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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1433.PDF
30 September 1955 COACH-AIR —on the London-Paris Route; Skyways' Low-fare Service TODAY, September 30th, Skyways, Ltd., are due to beginscheduled air services between Lympne and Beauvais, with coach connections at each air terminal providing through servicebetween the city centres of London and Paris. The opening of services on the initial, winter frequency of one round trip dailywas preceded, on September 21st, by two "inaugural flights" carrying some 50 Ministry and company officials, journalists andother observers. Passengers (who included Sir Alfred Le Maitre, controller ofGround Services, M.T.C.A., Sir Wavell Wakefield, chairman of Skyways, and two of his co-directors—Mr. Eric Rylands, manag-ing director, and Mr. C. F. Dickson) travelled from London to Lympne in East Kent luxury coaches. At Lympne, theyboarded two 34-seat Skyways DC-3s, which flew in formation for part of the journey to Beauvais. The departure from Lympnemarked its re-opening as a commercial airport, an event discussed on page 566 of this issue. The party was entertained on arrivalby the Beauvais Chamber of Commerce, whose president, M. Communeau, was largely responsible for bringing Beauvais-Tilleto its new status as an international airport. In his speech, M. Communeau described the many obstacles to be overcome—atvarious levels—in the attainment of this aim, and he paid tribute to Mr. H. C. L. Leech, who, as Skyways' sales planning manager,handled the negotiations leading up to the start of the service. It was in June, after a discussion with Mr. Leech and M. de Lamaze,the airport commandant, said M. Communeau (according to the official translation of his speech), that "My imagination rose andI saw Beauvais becoming the French abutment of an aerial pier of cheap transports destined to a special class of tourists withmoderate means but very numerous." And so it may well prove, for the coach-air service is certainlycalculated to appeal to the traveller to whom cost is a more import- ant consideration than speed. The total London - Paris fare isless than by any other means of transport, including third-class rail and boat via Newhaven and Dieppe. Some comparativeLondon - Paris fares (including incidental charges) and times (city-centre to city-centre) are given below. £ 15 12 8 Fares 9 0 15 d 3 00 Timehr 3 76 min 50 1050 Three stages of the service. (Above) East Kent coaches connect at Lympne with Skyways DC-3s for the flight to Beauvais . . . Air (tourist return)*Rail/sea (2nd class return) Coach/air (standard return) The "standard" coach-air fare referred to above applies tojourneys made on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On other days passengers are charged the off-peak return fare of £7 14s.At present, separate tickets are issued for the London - Lympne section of the journey; eventually, however, combined tickets willbe issued, resulting in simpler and cheaper booking procedures. Tf a passenger so desires, either or both of the coach journeys canbe omitted from his itinerary, and the appropriate discount will be allowed on the price of his ticket.City terminals for the service are the London Coastal Coaches office at Victoria (opposite B.O.A.C.'s Airways Terminal) andthe Moderne Palace Hotel, Paris; Skyways have bureaux in each terminal. Refreshments are available during flight, atLympne, at Beauvais and at the city terminals. The out- ward daily winter service leaves Victoria at 8.45 a.m. daily,reaching Paris at 3.35 p.m. (4.35 p.m. local time after October 2nd). Return services leave Paris at 11.25 a.m. (later 12.25 p.m.) andreach Victoria at 6.14 p.m. Times, fares and distances for the three sections of the London -Paris journey are as shown at the foot of this page. The schedule provides for transit times of 21 min and 30 minat Lympne and Beauvais respectively, bringing the total elapsed time for the journey to 6 hr 50 min. In this sense, therefore,the service is not competitive with the B.E.A. and Air France London - Paris services, though the difference in fares supportsSkyways' belief that coach-air will attract a great deal of new traffic. The company now has approval to operate up to 21 returnservices daily, and frequencies can thus be increased as the tramc potential permits. A peak frequency of ten round trips daily isforeseen for next year's holiday season. , , The critical factor in a combination service of this kind is, otcourse, the choice of sector distance for the air portion of the * Via Dover and Calais. where passengers board Paris-bound buses of Transports Renault. journey. In this case, the Lympne - Beauvais route was selected as giving the optimum combination of journey time and cost. The one-hour flight schedule, incidentally, is based on an airborne time (still-air) of 50 min. . At some time in the future Skyways' DC-3s are certain to bereplaced, though the replacement has not yet been chosen. It is likely to be larger than the DC-3, and it will probably be fedby coaches of correspondingly greater capacity. Cost per seat- mile will, for obvious reasons, be a major consideration.The coach-air principle is not, of course, completely new. It has not previously been applied, however, to a route between twomajor European capitals. The progress of Skyways' new service will be watched with keen interest—and interest will not be con-fined to air-transport circles. Stag* London-Lympne Lympne-Beauvais Beauvais-Paris Appro x. distance (st. m.) 70 123 45 Carrier East Kent Road Car Co. Skyways Transports Renault Time hr min 3 09 1 00 1 50 Return fara standard £ •. <!. 14 3 7 5 3 15 6 off-peak £ s. d. 14 3 6 4 3 15 «
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