FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0279.PDF
PLIGHT, 9 March 1956 CIVIL AVIATION 298th VISCOUNT SOLD TWO orders announced on March 2nd brought the Vickers•*- Viscount order-book nearly up to the 300 mark. South African Airways, a new Viscount customer, have placed a con-tract for seven 81ODs (Dart RDa.7/ls of 1,800 s.h.p.), and a repeat order for Viscounts came from Aer Lingus who are to addthree 808s (Rolls-Royce Dart 510s of 1,600 s.h.p.) to the existing Irish turboprop fleet of four Viscount 707s. The S.A.A. aircraftare to be delivered during the second half of 1958; their order is the second to be placed for the 810D, the first 12 of which arefor Continental Airlines. BIG SWISSAIR CAPITAL EXPANSION A PROPOSAL to treble the share capital of Swissair is to be •**- put forward at the airline's annual general meeting on March 26th. The present share capital of £1,118,315 is to be increased by offering 80,000 shares of 350 Swiss francs each (£20) to exist- ing shareholders in the proportion of two new shares for every share held, and they will rank for dividends almost immediately. Announcement of this formidable Swissair expansion follows hard upon the airline's order for two DC-8s, at a total cost with spares of approximately £6m. ELECTRAS FOR K.L.M.I T now seems certain that K.L.M.'s evaluation of the Vickers Vanguard and the Lockheed Electra (Flight of February 11th) will result in an order for the latter aircraft. Unofficial reports state that a firm contract for 12 Electras has been placed at a cost, with spares, of £llfm. Having ordered nine Viscount Majors last June—the first British equipment ever bought by the 35-year-old Dutch airline—K.L.M. were regarded as possible purchasers of the Vanguard for the expansion of their medium- haul international services in the 1960s. K.L.M. may thus become the first airline outside the U.S.A. to choose Electras, 104 of which have been sold to date. Delivery is being offered in 1959-60. The airline was, incidentally, the first outside the U.S.A. to order American jet airliners (eight DC-8s): other European operators—S.A.S., Air France and Sabena—later followed suit. FLIGHT-TIME LIMITATIONS AS is usual at this time of the year, informal discussions have• been taking place between B.E.A. pilots and the Corporation about the forthcoming summer schedules. A difference of opinion has arisen concerning the maximum hours of duty that pilots can be expected to perform. Valid from April 1st the recent award of the tribunal set up by the M.T.C.A. to arbitrate on these matters limited flying hours to minima of 1,000 a year and 120 during 30 consecutive days; one-pilot duty periods, it furthermore stipulated, should not exceed 10 hr, or 9 hr with night-flying included. Reductions were recommended for "particularly exacting routes," with variations according to whether crews were composed of one or more pilots. It is on the interpretation of these reductions that differenceshave arisen, and the matter is now being discussed between B.E.A. and the British Airline Pilots' Association. Reports thatB.E.A. have proposed a hard-and-fast maximum of 16 hr duty, and that the pilots have counter-proposed with a 10 hr period,are misleading without interpretation of the reductions. The thoroughness wiih which Douglas are flight-testing the first DC-7C is apparent from this picture: the comprehensive installation of recording equipment would not be unworthy of a new prototype. 277 As recorded fast week, Mr. Anthony Milward (right) has been appointed deputy chief executive of B.E.A., responsible to Lord Douglas of Kirtleside. B.E.A. IN 1955 ALTHOUGH a complete'•*• assessment of B.E.A.'s profits cannot be madeuntil results for the full finan- cial year (i.e. up to March31st) are published in the late summer, a fair indication ofprogress may be gained from the Corporation's figures forthe calendar year 1955. The net profit was £862,000,compared with a loss of £400,000 in 1954. This figure is distinct from operating profit,since it includes allowance for capital charges, aircraft deprecia- tion, fuel tax, etc., which may amount to as much as £500,000. Itseems clear that B.E.A. are set fair to improve substantially on the last financial year's net profit of £63,000, the first in theCorporation's history. 1649As FOR L.A.I. CINCE the Lockheed L.1649A was first announced last June^ only two airlines, Air France and T.W.A., had, until recently, placed orders (accounting for 36 aircraft). This has beensurprising in view of the capabilities of the new-winged Super Constellation, and the earlier delivery that for the past fewmonths could be offered compared with the DC-7C (so far ordered by 11 operators). Air France and T.W.A. are nowjoined by the Italian transatlantic airline L.A.I, (an associate of T.W.A.) who have signed a contract with Lockheed for fourL. 1649As. Announcing the order, L.A.I.'s president, Prince Marcantonio Pacelli, said: "We made a study of all availableaircraft of all types and found that the L.1649A alone could fly Rome to New York non-stop with full loads in all seasons." WHO'S HOAXING WHO? PREDICTIONS about the future of aviation are fair gamefor flaw-finders, even when they occur in the carefully con- sidered columns of the Manchester Guardian. In an article inthat newspaper's issue for February 28th, under the strong sub- title "The Great Jet Hoax," an air correspondent implies thatthe American bid to dominate the Atlantic is not really very serious. We do not think there can be many people who believe that theseven transatlantic carriers who have ordered 707s and DC-8s did so "reluctantly," finding it "virtually impossible to have anyaccurate knowledge of which it is they will get or even when they will get it," and who "when taxed with their apparent folly. . . can only express their lack of enthusiasm in the expensive equipment they are buying ..." AERODROME OWNERS TWO points of special interest were noted during the speechesat the annual dinner of the Aerodrome Owners' Association at the Hyde Park Hotel, London, on February 23rd. One wasthe reference by Mr. John Profumo, Parliamentary Secretary, M.T.C.A., to the future role of the helicopter in Britain: "Ex-perience has shown that the helicopter does not look like being the answer to the problem of transporting people betweenLondon and its airport." By the end of this month, he said, the present experimental services will have "yielded all the informa-tion they can" and will be discontinued. The future role of the helicopter might lie in inter-city travel; perhaps "as early as1959'' we might have regular services, and experimental services in the Midlands would be carried out during the year. Provisionof a South Bank (London) helicopter site would have to abide the outcome of proposed experiments with Bristol twin-enginedhelicopters. The second significant point that arose concerned the possi-bility of a "free" Customs area at London Airport. In answer to a plea by Air Chief Marshal Sir George Pirie for a "new dealfor an outmoded Customs system," Mr. Profumo said: "We may see something soon at London Airport that you willwelcome." In the House of Commons on February 28th the Secretary tothe Treasury, Mr. Henry Brooke, said in a written reply to a question on this subject that the matter of alternative arrange-ments was being considered and the Daily Telegraph for March 5th reported that Customs officials, with representatives ofB.O.A.C. and B.E.A., were to visit the "free area" airports of Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Zurich.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
