FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1421.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 September 1955 CORRESPONDENCE . . . B.E.A. Operating Statistics T WAS surprised and concerned to read what I must consider-» an ill-informed—and, regrettably, ill-disposed—contribution to Flight by Mr. Robert J. Blackburn on September 9th aboutB.E.A.'s Annual Report. For his "critical survey," Mr. Blackburn has drawn wrong and,, apparently prejudiced conclusions from B.E.A.'s annual report for 1954-55. The "full information" which we have attempted toprovide there has been twisted—perhaps sincerely—to an extra- ordinary extent. Mr. Blackburn's comparison of some B.E.A., T.C.A. and A.Astatistics ignores the operational and economic effects of such influences as traffic flows, aircraft types used and length of haul.Nor does he mention that B.E.A.'s operating profit for 1954-55 was proportionately and actually higher than that for T.C.A.though he cannot be blamed for not knowing that B.E.A. has now as good a ratio of operating surplus as American Airlines, despitethat great airline's 25 years of unimpeded traffic development. I do not propose, therefore, to waste more of your space incommenting on Mr. Blackburn's ill-considered opinions. Suffi- cient perhaps to say that, during the twelve months endedAugust 31st, 1955—B.E.A. carried 2,045,000 passengers, and achieved a net profit of rather more than £1,000,000—operatingover an average sector distance of only some 220 miles. In this total, over the full year with all its seasonal variation, B.E.A.'sElizabethan aircraft made a net profit of about £90,000 for a mean sector distance of 310 miles, while B.E.A.'s Viscount operationsaccounted for the remainder over a mean sector distance of 475 miles. Productivity is some 26 per cent above last year andcontinually improving. These results are not poor by any standards—even Mr. Black-burn's—though there is no complacency in B.E.A. and we will do 533 better yet. Mr. Blackburn's ungenerous comments are, however,a poor return to B.E.A.'s loyal and hardworking staff—neither too large nor underproductive—who have served British aviation andthe travelling public conscientiously and well over the years. Ruislip, Middlesex. P. G. MASEFIELD, Chief Executive, British European Airways. T WAS most interested to read the excellent article in Flight*• of September 9th, called "Profit in Perspective". Many of us inthe air-transport industry will agree, 1 think, that Mr. Black-burn s arguments were very clearly put and his comments were most fair and reasonable. Articles of this kind cannot help but dogood for the industry and bring prestige to your journal. London, W.I. H. C. L. LEECH. [The author comments: "Mr. Masefield does not discuss themain issues raised in the article, so it remains a matter of opinion whether my comments were so wide of the mark. In attemptingto assess B.E.A.'s productivity, I used the results of two efficient North American airlines as a yardstick (it would surely have beenpointless to use any standards but the highest). Having indicated that the Corporation's productivity is relatively low, I set out toexplore areas of improvement. I fully realize that the upper limit is set by some of the restricting influences mentioned by Mr.Masefield; indeed, I took care to point out that 'B.E.A.'s particular short-haul and seasonal problems are more severe than those en-countered by any airline of comparable size.' "The news of higher Viscount and Elizabethan profits is pleas-ing, but hardly surprising. And it lends weight to my plea for a separation of international and domestic book-keeping; I remainconvinced that the development of a logical international fares policy for Europe is being held back by the deadweight of un-profitable domestic services. "The criticisms made in my article were certainly not motivatedby any 'prejudice' against B.E.A., and I cast no aspersions on the way in which members of the staff perform their individualtasks."—Ed.] THE INDUSTRY Rolls-Royce Exports Appointment A RECENT appointment tothe Rolls-Royce export sales department is that of G/C. D. W.Bayne, who joined the company at the beginning of August. Com-missioned from Cranwell in 1928, he spent the first ten years of hisservice on flying duties in this country and in India. Duringthe war he served in Fighter Command, Middle East andCoastal Command units. He was Air Attache, Rio de Janeiro,from 1948 to 1951 and his last appointment before retiring wasDeputy Director, Air Foreign Liaison (D.D.A.F.L.) at the AirMinistry. As a member of the export sales department hewill be concerned with Rolls- Royce export business in Europe. G/C. Bayne. Aircraft Oxygen and Nitrogen A NEW company formed under the title of British Oxygen AroEquipment, Ltd., with headquarters at Bridgewater House, Cleveland Row, London, S.W.I, represents an arrangement be-tween the British Oxygen Co., Ltd., and The Aro Equipment Cor- poration of America. The new company's function will be tomanufacture, sell, hire or deal in apparatus in connection with the supply, storing and dispensing of liquid oxygen and liquid nitro-gen for use in aircraft, and its sales area will be the British Commonwealth and Europe. Five-litre liquid oxygen convenors made by Aro Equipment forwhich many advantages are claimed in comparison with die con- ventional use of cylinders of gaseous oxygen for high-flyingbreathing have been installed in a number of American aircraft, notably the Martin B-57. In addition, the Corporation are sup-pliers of oxygen demand regulators. The British Oxygen Company have also been developing convenors. One of the uses for liquid nitrogen is for the production of aninen atmosphere in fuel tanks to prevent the danger of explosion. The authorized capital of British Oxygen Aro Equipment, Ltd., is £50,000, divided into 50,000 shares at £1 each. niwmrs are Mr. F. J. Clark (managing director, B.O.C.); Mr. B. Seamen(general manager and a director of British Oxygen Engineering, Ltd., a B.O.C. subsidiary); Mr. J. Anderson (vice-president ofAro Equipment Corporation); and Mr. A. B. L. Murison. Dart Development AFTER our report of Mr. J. D. Pearson's lecture on Rolls-Royce• turboprops (see pages 502-4 last week) had closed for press we were advised by his company of the following amendedfigures for the histogram of performance-development published on p. 503: cruise s.f.c. for RDa.7 (stage 1), 0.600; for RDa.7 (stage2), 0.58; take-off t.e.h.p. for Dart 505 and 506, 1,547; for Dart 510, 1,740; for RDa.7 (stage 1), 1,980; and for RDa.7 (stage 2),2,120. G/C. Douglas Bader, aircraft adviser to Shell Petroleum, signs for the delivery of two Whirlwinds ordered from Westland Aircraft by Royal Dutch Shell. The helicopters will be used in connection with offshore drilling operations in the Persian Gulf. With G/C. Bader is Mr. £. C. Wheeldon, Westland managing director. (See news item, page 509.) Directors are
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
