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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0293.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 February 1960 293 "ABSOLUTELY no justification for a new inquiry" was the/*• Munich Airport manager's comment last week on reports that the inquiry into the BEA Elizabethan accident in February1958 was to be reopened. The secretary of the German Airports Association, Werner Treibel, added that it had been establishedwithout any doubt that the cause of the crash was ice on the wings. "There is no other explanation," he said, "and there is absolutelyno truth in the reports that it was slush on the runway or the inadequacy of the runway that caused the accident . . . there wasonly about three-quarters of a centimetre of snow on the runway at the time the aircraft took off." It remains to be seen whetherthis is the official German answer to the Ministry's request that they should consider the "slush" theory. AIR TRAFFIC ASCENDENCY ~ THE flow of passengers to and from United Kingdom shoreswas up by about three quarters of a million during the first nine months of 1959, an increase more largely attributable to trafficcarried by air than to that carried by sea. Shipping maintained the 5 per cent increase which it achieved in 1958 but air traffic to andfrom the UK increased by 12 per cent. Every air service to and from the UK carried more traffic than it had in the previous yearbut gains in sea traffic were mainly limited to the routes to die Continent, particularly to France and the Netherlands. Air traffic on long-distance routes showed clearly the swing inallegiance from the sea to the air. On journeys other than those to Europe, 86,000 more passengers were carried by air while 16,000fewer travelled by sea. Particularly was the trend noticeable where economy fares are in effect; although shipping services to Australiaand New Zealand carried more passengers than in the previous year, passengers carried to the US dropped by 17,200. "Flight" photograph Seen at London being tanked up with 142,0001b (about 17,500 Imp gal) for its record non-stop 4,260 n.m. flight to Bombay last Sunday is the first of Air-India's three Rolls-Royce Conway-powered 707-420s. Flight time was 8hr 27min; on board were 12 crew and 34 passengers. Fuel consumption Seattle-London averaged 3,520/t/hr/engine of 33-37 flOOft and Mach .82. Air-India will inaugurate five-times-weekly services to London early in April, and to New York on May 14 COMING SIR, BLACK'AND WHITE 1^1" ARCH 3 could be an important day in the development of-"-* the Leeds - Bradford Airport at Yeadon. On that day a deputation from the Joint Airport Committee will go toLondon to discuss the chances of a grant with Ministry of Aviation officials. The deputation will include four members of the jointcommittee—two from Bradford (Alderman David Black, the chair- man, and Alderman H. J. White) and two from Leeds (AldermanFrank O'Donnell and Councillor King) with the airport manager (Geoffrey Seller) and the town clerk of Bradford (Henry Patten). FROM BERMUDA TO BARBADOS THE talks now going on in Barbados between the world's twomajor civil air powers, the US and the UK, have been the subject of a good deal of recent comment. The Daily Mail rana story with the appealing angle that a woman, Mrs Alison Monro, is to lead the British delegation. The Times gave the layman a"Guide to the Bermuda Agreement" in its issue February 22; and The Economist aired the subject in its "American Survey"on February 6. The last-named drew from Peter Masefield, one of the originaldrafters of the Bermuda Agreement in 1946 and now managing director of Bristol Aircraft, a letter which neatly summarizes theBermuda principles. The underlying one is that "there should be 'fair and equal opportunity' for the air carriers of the nationsconcerned to provide 'capacity adequate for the traffic demands.' " The US abhors arithmetical predetermination of capacity, socommon in other international air agreements, and the UK bowed to this in 1946. We agreed that each side would reasonably relatecapacity to traffic demands—with ex post facto consultations if one side felt a route was being swamped by the other. Mr Masefieldsays that this principle is worthy of continuation. It seems that, in fact, the Bermuda principles are considered byboth sides to be "worthy of continuation," and that the agenda of the meeting in Barbados probably does not include an item to theeffect: "Let's re-write the agreement." It is the annex to the agreement that is causing so many difficulties. This annex setsout the routes to be served by the air carriers of each country, and they have been much modified since the original agreement wassigned on February 11, 1946. A good many conflicts have arisen, most infamous of all being BOAC's desire to "write in" Tokyounder Section IV(b) of the annex. One thing is certainly on the agenda—"Let's talk about Section IV(b)." The precise wording of this section is as follows: — "Other route changes desired by either Contracting Party may bemade and put into effect at any time, prompt notice to that effect being given by the aeronautical authorities of the Contracting Party concernedto the aeronautical authorities of the other Contracting Party." It was on the strength of this that BOAC wanted to "write in"Tokyo on its Route 7 in the annex. There was never any actual written agreement about this, but it is generally accepted that inJanuary 1957 there was a gentlemen's agreement to this effect. As is well known, the cumbrous CAB procedures (also on theagenda?) delayed BOAC's service for many months. North- west fought the matter tooth and nail, on the grounds of diver-sion of traffic that would not be in the American "public interest." Butthe Americans eventually honoured the gentlemen's agreement.. Tokyo business will, we have no doubt, be uppermost in tne minds of the delegates from both sides in the Barbados. It isno secret that Northwest want traffic rights at Hong Kong, and war they have been designated by the CAB for the Tokyo - HongKong route in parallel with Pan American. But the UK will probably not readily concede this demand as a "trade in" for BOAC's Tokyo rights, which the UK regard as an equalizer forthe many points previously written in by the Americans. We contend that the Americans have taken advantage of Section IV(b)more often than we (16 points added between 1946 and 1955, compared with our 4 between 1949 and 1954). The Barbadosnegotiations, so far as UK route horse-trading is concerned, start off "at par." What other points of conflict are there? As we say, the broadBermuda principles are not in question. This indeed was one of the few points officially made to Flight by spokesmen for each sidebefore the Barbados meeting. One of the others was that the meeting was just one of the many consultations provided for inArticle 13 of the agreement. So the agenda boils down to an attempt to settle some of the outstanding route requirements ofboth sides. Observers of the air transport scene can safely assume that these "problem areas" include the following: — (1) Pan American desire to operate a through jet service from NewYork to Jamaica. It will be recalled that PanAm went ahead and operated two such flights—which are not provided for in the annexto the agreement—early last month, by "joining up" the legitimate New York - Ciudad Trujillo - Jamaica sectors by the simple device ofchanging flight numbers at Ciudad Trujillo without requiring the pas- sengers to change aircraft—a Boeing 707. Stormy protests were raisedby the Jamaican Government (who are represented at Barbados). (2) TWA for many years have wanted "beyond" rights out of Londonto the Middle and Far East. Already they operate a route to Bangkok, an extension of their North Atlantic service to Paris and Rome. Wehave stubbornly resisted this, and at the moment TWA's London service is extended only to Frankfurt. Both BOAC and BEA fear materialdiversion of their traffic. Nevertheless, TWA are pressing their demands very hard and, for good measure—though they do not appear to havethe slightest hope of success—they also want to join up Bangkok with Hong Kong and Tokyo. (3) BOAC want to take advantage of the rights enjoyed by BCPA(merged with Qantas in 1954) on the South Pacific route (Route 8 in the annex) between Australia/New Zealand and San Francisco via Fiji.Some conflict here with Australia is not beyond the bounds of prob- ability; Qantas, since Australia bought the UK and NZ interests inBCPA, exercise the rights it enjoyed. (4) Eagle Airways Bahamas want not only Miami, which they wererecently granted, but also Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Tampa. The US airline Mackey has fiercely resisted this before theCAB on the grounds that Bahamas Airways (Eagle's British competitor on this route) has already been granted these points. This little battle,reviewed in Flight for January 29, is significant in that it emphasizes a new British desire for "double designation of carriers." BOAC is nolonger the chosen instrument; the Ministry negotiators are already having to put to the US, as they will have to more and more in thefuture, the route desires of our independent airlines. It is no secret either (Flight, January 29) that Eagle Airways Bahamas want deeppenetration routes into the US to Atlanta, Jacksonville and Chicago. These desires have the full support of the Bahamas Government. To sum up: the Bermuda principles are agreed; it is the annex denning the routes that is the subject of conflict. J. M. Ry fcs.
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