FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1573.PDF
fUGHT, 25 October 1957 CIVIL 4VIATI0N MIAMI TALKS POSTPONED 661 HOWEVER high feelings at I.A.T.A. traffic-fare conferencesmay run, the airlines have never permitted their discussionsto break down, for to do so would mean that fare-fixing would pass into the hands of governments, a prospect which fills everyI.A.T.A. airline with horror. Thus when points of view are widely divergent, and negotiations particularly difficult—as theyhave been at the recent traffic conference at Miami—the airlines (in the words of the conference chairman, Mr. Gordon M. Bain,sales vice-president of Northwest Airlines), take a breathing spell in their negotiations and attack the problem again later. The stumbling-block at the Miami conference, as expected,has been (we quote I.A.T.A.) "practical difficulties involved in determining the service pattern for the North Atlantic route.There is no disagreement in the intention of starting the new low-fare service which was adopted by the 1956 traffic conferenceat Cannes; there are differences as to the conditions of this service and its relation to the other classes of service on this route.""Complete agreement" on cargo rates was, however, reached. The conference remained in session until the end of lastweek to complete the remainder of the fare negotiations, but further discussions on North Atlantic fares were postponed untilNovember 19 in Paris. At the 1956 Cannes conference, the airlines left undecided thestandards of service to be offered with the thrift-class fares that it was agreed (not without initial dissent) should be introduced onthe North Atlantic in April 1958. They left open too the relation- ship of these new thrift-class fares to the remainder of the farestructure. But it is not the complexity of a three-tier structure, with its intricate sales and planning problems, that—not to mincewords—has caused the Miami conference to be abandoned. At Cannes, the introduction of third-class fares, urged by the C.A.B.,seemed to be bold, wise planning. Now the airlines, having had a year in which to measure slender profit-margins against ambitiousre-equipment programmes, and having found that the C.A.B. will not grant their request for an emergency five per centtransatlantic increase, are apparently wary of introducing third- class fares on too big a scale. Although the third-class fare levelis not in itself in jeopardy, resolution of the way in which it will be applied seems likely to test the cohesion of I.A.T.A. to anunprecedented extent. VISCOUNTS ON SAFARI AS previously recorded, Airwork and Hunting-Clan have now•**• introduced Viscounts on to the Colonial-coach Safari ser- vices to East and Central Africa. The first service, which estab-lished a new and brighter era for Britain's privately operated scheduled public services, left London Airport at 10 p.m. onOctober 17 bound for Nairobi. The following night the first Viscount service departed for Salisbury. Considering that neither Airwork nor Hunting-Clan hadViscounts available when the Government announced its change of policy concerning these routes last June, the two independentshave been quick to get Viscount services established. Hunting- Clan, as previously recorded in Flight, will replace Vikings withthe three Viscount 732s leased to Middle East Airlines and returned earlier this month. The aircraft have been refurbishedand equipped as 53-seaters. At the present time it is not certain which Viscounts will operate in Airwork colours, but it is prob-able that the airline is considering the lease, for the time being, Restrained and elegant, as befits a toyal apartment, is the interior of the DC-7C used by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for their visit to Canada and the U.S.A. This fine conversion is the work of B.O.A.C. of the two Fred Olsen 736s recently returned by their lesseesB.W.I.A. and M.E.A. The fares will remain the same as the existing Viking fares,but—in order to maintain the same capacity, as specified by the government—frequency will be reduced to twice-weekly to EastAfrica and once-weekly to Central Africa. Thus low-fare com- petition with B.O.A.C.'s Britannia services will still be restrictedin terms of capacity and speed (there will still be night-stops), but no longer in terms of comfort. B.O.A.CS BRITANNIA PROGRAMME '"THE outcome of Bristol's examination of the two Proteus 755s•*• removed from Britannia 312 G-AOVB at Miami earlier this month, and flown back to England, is that the engines—as firstthought—did in fact suffer contraction of the compressor casings. It will be recalled that the aircraft had to feather Nos. 2 and 4engines during a proving flight from New York on September 30 after experiencing a sudden change of ambient temperature. Thecontraction caused rubbing of the blades, and as expected, the Bristol modification has involved cropping of the blades by O.Olin.G-AOVB's engines have been thus treated, and it is expected that within the next week the aircraft will be able to resume itsprogramme of proving flights on the eastern seaboard of America. B.O.A.C. intend that it will be based on New York to make prov-ing flights either to the Caribbean or north to the Newfoundland area in accordance with the Corporation's original plans.Britannia 312 transatlantic proving flights between the U.K. and the U.S.A. will be resumed also, and there is no change inB.O.A.C.'s intention to inaugurate scheduled services "within the first three months of 1958." The blade-cropping modification applies to all existing 755s,but not, it is understood, to the 705 engines of the Britannia 102 fleet. It seems that the compressor casings of the 755 series,having a higher magnesium content than the 705 casings, have a different expansion differential. Modification to production-line755s was under way before the Miami experience. Visiting Short Bros and Harland to discuss applications of Bristol engines with Shorts' chief project engineer, Mr. F. H. Robertson: (left to right) G/C. Donald Black, Mr. Neville Quinn, Mr. Gordon Lewis and, extreme right, Mr. A. Reid. Mr. Robertson is a frequent contributor to "Flight" on the subject of the turboprop and its merits.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
