FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0482.PDF
AIRLINES OF THE WORLD THE DOMESTIC SCENE . . . But for two reasons the opening up of new routes is verydifficult: the economic problems are acute and may remain so for a considerable build-up period, and aerodrome and passengerfacilities may hamper the prospects of sustained operation. A number of promising services have been abandoned by theindependents on these counts. . It might well be asked how the independent companies canafford to operate domestic scheduled services at all. On these alone, many would not be able to do so. But some relatively unprofitable scheduled services may be worthwhile because they guarantee a minimum utilization of aircraft that for the remainderof the year operate non-scheduled flights, and upon utilization .depends the ability to purchase new equipment, flight recently• put to C. J. Stevens, managing director ot BKS, some questions about this airline's purchase of the Avro 748.The need for a turbine-powered aircraft, said Mr Stevens, was paramount because of the crippling tax on aviation petrol. Acertain amount of development expense would be involved in introducing the Avro 748, but he thought that it should proveto be relatively straightforward and BKS would work in con- junction with Avro in pre-C of A route-proving flying. TheElizabethans had shown that modern equipment helped to bring in traffic and had shown also that the airline could make use ofa new type with 50 seats, particularly on the Leeds - London route when Yeadon aerodrome problems were solved. Why did independent companies apply for routes that they didnot operate? "It is prudent," said Mr Stevens, "to apply to operate a network of routes so that one geographical area can bedeveloped on an economic basis. But some of these applications might be refused by the ATAC, raising the question as to whetherit is worth operating at all, or aerodromes or other problems might delay the start of services. It is not in the interests of air transportto try to establish "squatters' rights' on a route that is not going to be operated within a reasonable period." But in any case it nowseemed that the Air Transport Licensing Board would require a service to be operated if a licence was granted; if one operator didnot take up an option on a route it would be offered elsewhere. What were the views of Mr Stevens, as president of BIATA, ontechnical and economic co-operation among the smaller indepen- dent airlines (Fhght, February 19, 1960), pooling of services withother operators and a policy of co-operation with the railways? "There is a lot to be said for co-operation on ground services,handling and mutual assistance with equipment," he said, "even to the point of an interchange of aircraft." Another fruitful fieldwas the establishment of a central airline reservations and ticket office in a city served by several operators; this had beendone by BKS and others recently and had proved very successful. There was no resistance by the independents to pooling servicesbetween similar points such as the Leeds - Jersey route operated both by BKS and Silver City, although how the new LicensingBoard would regard it he did not know. Nor were they standing in the way of interavailability of rail and air tickets, which theywould very much welcome. On the other hand, he believed that there would be a great reluctance to tie in with the railwaysfinancially although (apart from the Silver City - Channel ferry arrangement, now abandoned) this had not been suggested. Norwould he really be in favour of allowing BEA to take a minority holding of other independent companies such as they had inJersey Airlines and Cambrian. "If there are to be approaches, the initiative will have to come from the corporation. It is up to anycompany that thinks it could benefit to make the most of it that they can. But intermingling through one main source leads tomonopoly and lack of competition." Helicopter Services "When you consider helicopter services,"say BEA, "life begins anew." This is the big unknown of the 1960s. How will the helicopter be used to develop short-haulroutes in very close competition with surface travel? And how will rotating-wing services be allocated between the corporationand the independents, who have both laid applications for routes before the ATAC? Two types of service are envisaged, those connecting airports tothe city centre and longer haul city-centre to city-centre services. How the various routes will be allocated will depend upon theviews of the ATLB; BEA claim prior consideration on the basis of previous commercial operating experience and early applica-tions, but the independents—notably Airwork—can also claim substantial helicopter experience with rather smaller machines. But it is indisputable that British experience lags behind that ofSabena on the Continent and helicopter operators in the US. British services—which may have to operate without subsidyalthough with development assistance—^depend upon develop- ment of the right type of machine; BEA are shortly to make thechoice of an interim type, but the independent companies have yet to do so. Both private and public air transportsectors are agreed that a long and uphill period will have to be faced before profitable operation is possible; it is axiomatic that 482 FLIGHT* 8 April I960 Application* for Helicopter Routes Operator BEA Rotorporu (Inter-City) Airways) Fison-Airwork Eagle Routing LAP-Southampton LAP and other aerodromes in Lon- don area to Central London Gatwick-LAP LAP and/or Gatwick and/or South- end London-Brighton and/or Manchester Lands End - Scilly Isles LAP-London (York Rd and/or Nine Elms) and/or Southend and/or Manston and/or Rochester Hendon-London (Nine Elms and/or York Rd)-Gatwick Southampton-Cowes-Ryde-Ports- mouth-London and (a) Portsmouth-Ryde (b) Portsmouth-Ryde-Shanklin- Newport-Cowes-Southampton (c) Southampton-Cowes London-Birmingham-Manchester ... London (Battersea) and/or LAP and/or Gatwick and/or Lydd and/or Southend ... London (BatterseaJ-Birmingham ... LAP-Manchester (with fixed- or rotating-wing aircraft) Date of Application 1960 1960 Middle 1959 Middle 19S9 Middle 1959 Middle 1959 Late 1959 Jan. 1960 Date Approved 1955 1954 1954 1957 — — — any machine which devotes power to vertical and not forwardpropulsion must be inherently more costly than a conventional aeroplane, and even by 1965 helicopters are likely to be at leasttwice as expensive to operate. This is the opinion of New York Airways. BEA expect that in 1965 it will be three to fourtimes more expensive to provide helicopter seats and that the ratio will not reduce to 2:1 until after 1970. Nevertheless, and inspite of railway hovercraft proposals recently put forward by the Minister of Transport, helicopter services could in time presentthe railways with very formidable competition on some of the short-haul services which the latter now see as their mostprofitable. SUMMARY # Air transport in the United Kingdom accounts for about one quarter of one per cent of the total passenger miles generated by road, rail and air. # Of the air capacity, about 81 per cent of the available seatmiles are offered by BEA, 19 per cent by the independent companies. • # The total airline capacity is about 11 per cent of that offeredby the railways, but this small proportion shrouds the importance of the domestic air trunk routes which are diverting traffic fromsurface transport. Traffic on BEA's trunk routes is doubling about every four years; on rail services it is virtually static. # BEA sets an admirable standard in the documentation andanalysis of its business. But information about British Railways' trunk routes or any of the independent airlines' domestic servicesis not published. Can a transport system work efficiently if the facts about it are kept secret. # Initially, railway modernization will benefit the commuter,the traveller on short-haul (150-mile) services and the first-class traveller on the trunk routes. BEA's plans for development mainlyconcern the tourist-class passenger, who can shortly look forward to high frequency services at second-class rail fares on the longerroutes. 9 There is as yet no easypath ahead for the indepen- dents, although co-operationwith the railways might be welcome to both. # Better aerodromes areneeded if a better network of British Isles services is to bedeveloped, but new routes bring acute economic problems. 9 A network of helicopterservices is not "just around the corner," but when it does comeit could challenge some impor- tant short-haul rail services. By courtesy of "Travel Trade Gazette"
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
