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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0305.PDF
FLIGHT, 4 March 1960 305 Orient, and arranged the purchase of two of their DC-4s, plusseveral Pratt and Whitney R.2000 spare engines, and a large Supply of spares. All airframe maintenance has always been done at thecompany's engineering base at Germiston (a town lying about 12 miles to the east of Johannesburg). Instruments are over-hauled by an associated company, also in Germiston, During the first months of operation with DC-4s, engine overhaul wasdone by a well-known European airline on a powerplant- replacement basis. This involved a considerable amount of ferryflying. Trek then decided to accept an increasing responsibility for engine overhaul, and the present position is that the workis done by Field Aircraft Services at their plant adjoining the airline's engineering base, while the spares are provided by Trek.The airline is also responsible for inspection. The Department of Transport has now authorized an engine life of l,800hr—arate which few DC-4 operators anywhere exceed. Further evidence of official approval of the engineering set-up is theregular award of overhaul contracts by the SAAF to Trek. Another factor which contributes materially to the airline'srecord of serviceability is their general operating technique: "think of engines as people," they say; "treat them well andthey will treat you well." For this reason they have developed a system which aims at lightening the burden placed on theirengines at all times. Captains are generally instructed, for instance, to throttle back to 2,140 r.p.m. immediately after level-ling off at a cruising airspeed of 130kt minimum. As airspeed then increases, the rule is to throttle back gradually to the normalcruise setting of 2,050 r.p.m.—a figure which lies well below that suggested by the manufacturer. Fuel management is, indeed, a fundamental aspect of Trekthinking, and for this reason the statistics showing air-miles per gallon are watched with a hawk eye by the operations director.In the days when the company operated Vikings, British airlines found it difficult to believe that it was possible for them to flyregularly with this type with up to 30 passengers non-stop from N'Dola to Johannesburg, allowing a two-hour fuel reserve. Andyet, by cunning fuel management, this is what Trek managed to do. A Viking technique which they now apply successfullyto the DC-4 when conditions permit is to throttle right back to 1,600 r.p.m. for a long, gradual descent. The economics ofweak-mixture cruising have also been closely studied—and Passengers, map and captain applied. Fuel costs are further saved by giving captains everyassistance and encouragement in effecting maximum pick-ups at points where fuel prices are low; at points where prices are highthey restrict the gallonage to the minimum that is compatible with operating requirements. This close awareness of crew members with operating costsis facilitated by the system of financial control that the airline has evolved. All expenses incurred en route are paid for by thecaptain with traveller's cheques. At first sight this seems a cumbersome method but in practice it has been found to providea day-to-day control over expenditure which no system of credit will allow. When Trek started operations with a single DC-3their credit was such that their fuel had to be paid for on a pre- fiight basis. Although the company could today draw upon sub-stantial credit facilities, they still prefer to obtain a fuel carnet worth some £2,000 for each round flight; only by doing this isthe captain really placed in a position to appreciate the signifi- cance of scientific fuel management. Similarly, a control canbe exerted over accommodation and catering expenses which is difficult and costly to apply months after the event. Aiter all,the airline business is no different from any other: a credit account allows all manner of opportunity for a wily creditor tonave second thoughts. This strict control of en route expenditure is certainly afundamental reason for the company's low overall cost-level. Respite the high rate of expenditure on passenger accommodation,the airline manages to hold its total costs down to about 30 pence Per capacity-ton-mile. Many regular carriers are wont to attribute such low cost-levels to the fact that Independents, unlike them-selves, do not have to shoulder heavy obsolescence charges. In the case of Trek Airways this argument holds no water whatever:for the record, they depreciate their aircraft over three years, and this gives them a unit cost for this item of fourpence per c.t.-m.This corresponds exactly to the equivalent figure for BOAC and is considerably higher than that for BEA. There is no doubt that these low cost-levels are due to closefinancial control, together with high staff-productivity. It is easy to provide a superficial reason why Trek should get such goodservice out of its employees—it is simply because they enjoy working for this airline. It is no coincidence that the staff arewell treated: pay is high (skippers, for instance, get a basic pay that ranges upwards from £3,000 a year); generous health andsuperannuation schemes are available; there are plenty of holidays —most staff get a month a year; and there is a liberal bonusscheme that is worked out on a sliding scale that gives an average of three weeks' extra pay in a year. Another factor which certainly affects morale favourably isthe degree to which Trek is a family firm, not in the sense that it is run by a single family but in the way that a large proportionof the staff have relatives working for or with them. A third factor, rare in larger organizations, is the almost complete absence ofunnecessary formality and "bull." Finally, every possible oppor- tunity is taken to delegate responsibility; this undoubtedlyprovides staff with an incentive which would otherwise be lacking. The interplay of these various factors is such that staff areprepared to work with an enthusiasm which many other airlines must envy. Stewardesses work as receptionists, or even as tele-phonists, between flights. First officers are responsible for supervision of baggage in addition to their usual flight duties, andbetween flights they handle such diverse tasks as completion of monthly flight returns, Link training, instruction, and manningthe company's own radio station (this allows continuous contact to be maintained with the aircraft throughout the African con-tinent and is useful not only for technical and commercial advice but also as an aid for passengers in such small but useful waysas allowing head office to be informed about on-booking require- ments). Neither are the captains reluctant to accept extra-muralresponsibilities; two are active directors of the company and another two are in charge of crew training. This approach alladds up to one thing: here is an airline that carries no fat. And this means low costs. Yet it is precisely this question of cost that represents Trek'sbiggest problem in the years immediately ahead. Given present aircraft types there is little scope for further cost cutting: theonly item which could be reduced is passenger accommodation (this could be done by cutting the journey time from three and ahalf to three days). But even then the overall cost level would not fall much below the 30 pence per c.t.-m. mark. The problemis that in a few years' time the leading scheduled carriers, by dint of employing highly productive modern aircraft, will alsohave reduced their costs to about this level. The first breath of this competition will be felt this summer, when BOAC andSouth African Airways introduce economy-class fares on the routes between the Union and Europe. Trek have no doubt that permission to operate up-to-dateequipment would allow them to offer either much reduced fares or much improved standards of service (in particular, more timeat night-stops). In either case they could with justification claim that their market would continue to differ from that in which theIATA airlines find die bulk of their traffic. And yet, despite the fact that Trek would continue to carry passengers who wouldotherwise never have known air travel, any application they make for additional rights will no doubt be resisted. Fromthe long-term viewpoint of the consumer, however, the value of independent companies such as Trek Airways lies in theiruninhibited effort to bring down the cost of air travel. Remove this stimulus and the airline industry will be left a poorer thing. This is what a 100 per cent had factor looks like
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