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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0774.PDF
FLIGHT, 20 March 1959 377 AIR COMMERCE . . . 2,250 2,000 0 1,750 0S 1,500 X - 1,250 in «• WOO LJ S 750 y S 500 Sharing the North Atlantic Cake TTHREE features of the North Atlantic market in 1958 stand outA prominently: for the first time ever, air traffic exceeded sea traffic; and for the first time in any year scheduled traffic exceededone million passengers and total traffic carried by all airlines rose to an all-time record of some li million passengers. Yet, despitethese traffic gains, profits probably fell to an all-time low. The bare facts for 1958—as outlined in Flight for February 20—were that air traffic increased by 23 per cent. (As seating rose by as much as 35 per cent, seat load-factor fell from 67 to 61 per cent.)Sea traffic, on the other hand, dropped by 10 per cent. Total sea and air traffic across the North Atlantic has increasedat a fairly steady post-war rate of 15 per cent per annum. But air traffic over the past four years has accelerated to an annualgrowth rate of 20 per cent while sea traffic has tailed off. European airlines have participated most favourably in this increasedmarket for air travel, the share of the North American carriers having declined to 46 per cent. With the exception of the twoyears 1954 and 1955 (when B.O.A.C. traffic was depressed as a result of equipment shortage), the North American share of theNorth Atlantic market has fallen steadily throughout the post- war period. In the last few years this has been a reflection on theslow rate of growth experienced by T.W.A. rather than on a rapid development by the European carriers. Two of the major European airlines—B.O.A.C. and S.A.S.— The growth of North Atlantic and sea and air traffic 250 '——~ .—^" —••"" — TOTAL TRAFFIC(cr-A AMn Mri\ S' SEA TRAFF"1" have done particularly well of late, and if recent trends continuethe British carrier should soon supplant T.W.A. as the No. 2 North Atlantic carrier. It is possible, indeed, that B.O.A.C. areovertaking T.W.A. just about now. Among the smaller airlines, Alitalia L.A.I, and El Al did,remarkably well last year, each more than doubling the previous year's level of traffic. Two new carriers—Aerlinte Eireann andQantas—appeared on the Atlantic in 1958. The Irish airline moved quickly to capture as many as 11,000 passengers in theirfirst year's operation; but their load factor, alas, was only 38 per cent. The Irish airline may have lost nearly £lm (seethe following page: "Boeing 720s for Aerlinte"). 300 — PAN AM. 1354 1955 1356 1957 1958 Above, comparative growths of the "big ten" Below, comparative growths of the "small seven" 1946 1948 1050 1952 1954 1956 1958 1954 1955 1956 1957 ALITALIA IBERIA AERLINTE -QANTAS 1958 A DAY WITH THE BURGHERS WHEN Air Charter's DC-4 G-ANYB (Capt. R. Langley)and Mk 32 Bristol 170 G-ANVS (Capt. H. McDonnell) touched down on Calais-Marck's new 4,300ft runway on March 10they initiated what looks like being a record-breaking experiment of allowing foot passengers (so to speak) to use the Channel AirBridge. In other words, the Home Office having recently given its blessing to no-passport day trips by air, the company haddecided to utilize vacant seats in their nine car-carrying Freighters for the purpose; and so instantaneous and overwhelming was theresponse that they have had to press one of their three trooping DC-4s into service to take the overflow, the lengthening of theMarck runway now making this possible. By the date of last week's inaugural service they had already accepted nearly 9,000reservations. Some 75 per cent are for staff outings, from London and from provincial areas. Subject to seasonal variation, services will leave Southend at0800, 0940 and 1120 hr, returning from Calais at 1720, 1900 and 2040. London passengers leave Euston Coach Station, have a90-min run to Southend Airport and pay 77s 6d for the return trip, while those who start from Southend pay only 70s (plus,in each case, the usual 2s airport tax, looming annoyingly large in relation to such modest fares). Air Charter advertise "specialarrangements for staff outings and works parties." They have also entered into an agreement with the GeneralSteam Navigation Co. whereby the trip can be outward by air and home by sea or (clearly a headache for the traffic staff) viceversa. Return by sea should also simplify the problem presented by the occasional day-tripper overcome by the delights of Calais—though Air Charter expect little trouble of this kind, especially if all their passengers are as eminently respectable as those oflast week. The Freighters have been fitted for up to 24 seats, and the DC-4,which will be put on when necessary, for up to 74. As Flight found on the inaugural trip with 70 rearward-facing seats in thefour-engined aircraft this is no hardship on a 28-minute (chock- to-chock) haul. Airborne time for the crossing is in the region of21 minutes. On this first trip the DC-4 was occupied mainly by Fleet Street;in the Freighter were 21 genuine passportless passengers, who emerged at Calais-Marck to find themselves the centre of a full-scale flowers-and-flashlights reception, with civic hospitality to follow for the rest of the day. At thQrJransport Ministry on March 9 the Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. John Hay, presented Queen's Commendations for Valuable Services in the Air to (I. to r.): Capt. P. J. McKeown, B.E.A., training captain, Viscount 802s; Capt. H. J. Field, B.O.A.C., special duties; Mr. C. W. Rodgers, B.E.A senior radio officer; Capt. A. Meagher, B.O.A.C., deputy flight manager, Britannia 312s; Mr. R. Miller, B.O.A.C., senior radio officer
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