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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0292.PDF
292 FLIGHT, 26 February 196( On flight test from Wisley is the first of fj,e six Viscount 837s for Austrian Airlines, ti *jj| be officially handed over in Vienna on March 4 AIR COMMERCE DC-8s DELAYEDR EPORTS that delays have occurred in Douglas' delivery pro-gramme for the intercontinental DC-8 have recently been confirmed by the manufacturer. At least three carriers are affectedby the new schedule: SAS, Alitalia and Eastern, who expected delivery of their third aircraft only three days before their NewYork/Miami service was due to begin on February 14. The delays are due to the modification programme that Douglas haveintroduced to improve the performance of intercontinental models and which includes the revised wing tips of 16in greater span andwing slots. FOR SALE: UAT's DC-8s ' I 'HE French independent airline Union Aeromaritime de Trans--"• port, Flight understands, is now trying to dispose of the two DC-8s which it ordered in November 1956. Among the airlineswhich have been approached, so far without success, is El Al. Delivery to UAT of their DC-8s (JT4-powered) is due to startin June. The contract, originally for three but cut to two by the French Government in 1957, has been reported as worth £3.93m.Last autumn Roger Loubry, a director of UAT, confirmed for Flight (November 6, page 491) reports that his airline had beenstudying the Comet 4C, which he said appeared to meet UATs requirements for a jet that would operate from African airportsthat the big jets could not use. It may be fair speculation that UAT—like SAA—have beenseriously concerned, too, about the size of big jets as matched to the African-European routes. There is the further considerationthat DC-8 speed and range-payload capabilities are (see above) below expectations, though Flight understands that it is mainlyon account of size and hot-and-high runway performance that UAT are having second thoughts about the DC-8. BOEING WILL PAY IT is understood that Boeing will assume financial Lability forthe changes ordered to be incorporated in all 707s now in service. This significant fact is not readily apparent from thewording of the Boeing statement last week, which says that "kits of parts will be furnished." Parts will be supplied free, thoughlabour costs will be borne by the operators. The changes, as expected, are those being made to the BOAC-420s at the request of the ARB. They include a 35in fin-tip extension, full rudder boost (at present only beyond 15°) and thesmall ventral fin. Tex Johnston, Boeing's chief of flight test, told Flight last weekthat these improvements are "state of the art" developments deemed necessary in the first instance by Boeing, and not as theresult of ARB requirements. UK AIRPORTS IN THE REDH EAVY deficiencies in the cost of running Britain's airports arerevealed in the aerodrome accounts just published in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report.* After paying £2|minterest on capital there was a loss of £6,366,247 on the 26 aero- dromes operated by the Ministry; not one operated at a profit.Of this total, losses at London (revenue £3|m, expenditure nearly £6m), Prestwick (revenue £0.6m, expenditure £l.lm), andGatwick (revenue £180,000, expenditure £l.lm) accounted for over half; the eight social-service aerodromes in Scotland—whichthe Ministry do not hope to make pay—lost rather under £jm) and the other 15 aerodromes accounted for the remainder. Of these latter, the loss on Stansted—which is held in reserveas an auxiliary to London's airports—was particularly heavy (£215,976) and it is not expected that this airport will becomeself-supporting; the future of Blackpool is under discussion; Croydon (on which the loss was £134,233) has been closed; andBlackbushe is to follow. "'Trading Accounts and Balance Sheets 1958-59." HMSO, price 8s. Westland's heliport at Battersea, London, was last week granted a night-flying licence. Variable-intensity floodlights and perimeter lights were supplied by GEC to MoA recommendations and are supplemented by a 12-degree angle-ot-approach indicator. An average of 200 movements a month is anticipated this year On the aerodromes which the Ministry hope eventually to makeself-supporting (14 when Blackbushe is closed), the loss in the financial year ending March 31, 1959, was then £5.4m. By far thelargest items of expenditure is on salaries and depreciation and, in general, most of the revenue comes from landing fees and apronservice charges; the 7s 6d service charge on international pas- sengers, the only other items of income related to traffic volume,is insignificant by comparison. Revenue from incidental services is still disappointingly smallOf the total revenue of £3|m at London Airport, revenue from concessions accounted for less than 6 per cent, while at Gatwickand Prestwick the percentage was even less. Income from another source of incidental revenue—the airport visitor—accounted forless than 3 per cent of earnings. Relatively, it was slightly higher at Prestwick than it was at London. BEA BRINGS HOME THE DOLLARS 'TICKET sales in North America bring BEA—and the Treasury-*• —annual earnings of about $6m for an expenditure of about one-tenth of this amount, including commissions to agents. BEA'sCanadian business is worth about $800,000 a year and that from the US West Coast about $200,000 a month. Further indirectdollar earnings come from sales to North American visitors after they have arrived in Europe. These figures were given by Lord Douglas, chairman of BEA,after his recent visit to the US and Canada, during which he opened a new BEA sales office in Los Angeles and visited manu-facturers on the US west coast. Commenting on his impressions, Lord Douglas remarked thatthe corporation would "quite soon" have to order a small number of S-61s or Vertol 107s "or the equivalent Bristol 192Cs," butbefore that "the difficult question of how such operations are to be financed would have to be resolved." Of short-haul jets he said"Investigations which have been made, particularly by Boeing, have produced answers closely similar to those reached byde Havilland in their discussions with BEA about the D.H.121 over the past two-and-a-half years."Finally, on supersonic transports. Lord Douglas pointed to the obvious disagreements about "design, speed and other charac-teristics. I am left with the impression," he added, "that . . . tech- nical uncertainties . . . combined with financial difficulties arelikely to postpone the supersonic transport in service for a good many years." HOVERING IN THE HOUSE /CONFIRMATION that the Government proposes to contribute^ to the cost to BEA of introducing the Rotodyne, and that this sum would be a maximum of £1.4m (see Flight last week), ha-;been given in the House by Geoffrey Rippon, Parliamentary Secre- tary of the MoA. In the course of a short debate on helicopterservices in the UK on February 19 Mr Rippon added that the special committee on London's heliports, appointed last July,hopes to present an interim report "fairly soon." Charing Cross is one of the sites being considered.
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