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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0256.PDF
256 FLIGHT, 19 February ] AIR COMMERCE . . . A 707 FOR PIAA S announced on these pages last week, Pakistan International• Airlines are to lease a toeing 707 from PanAm with which to operate a service between Karachi and London. Teheran, Beirutand Rome will be served en route. The arrangements which govern this lease are advantageous toPIA in a number of respects. In the first place, the 707 will be' used by Pakistan on what is termed a trip-lease basis. In otherwords, both airlines will initially be using the same aircraft, and for a period while PIA crews and technical staff are trained, the707 will operate over the London - Pakistan route flown by a PanAm crew and in PanAm colours, but with Pakistani cabinstaff. Maintenance will be carried out by PanAm, who will charge PIA at a rate based on hours flown. This phase of theoperation will cover one return service a week and will last until October. In the second phase, when three 707 return services a week willbe operated by PIA, pilots and flight engineers now receiving training in the US should have been checked out by the FAA andwill be available to operate the aircraft. The trip-lease arrange- ment was agreed to by PanAm so that PIA could take earlyadvantage of a jet service without curtailing existing services or overstraining its financial or manpower resources. The Pakistanairline also suggest that the arrangement will give them more time to become conversant with jet operations and to assess the type ofaircraft that in two or three years' time they may want to consider for domestic operation. In the meantime, Super Constellationsreleased from international services will provide additional capa- city between the east and west wings of Pakistan. There seems little question that PIA might place early orders forBoeing 707s. In the words of Air Commodore Mohd Nur Khan, the airline's managing director, "PIA is not in a position at themoment to purchase its own jets. The capital outlay is very large. Moreover, delivery time from most manufacturers is abouteighteen months, which would leave us far behind." Nevertheless the lease arrangement does provide for the purchase of the aircraftfrom PanAm, and a price adjustment would be made to take account of past payments. PIA are reported to be paying a sum in the region of $50,000per round trip for the aircraft; they do not confirm this, but say that a figure has been calculated so that they will break even withan average load of 47 passengers (39 per cent load factor) plus "normal" mail and freight. Relevant to the PanAm-Pakistan deal is a comment in the latestMarket Report issued by Aircraft Exchange. It states that smaller scheduled airlines are finding the need for early delivery of turbineaircraft, whilst some of the larger airlines are making "minor adjustments" to their existing turbine fleets. The Exchange offersits assistance in the matching of this supply and demand. SPRINGBOK'S UPS AND DOWNS SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS' Viscount fleet, introduced inDecember 1958, has brought a spectacular improvement to the airline's finances on internal and regional services. But its inter-national flights are losing money. Figures given by D. C. H. du Plessis, South Africa's general manager of railways, harboursand airways, show that in the seven months from April to October last year, SAA's internal flights produced a profit of £138,000—£104,000 higher than the results for the same period in 1958. Revenues were up and expenditure was down, although there wasa small loss on coach services. The Springbok service to London during the same period,however, lost nearly £103,900, compared with a loss for the whole financial year 1958/59 of £59,000 and a profit for the previousyear of £283,000. Mr du Plessis gave as the reason for this decline the economic recession, but he said that the general upward economic trend was expected to be reflected in increased trafgrand he reiterated SAA's intention of going it alone on economy fares if I ATA has not agreed to them by the time that SAA'sBoeing 707 fleet was in operation. Of the unprofitable domestic coach services, the general manager said that there was no ques ionof withdrawing them because of initial losses; the new service needed time to build up patronage and he was hopeful of theprospects. GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS IN the House of Commons on February 8 the Ministei ofAviation, Duncan Sandys, said that he was "considering an application" from BEA for permission to operate a few scheduledservices from London Airport at night with the Comet 4B. Be-ore coming to a decision, he said, he had asked for noise trials to beheld, fold by Anthony Royle (Con., Richmond, Surrey) that this statement would cause "widespread dismay" among thousands ofresidents living within ten miles of London Airport, Mr Sandys said, "I do not see why it should cause dismay to learn that I havedecided to have noise tests before coming to a decision." Obviously, the ordering of a noise test is one of the motionsthrough which the Minister must go before he inevitably permits jet take-offs from London Airport at night. Once permission hasDeen granted to BEA's Cornet 4Bs permission for BOAC must follow, and then for the foreign jet operators who will be puttingjets through London Airport this summer and who may wish to schedule outside waking hours. It is understood that BEA have already been told that, based onthe approach and climb-out techniques proposed for the Comet 4B, there will be no restriction on BEA Comet 4B flights fromLondon Airport, provided there is compliance with the procedures agreed with the Minister. On the strength of this, BEA's advancesummer schedules, released last week, include 16 Comet 4B move- ments a week between 2300hr and 0700hr. Footnote: A Notam published by the Swedish Board for Civil Avia-tion on February 6 stated: "With immediate effect, take-offs with large turbojet aircraft, e.g., Caravelle and Comet, from Stockholm;Bromma Airport is prohibited between 2115hr and 0500hr GMT. Exceptionally, take-offs for test flights . . . may take place between0400 and 0500hr," after which a report in writing must be made tu the airport manager on the same day. HERMES NEW LOOK 'PRIMROSE headlining and pale azure-blue roof panels . ..•'• charcoal-grey kicking panels and soft grey walls ... coral-red window surrounds and an old-gold carpet . . ." These rapturousphrases, which nevertheless fairly describe their subject, come from a brochure describing the cabins of the two Hermes 4soperated by Bahamas Airways (see picture). As explained in Flight of January 29, these two aircraft are now in service on therich routes linking the Bahamas with Miami and other points in Florida. They will soon be competing on the Miami - Nassauroute with Viscount 700s of Eagle Airways Bahamas, and the competition will be tough. But the veteran four-engined pistontransports have been completely restyled to appeal to the American market and the renovation, the work of Skyways (to whichBahamas Airways, through Eric Rylands, is related) is worth putting on record. As originally used by BOAC, the Hermes was a 56-seater. Itwas subsequently modified by Skyways to a 68-seater with an empty weight of 52,8501b. In its new configuration as a 78-seaterit weighs only 52,6031b. The weight-saving has been accomplished mainly by removal of the pressurization system (its new Bahamasroutes are short-haul), though air-conditioning is, of course, retained. In order to meet ARB requirements for increased seatingcapacity, a large emergency escape exit has been introduced on the starboard rear side. A galley and a compact cocktail bar, bothnew, are styled in dove grey and red. Seat pitch is generally 36in (in some cases 39in) and the seats are covered in alternating colour For services from the Bahamas, Skyways have extensively modified two Hermes 4s, equipping them with 76 seats, a new interior and galley and reducing the airframe empty weight. See "Hermes New Look"
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