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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1555.PDF
Pan American's 71-seat DC-7Bs are at present the most modern transports in service on the North Atlantic route. BLUE RIBAND ROUTE Atlantic Air Traffic Today and Tomorrow By ROBERT J. BLACKBURN EVERY twelve minutes, on average, a long-range airliner beginsor ends a scheduled flight along the Atlantic airways linking Europe and North America. Every day the 15 airlines competingfor traffic on this great international route are offering nearly 3,500 seats on some 60 first-class, tourist, or mixed-class services. This permanent airlift, by reason of its regularity, and becauseit has developed so gradually over the post-war years, has never been a source of public wonder or acclaim. It nevertheless repre-sents a major stage in the evolution of transport. The history of the North Atlantic airways is in large measure the history of long-distance air travel. The momentous PanAm announcement of a £96 million orderfor jet transports makes it timely to review briefly the growth of North Atlantic air traffic to date, and to hint at the shape of thingsto come. Undoubtedly a revolution is in progress. Over the past year ten major transatlantic airlines have placed orders for 172new transport aircraft destined primarily for North Atlantic ser- vice and having a total basic value, excluding spare parts, of wellover £200 million. Though this sum represents perhaps 20 per cent of the capitalvalue of all the transport aircraft in scheduled airline service today, North Atlantic air traffic accounted for only about seven per centof scheduled airline ton-miles performed in 1954. These figures stress the abnormally competitive nature of the route, a factfurther emphasized by the multiplicity of carriers involved. Regular, large-scale airline traffic between Europe and NorthAmerica began in earnest nine years ago with the introduction of the first services by pressurized landplanes—Constellations,DC-6s and, later, Stratocruisers. These types, or their deriva- tives, are still carrying the vast majority of traffic and will continue to do so until the first of the new generation of turbine-powered transports appear at the end of this decade. The growth of air and sea traffic respectively over the past seven years is plotted in the following table, showing annual totals of passengers carried. North Atlantic Passenger Traffic 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 Air 253,000 273,000 317,000 341,000 446,000 510,000 578,000 Sea 637,000 672,000 762,000 710,000 844,000 900,000 938,000 Probably the most significant trend shown by these figures isthe overall traffic-increase of 70 per cent during this seven-year period. Between 1948 and 1954 the airlines increased their pas-senger carryings by 129 per cent, whereas ship traffic increased by some 47 per cent. However, it is important to note that shipsare still carrying the greater share of the traffic (62 per cent last year), even though their share has decreased by 9 per cent since1948. The concern felt by shipping companies about the effects ofincreasing air competition is understandable and—from a long- term viewpoint, perhaps—justified. But some shipping spokes-men, in expressing such fears, tend to overlook the fact that their own traffic has increased by an average of nearly seven per centin each of the past seven years, which appears a reasonable rate of growth for an established form of transport. Moreover, it isunlikely that the airlines alone have reaped all the benefits of the increased community of interest—and potential traffic—createdby the establishment of regular over-night travel between the two continents. Again, it may be noted that a high proportion of transatlanticair traffic represents a new market which the shipping companies, because of the low speed of their services, are incapable of tap-ping. The businessman making several quick transatlantic journeys per year is one obvious example of this new class of traffic.Another is the wage-earner who can afford the transatlantic fare but whose vacation period is limited to two or three weeks. It seems reasonably certain that American tourists do in factrepresent the largest single class of transat'antic air travellers today. It was not always so. In the immediate cost-war yearsthe fares of most passengers were paid by their employers, whether Governments or private companies. In 1948 traffic was stimulatedby the large number of Europeans emigrating by air to North America, though the flow was one-way and resulted in a 20 oercent unbalance between westbound and easfbound traffic. A further stimulus to traffic was the devaluation of the pound, late in 1949,which brought the possibility of a 1950 summer holiday in Europe within the grasp of many thousands of North Americans. By far the most important factor influencing the developmentof traffic on the North Atlantic route—and, indeed, on every other international route—was the introduction of the so-called "tourist"fare on May 1st, 1952. Passengers were for the first time offered a choice of second-class travel at an average rate of 30 per cent All B.O.A.C.'s North Atlantic services are operated bv Stratocruisers, still regarded by many travellers an the most comfortable on the route. The big Boeings also operate PanAm's first-class services.
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