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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0331.PDF
14 March 1958 347 20th Century Fox to carry personnel on location in French Equatorial Africa.The two Fison-Airwork aircraft were those originally ordered by Transportes Aereos y Enlaces. Scottish Aviation has re-openednegotiations with T.A.E. on the sale of three aircraft for Spanish internal services. BRITISH AIRPORT TRAFFIC IN 1957 BRITISH airports handled seven million passengers, 153,382tons of freight and 18,196 tons of mail in 1957. Passenger traffic grew fastest, increasing by 16 per cent over the figure for1956; freight increased by only 4 per cent; while mail fell by 2 per cent (the volume of mail had also fallen in 1956 by 2 per cent).The number of passengers using London Airport increased from 3 million to 3J million per annum, yet the proportion ofthis airport's traffic to the national total fell from 60 to 55 per cent. The next three airports in order of passengers handled were, inboth years, Jersey, Manchester and Glasgow, traffic at each stand- ing at about -km passengers in 1957. Belfast, Prestwick andRonaldsway (Isle of Man) each handled about 250,000 in 1957. Whereas traffic increased at each airport in the first group of threeat rates above London Airport's rate of 15 per cent, that for each of the three in the second group grew only by about 6 per cent.The only other airports to handle over 100,000 passengers last year were (traffic in thousands): Blackbushe, 215; Guernsey, 200;Ferryfield, 190; Birmingham, 183; Liverpool, 150; Southend, 139; Southampton, 112; Edinburgh, 112. In this last group the fastesttraffic-growth was experienced by Blackbushe (33 per cent) and Southend (78 per cent), and the slowest rate of growth by Liverpool(5 per cent). Listed in order of freight tonnage handled in 1957 (includingvehicles), Ferryfield led with 52,063 short-tons, a fall of 7 per cent on 1956. London Airport's freight traffic rose from 44,508 to50,033 tons. Third in importance was Southend, freight tonnage having increased by 56 per cent from 12,722 to 19,756 tons.In both 1956 and 1957 these three airports together handled about 80 per cent of the national total freight tonnage. The next threeairports are Southampton (7,974 tons), Manchester (6,796 tons), and Croydon (5,424 tons), together handling 13 per cent of thenational total. (Southampton's traffic fell by 557 tons.) The only other airports that handled over 1,000 tons in 1957 were Jersey,Belfast, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Prestwick and Guernsey. Of these, only Jersey experienced appreciable increase over its 1956 total,while Belfast and Guernsey showed significant falls. Stansted's freight tonnage fell by more than half from 1,821 tons in 1956to 855 tons last year. Six-tenths of total mail in 1957 was handled at London Airport(11,017 tons), a further three-tenths being recorded at Manchester (2,762 tons), Belfast (1,891 tons) and Liverpool (853 tons). Theonly other airports handling large volumes of mail were Glasgow (501 tons), Croydon (263 tons) and Jersey. COMPETITION IN THE COMMONWEALTH A CLEAR trend is increasingly evident in the Commonwealthtowards regulated competition of air transport. While not always starting from the same point—indeed, Canada andAustralia until recently appeared poles apart—the Dominions have in recent years been experiencing conditions which pointtowards a regulated form of competition. The main two such conditions are the growth of air traffic and the long-term improve-ment in airline economics. This new environment, by encouraging the advent of private enterprise, has exposed both the inadequaciesinherent in monopoly and the perils of unbridled competition. No more detailed statement on the changing Commonwealthattitude has been given than the recent utterance by the Hon. George Hees, Canada's Federal Minister of Transport, inwhich he described the Progressive Conservative policy on air transport. Mr. Hees has distinguished between intercontinental, trans-continental (between Canada's east and west coasts), trans-border (short routes to the U.S.);, and short domestic services. In the intercontinental field the fact of foreign competition Worth watching closely is East Germany's BB.152 short-haul jet air- liner, which is due to fly in May. This display model offers the first three-dimensional appraisal of the aircraft. Gross weight will be about 102^00 Ib at take-oft; power is provided by four "014" turbojets of about 7,000 Ib thrust each; and a maximum of 72 passengers can be carried over stages of up to 1,800 st. miles at 525 m.p.h. A novel feature is the tandem undercarriage, the rear unit of which permits the aircraft to "sit down" when unstick speed is attained. The BB.152 is intended for the East German Lufthansa, but its makers say that it will be offered for sale to the West "at competitive prices." eliminates the need for Canadian carriers to compete against eachother. In the past, every international route not specifically allo- cated to C.P.A. was reserved for T.C.A. In the future, eachapplication for scheduled services on an intercontinental route will be treated on its merits, subject to the avoidance of duplica-tion of services by Canadian airlines. As regards transcontinental routes, the Air Transport Board has been instructed to proceedwith a public hearing "on the general need for additional trans- continental air services." The evidence from the hearing will befortified by an economic report on this matter prepared by Mr. Stephen Wheatcroft. Armed with this information, the AirTransport Board will be in a position to decide upon the most appropriate treatment for individual route applications. Whereas the trans-border services are economically attractive,the short internal services are seldom self-sufficient. Government policy will be to arrange for newly licensed transcontinental carriersto accept certain short-haul routes. All trans-border services are at present operated by T.C.A., but in the future "the most suitableCanadian carrier" will be selected. Negotiations between the Canadian Government and the C.A.B. are imminent, and will beaimed at further expansion of Canada - U.S. routes, development in which the C.A.B. has in the past shown surprisingly littleinterest. The philosophy behind the new Canadian policy is that whichunderlies the latest developments on the Australian scene. The Civil Aviation Agreement Act, 1957, passed last December, "isdesigned to provide fair and equal conditions of competition for Australia's two major domestic airline operators, T.A.A. andAnsett-A.N.A." Prior to this agreement a strange situation obtained. Under legislation passed in 1952, the privately ownedA.N.A. received the same government assistance as the State- owned T.A.A. The price paid for this assistance—guaranteedloans, reduced landing charges, access to mail and government traffic—was that the services of each airline would be rationalized,and that in the event of a dispute the decision of an independent arbitrator would be accepted by both parties. But between 1952and 1955 the volume of traffic carried by T.A.A. and A.N.A. showed little change, most of the extra traffic being borne byAnsett and Butler. These two airlines had introduced tourist- class fares on trunk routes and, not being parties to the rationaliza-tion agreement, were able to capture traffic from the two larger carriers. T.A.A.'s position was strengthened by acquisition of Viscounts,but A.N.A.'s finances steadily deteriorated. The gravity of this situation was revealed last June when A.N.A. defaulted in repay-ment of loans and interest charges due to the Commonwealth In "Flight" of October 4, 1957, one of the most promising solutions to the problem of big-jet terminal-behaviour was described. It was a wheel-power-unit, or more neatly "wheel-mover," for clipping to Boeing 707s and DC-8s to permit them to be taxied around—by the pilot—with engines off. Here the unit is seen attached to the proto- type Boeing 707, which, it is claimed, was successfully put through a series of the most intricate manoeuvres at Seattle. The wheel-mover is by Consolidated Diesel Electric Corporation of Stamford, Conn., U.S.A.
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