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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0861.PDF
421 FLIGHT 10 9c I6 \ 5 I A SOUTHEND AIR TRANSPORT JAN MAR MAY JULY SEP NOV JAN MAR MAY JULY SEP NOV FEB APR JUN AUG OCT DEC FEB APR JUN AUG OCT DEC 1957 1958 Fig. 1. Passenger handling capacity rather than runway movements will limit air ferry traffic at Ferryfield and Southend. Club flying accounts for the non-commercial operations at the latter airport 35Or 325 300- 275 25O 225 O 22OC+x a % 'sou u) 125tx 5 rao 75 5O 25 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 IO II 12 13 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC FOUR-WEEKLY PERIODS 1956-1958 Fig. 4. Sharp seasonal fluctuations in traffic are not endemic to the air terries. These curves show the variations experienced by the jointly operated British Railways and S.N.C.F. ferry CHANNEL AIR FERRIES ... What is the ultimate limit to which the air ferries' capacity canbe stretched? And what establishes the limit? Silver City, who estimate that they carry 16 per cent of their year's total car trafficon the 20 peak days of the year and three-fifths of the total between Tune and September, have operated from Ferryfield as many as250 ferry services in a long summer's day. Although on these occasions the numbers of passengers handled (passenger servicesalso operate from Ferryfield but are being moved progressively to Manston, in Kent) is very large and passenger processing channelsare extremely hard-worked, the limitation on the number of book- ings that can be taken is not yet passenger or car handling capacity,the capacity of the fleet of Bristol 170s, the number of movements on the runway, or the hours of daylight (limited operations con-tinue after dark). In practice, the number of cars that can be carried is restrictedby staff available to handle car and passenger traffic. Although seasonal staff are employed, air ferrying is a specialized businessand short-term employment is generally not considered to be desirable. Crew-flight limitations must also be taken into account(six consecutive round trips a day is the working limit) and, although an eight-hour shift system is worked, there is an economiclevel beyond which it is impracticable to increase the number of shifts, particularly as the increase is needed to cover relativelyfew days in each year. Air Charter, by the same reckoning, find that their limitation isalso one of trained staff. Although they recruit temporary stewards, loaders and other handling staff (some of the positionsare popular with university students) dealing with passengers and accompanied cars requires more experience than can be obtainedby semi-casual labour recruited for the busy season, particularly since the first physical limitation to be reached is likely to bepassenger handling capacity at Southend. This can be met by an extension of the present buildings; perhaps surprisingly, in viewof the number of movements at Southend (see Fig. 1) runway and apron capacity is not a problem. Should it ever become so, thenumber of stabilized-soil runways could probably be increased, but before that need arises Air Charter may well, they say, beoperating larger aircraft. Meanwhile, the airline's short-term solution to local traffic peaksis to mount a three-shift system, to reinforce timetabled nights with additional supporting services (daily peaks occur mainly in the early morning) and if necessary to operate throughout thenight if weather delays have resulted in an accumulation of travellers at the end of one day. Such measures are exceptionaland only adopted in extremity; the high season lasts long enough for proper consideration to be given to reasonably regulated work-ing hours for the staff. Of those travellers who have to be refused a particular flight or a particular day, about 75 per cent accept analternative service, possibly starting their holiday a day or two later, on a Monday or Tuesday. It is these passengers, whosebookings are postponed or have to be refused, with which we are concerned here. Sea ferry services, on the other hand, are more likely to reachsaturation of their carrying capacity as a result of fleet limitations. Much larger capacity-units and lower frequencies inevitably meanthat there is a maximum number of trips that can be crowded into reasonable hours for travel; and the fleet must be adjusted inconsiderably greater units of capacity than is the case with the much smaller transports used by the air ferries. It follows thatless flexibility of services and timetabling is possible and, for economic operation over the whole year, the fleet capacity mustbe adjusted to operate at a satisfactory load factor having regard to the total number of cars and passengers carried throughout theyear. Inevitably the wide fluctuations in seasonal demand result in the fleet operating at load factors of up to 100 per cent andbusiness being turned away during the height of the season. The repercussion has been felt by the air ferries, whose bookings forpeak-season travel have on occasions been noticeably swollen by passengers who waited too late to take their cars by ship. Theairlines' greater flexibility allows some extra services to be mounted to meet an occasional exceptional demand. Even so,saturation point is reached by both air and sea ferries at summer weekends. An interesting comment upon the respective limitations of thesea and air ferries is that while the latter's fleets have remained almost static (Silver City: 14 Bristol 170 Mk 32, six Bristol 170Mk 21; Air Charter: eight Bristol 170 Mk 32, one Bristol 170 Mk 21), the service operated jointly by British Railways andSociete National Chemin de Fer is increasing its fleet this year. Mead of Kent, a new ship capable of carrying 180 cars, is beingcommissioned this summer. Now, however valuable a service the air ferries supply in provid-ing quick access to the Continent for drivers, passengers and cars, the service is not entirely satisfactory if it cannot accommodate <poo "§900- S-8OO - :6OO E4OO J3OO L2OO Figs. 2 (left) and 3. The size of the problem: Trebled winter loads still leave a towering summer peak. Left, Air Charter; right, Silver City (956 :- r-v 1957 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
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