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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0212.PDF
222 FLIGHT The first production de Havilland Comet 4 is rolled off the Hatfield assembly line after a weight - check. Ground- resonance tests are the next item on the pro- gramme, followed by fuel- flow checks and engine runs. First flight will take place in April, and B.O.A.C. hope to put their first Comet 4s into service on the Australian route before the end of the year. CIVIL AVIATION PROSPECTS FOR NEW YORK AIRWAYST HE effects on N.Y.A. of switching to an all-Vertol helicopterfleet have been recently described by the chairman, Mr. Robert L. Cummings, Jr. Financially, a drain on his company's capitalresources will be avoided by negotiating a $lm bank loan (equivalent to one-half the purchase cost of aircraft and spares),and selling the present fleet of five S-55s and three S-58s. Replacement of the Sikorsky fleet will double N.Y.A.'s annualseat-mile capacity from 2.5 to 5.0m. On the basis of five 15- seater aircraft, this suggests an annual utilization of the order of800 hours. The economic attraction of the Vertol—in addition to theobvious advantages of a one-type fleet of larger aircraft—is seen in Mr. Cummings' estimated cut in operating cost from 53 to35 cents per seat-mile. (These figures highlight the wide operat- ing-cost gap between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.) N.Y.A.plan to replace their Vertol 44Bs—which they describe as "interim" vehicles—with 40/50-seat twin-turbine aircraft in theearly 1960s. These are expected to operate at a cost level 25 per cent lower than that of the Vertol, and would allow N.Y.A. to befree of subsidy by 1964 "at the latest." MORE MULTIPLE COMPETITION A C.A.B. decision is imminent on whether a third airline•**• should be licensed to operate between the Great Lakes and Florida. This is the most significant route-case involving U.S.domestic trunk carriers since the New York-Florida affair just over a year ago, when Northeast were recommended to joinEastern and National on the "gravy run" linking New England and the holiday resort of Miami. The significance of that decisionlay in the Board giving the badge of approval to multiple competi- tion on north-south routes. Only with the recent meteoric rise ofFlorida as a centre for tourists and for industry has air traffic to and from this area become dense enough to convince the C.A.B.that more than two airlines can be supported on main-line routes. Eastern and Delta at present share traffic between the GreatLakes area and Miami, and although these two airlines are not the closest of company, they agree that a third would make acrowd. Delta feel that the public need would be best served by an extension of their north-south network to include Detroit.Also, Delta's spokesman claims that both his company and Eastern "are going to have their hands full absorbing the impactof integrating jet aircraft on the north-south routes." Leading contenders for the award are Capital, National, North-west, T.W.A., and United. Capital seek to operate between Buffalo and Miami, and claim that this would lessen their depend-ence on non-tourist traffic. But Capital's financial difficulties go deeper than appears from their counsel's statement that "on week-ends and holidays we lose our shirts." Bearing in mind the sub- sidy considerations that affected the C.A.B. in selecting Northeastin the earlier route-case, the threatened need to subsidize Capital must weigh upon Board opinion. National, wishing to link both Chicago and Buffalo to Miami,have shown that this is "... the largest two-carrier route in the country ... two and a half times as large as the next largest (Hous-ton-New York)." Northwest sadly remind the Board that omission to add any new metropolitan points to their network for manyyears has seen them eclipsed by National and Delta, two airlines which eight years ago were together smaller than Northwest. Acertificate for this route would enable one-carrier service between the West Coast and the South East to be offered for the first time.The advantages of one-carrier service are also stressed by T.W.A. and United, intermediate stops on the route allowing a wide rangeof intercontinental connections. Capitol Airways (not to be confused with Capital Airlines) arepleading for low-fare services between Chicago and Miami. This non-scheduled carrier is based at Nashville, Tennessee, and oper-ates a fleet of sixteen C-46s and one L.749. Various local-service carriers have drawn the Board's attention to the need to avoidcausing damage to the basis of their rather precarious economic position. SIR GEORGE IN AMERICA TOURING his recent visit to Canada and the U.S.A., Sir George•*-' Edwards, managing director of Vickers-Armstrongs (Air- craft), Ltd., came out with some quotable remarks about thepurpose of his business. At a Press conference in New York he was reported as quipping that in the U.S.A. he had met "a setof unwilling natives ... it is only the constant eroding effect of water on a stone which encourages me to go on." In theViscount 790 (the local-service Viscount) he had a product designed for the job. But it was the same old story, "having to wait forthe truth to be exposed," and no one had yet been found to buy it. But he was very optimistic. Asked whether he thought British aircraft manufacturers withgood products lost to the Americans because of the latter's high- pressure salesmanship, Sir George diplomatically replied: It is good to see yet another new Viscount in the markings of a British independent airline. Here, in scheduled service from Manchester to Hamburg and Copenhagen, is "The Enterprise," the first of Eagle's two 805s. They are fitted out for 70 passengers. Other inde- pendents now operating Viscounts are Airwork, Hunting-Clan, and Transair.
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