numbered 2,501,000—a 14 per cent increase—and they flew 1,537 million passenger miles (6 per centincrease). Freight ton-miles increased by 11 per cent, and mail ton-miles by 2 per cent. The grounding of Comets and the withdrawal of B.O.A.C. fromthe South American routes accounts for the relatively small increase of capacity and traffic overall, particularly so far as B.O.A.C. isconcerned. The total traffic carried by B.O.A.C. fell by 2 per cent, but a 10 per cent increase in utilization of aircraft, resultingin an average of 2,595 hours per annum, enabled the Corporation to limit the fall in capacity. On its Eastern routes, B.O.A.C. carried4 per cent more traffic, and the increase in freight on these routes was 10 per cent. The total of passengers carried was 281,000. B.E.A. were able to offer 20 per cent more capacity on theirinternational services and 10 per cent on their domestic services, and this was accompanied by a reduction of 8 per cent in hoursflown and 3 per cent in miles flown. These figures are largely a result of replacement of Vikings and Dakotas by Viscounts andElizabethans. Total traffic carried rose by 19 per cent, and pas- sengers numbered 1,874,000. Freight traffic increased by 14 percent, and mail by 12 per cent, and the overall load-factor went up from 64 per cent to 65 per cent. For the independent airlines the increase of capacity was 40per cent, and of total traffic carried 39 per cent. Scheduled services were introduced on 8,000 miles of new routes, and associatedservices were operated over a network of 26,000 miles. Passengers numbered 345,000, a 41 per cent increase, and freight traffic wasup by 13 per cent. NATIONAL AIRLINES EXPANSION PROGRAMMEN ATIONAL AIRLINES have adopted a four-year develop-ment programme, a first step in which will be the purchase of both turboprop and turbojet aircraft. The president, Mr. G.Baker, declined to indicate the number or type of the new aircraft, but he said that the expansion programme would cost $95,000,000(£33,900,000). This figure will include new office buildings and maintenance facilities. In America, not unnaturally, the DC-8 is being discussed asthe probable turbojet aircraft for National, and it has been announced that several more DC-7s will also be bought. ENGLISH-ENGINED ELECTRA? ON Monday of this week two of the principal executives ofLockheed, Robert E. Gross (president) and Hall L. Hibbard (vice-president, engineering) announced in London that they hadcompleted a tour of British sources of turboprops suitable for the forthcoming Electra transport (page 116). After visiting Bristols, Napiers and Rolls-Royce, Mr. Grosssaid: "It has been a most interesting week. We would like to be able to offer our new Electra with a choice of powerplant,British or American. Time-phasing is an all-important factor and we have been inquiring into possibilities. "We at Burbank believe in reciprocal trade and we believestrongly in it. This country has been very kind to us at Lockheed. They have supported us and encouraged us over the years and ifwe can reciprocate that support by offering a British engine in the Electra, we would find it most gratifying." CEYLONESE AIRLINE PLANS REOPENING of international air services from Ceylon mayresult from recent discussions in Colombo between the local civil aviation authorities and executives of three rival airlines—B.O.A.C., K.L.M. and T.W.A. The national airline, Air Ceylon, operated a scheduled service between London and Sydney viaColombo from 1950 to 1953, using two DC-4s provided by Australian National Airways (part-owners of Air Ceylon). Theservice was suspended some two years ago for three reasons: heavy losses, lack of traffic and the DC-4s' inability to competewith aircraft of the larger airlines—particularly B.O.A.C.'s Comets, which were then flying between London and Colombo.According to a report from Colombo, the agreement permitting a foreign airline to operate the Ceylonese international serviceswill include the following conditions: "(1) All available Ceylonese aviation personnel and engineers to be employed by the airlineaccepting the offer; (2) The airline concerned can operate under
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