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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0060.PDF
FLIGHT •s-.-t - CIVIL AVIATION . . . TO THE CONTINENT—BY CAR FERRY INTER cheer for car-owners who are contemplating takingtheir vehicles to the Continent during the coming year is provided by Silver City's announcement of fare reductions ontheir cross-Channel services. With the assurance of the French Government that ample petrol—88 gallons per car—is to beallowed to visitors, Silver City can expect to carry a record num- ber of travel-hungry passengers in 1957. Similar petrol-alloca-tion arrangements for tourists are also being made in Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal. The Silver City car ferry,in spite of the increasing expansion of the Roadair service (which trebled in size in October) is still regarded by the company astheir primary service. The new vehicle fares have been arranged in three grades.The highest, "A" rates—still cheaper than the 1956 fares— apply to the week-end rushes in mid-season and will be in forcefor a total of 46 days of 1957. "B" fares—on 102 days of the year—are charged for mid-week summer travel during the busyseason, and "C"-grade rates (the lowest) will apply to all flights during the remaining 31 weeks of the year. As the vehicle faresvary proportionately with overall length and the particular cross- Channel route—Ferryfield - Le Touquet, Ferryfield - Ostend,and Southampton to Deauville or Cherbourg—it is difficult to quote any particular fare; but the single-fare reductions rangefrom 10s to £9 10s and the off-peak fares have been "more generously distributed." The new rates are the result of expand-ing operations by Silver City over several years and were planned some time before petrol rationing was contemplated in Britain. The busiest cross-Channel route is the short and very popularFerryfield - Le Touquet service: sixty flights a day in each direc- tion, with extra flights available if necessary, are scheduled forthe summer. The Ferryfield - Calais service does not lag far behind. High-season frequencies of this order underline the verysevere seasonal traffic problem with which Silver City is faced. As their traffic is composed so largely of holidaymakers it dwindlesseverely in the winter season. Yet the company say that at peak periods, such as August Bank Holiday, they could use three timestheir present fleet of Bristol Freighters. The apparently obvious solution—the operation of a 24-hour, round-the-clock service—isout of reach. Although both Le Touquet and Ferryfield are equipped for night-flying, aircraft cannot be operated by casuallabour, and the employment of the full complement of airport staff is a recurrent winter problem. Part of the company's formula for successful operation hasbeen to increase the fleet, yet annual utilizations of 1,000 hours are currently being achieved. Five new Mk 32s were added in1956, but as two of these only came into operation at the very end of the year they will contribute to an increased effective strengthof 21 aircraft—14 of which are Mk 32s—in 1957. All the air- craft are allocated primarily to carry passengers and cars on the airferries; only when it has been definitely established that the capacity will not be required is an aircraft made available to thefreight manager for allocation to the secondary role of cargo operations. More aircraft will require additional crews to fly the summerservices; but the nature of the cross-Channel operations means that the men concerned can base themselves in the Ferryfieldarea and live at home each night of the week: Silver City do not think that extra crews will be difficult to find. Within a service so beset with seasonal variations there isconsiderable scope for efficient administration. That this is present in ample measure in the company organization is evidentfrom the increasing business—both vehicle and mixed-freight— that is being obtained and the reduced vehicle fares that are beingoffered. Even so, the centralization of the administration sections in the new building being built in Knightsbridge, London, shouldmake the task of efficient organization considerably more convenient. ... OR BY COACH-AIR-RAIL TNTRODUCTION by Skyways of new coach-air routes to•*• the Continent (the subject of a Brevity on these pages last week) offers point-to-point fares that are competitive with anyother method of travel. Apart from the London - Lympne - Lyons - Nice route—which has recently received provisionalapproval and will be the first to come into service—Skyways' coach-air-service aircraft will fly to Vichy and Valence, and thevery successful London-Paris operation will be continued with frequencies stepped-up to 16 return services a day at peakperiods. Another company offering "startlingly economical" air-and-surface travel to the Continent is Air Kruise, who have announced a new "Blue Arrow" coach-air-rail service from London to theCote d'Azur, Italy, Costa Brava, Spain and the French Alps. A coach feeder-service will be operated from London to Ferryfield,to connect with the company's Arrow Class air service to Lyons. From the French air terminal the journey will be continued onthe Rapide railway network. The return fare to Nice, for example—the single journey will take about 12 hours by thisAir Kruise service—is not expected to be more than £20. Pro- visional approval has been obtained for the "Blue Arrow" ser-vice, which is expected to start in March and function—at varying frequencies—all the year round. BREVITIES Aerovias Ecuatorianas (A.R.E.A.) has ordered a Fairchild F-27 Friendship. It is the first South American airline to do so. * * * It is reported from Australia that a 10,000ft runway is to be built on Easter Island. * * * Air Kruise carried 19,010 inclusive-tour passengers in August. During the complete year, the total reached 75,000. The previous year's figure was 44,000. * * * A C.A.B. examiner has recommended that a polar route to Europe from Los Angeles and San Francisco be authorized for T.W.A. and PanAm. * * * Mr. G. W. W. Dodd has been appointed sales promotionmanager at B.O.A.C.'s head office. He was formerly district sales manager in Toronto. * * * An agreement has been signed in Rio de Janeiro between Japan and Brazil, who are planning to link the two countries with direct airline connections. * * * A new scale of pay affecting pilots employed by eleven indepen- dent operators has been awarded by an industrial court. The rates vary from £850 a year for Grade H pilots to £2,750 a year for Grade A. * * * .:.-.•:: • r. Comments are invited from pilots using two prototype high-intensity angle of approach indicators which are to be sited on the left-hand side of the 26 runway at Bournemouth (Hum). Theywill be at 1,000 and 500ft from the threshold. * * * ~':.u:.% — A proposal for air services between Colombo and Canton is being negotiated between the Ceylon and Chinese Governments.Air Ceylon's profits for the next financial year are estimated to be about Rs 300,000. The airline's finances are stated to be "verystable." * * * M. Bernard Duperier, whose office is in Paris, has been appointed a consultant to Boeing's transport division. * * * The Civil Aviation Administration of China claim to have had seven accident-free years. * * * Dr. Kenneth Bergin, M.A., M.D., D.P.H., F.R.Ae.S., B.O.A.C.'s Medical Superintendent, Air Services, has been appointed chief medical officer of the Corporation. * * * Since its first flight on October 22 the first Lockheed L-1649Super Star Constellation has , logged more than 125 flyinghours. First commercial de- livery is scheduled for April(T.W.A.) followed by Air France in June; output isbeing set at seven aircraft per month. Mr. J. R. T. Bradford, O.B.E., T.D., A.F.R.Ae.S., has been appointed by Bristol Aero Engines Ltd., to undertake mar- ket research concerned with airline operating statistics. He will be directly responsible to B.A.C. director Dr. Hooker.
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