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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0669.PDF
FJGHT, 13 May 1960 669 Brazilian air minister and to COMTA, the Brazilian Air Forceus asport command. A pilot of the latter organization is reported bv the demonstration team to have remarked that the aircraft wastht best of its type that COMTA has had to handle. fhe fourth tour ends on May 24. PROGRESSIVE TICKETING 1HE prospect that BEA may, possibly in the spring of 1962,introduce "walk-on ticketing" (see Lord Douglas in Flight forA,/ril 8) makes it timely to review progress in the US. Some months ago Allegheny and Continental inaugurated passengerservices differing from standard operations in the way in which reservations were booked. Continental's "instant boarding" plan permits passengers toboard a 707 without previously having checked in at the airport counter. Boarding may be accomplished with or without a ticket.After boarding, a type of bus conductor or, to give him his full title, "director of passenger services," collects fares from thosewithout tickets. This official (male or female) is able to advise on such matters as connecting reservations and other travel problemsby means of a special air-to-ground radio telephone system with the office. Allegheny's "commuter" service, which is operated with NapierEland-powered Convair 540s, is essentially a dual-fare operation. Full fare-paying passengers follow standard procedures, but pas-sengers making use of the commuter concession by-pass all checking procedures and, instead, report directly to the departuregate. There they insert a previously purchased "no reservation" ticket into a machine which prints the time of the day on the stub.After all first-class passengers have boarded, the commuters fill the remaining seats on a first-come-first-served basis, as established bythe time stamped on their tickets. Although commuters may freely occupy any seat, includingthose next to a full fare-paying passenger, they receive a 35 per cent fare discount—for the simple reason that they have cost theairline less to handle. Passenger response to these innovations has been rather remark-able, say both Allegheny and Continental. Allegheny's commuters now account for nearly half the traffic on the flights which offer thisconcession. This figure is nearly 15 per cent above the proportion recorded during the experimental inauguration of commuter ser-vices last year. Allegheny's plan seems particularly appropriate for the high density short-haul routes. Those who fly regularly the New York - Washington route,which is probably the world's busiest, find particular difficulty in arranging their return trip. On perhaps less than 10 per cent ofoccasions they do not know the flight on which they will return with any degree of assurance, so they make multiple reservations.Such a procedure, multiplied countless times by several passengers, Signing a multi-lateral agree- ment on C of As for imported aircraft at the Paris office of ICAO is M. M. V. Custance, deputy secretary, Ministry of Aviation. Countries represented were Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom causes no end of "no shows" and results in low load factors. Howmuch better it seems to be, at any rate on routes where frequency is high, to forget all about reservations and simply to board thefirst convenient flight. Perhaps Allegheny's plan is the solution. Continental's scheme will help travellers on long distance flightsby eliminating some of the multiple check-in procedures now practised. c ; : * BOAC SELLS ITS SURPLUS f^ OOD progress has been made by BOAC in the disposal of its^** surplus aircraft, as is illustrated in the table below, although the financial aspect of the picture is not too clear. In no case haveBOAC disclosed the price for which their surplus aircraft have been sold. The corporation's last annual report and accountsrecorded a net loss of £1,123,069 on the disposal of aircraft and other assets. This was written off as a capital loss. No. 16 20 2 10 16 Type Stratocruiser Argonaut DoveDC-7C L.749 Constellation Sold To 14 to Transocean* : 3 to EAA 9 co Overseas Aviation . . 4 to the R. Rhodesian A.F. ; 3 to Aden Airways 4 to Skyways 3 to Pacific Northern Airlines 2 to Capitol Airways 4 to Transocean3 to Avianca •Remaining two broken up at Stansted. That similar losses are all too likely to recur in future years wasshown by the corporation's placing on the market last November of two of its DC-7Cs at the arbitrary figure of $1 million (£357,000)each; these ten aircraft cost a total of $36,500,000 (£13,000,000) with spares in 1956. As is well known, an "express undertaking"was given to the Government that these aircraft would be sold for dollars when the Britannia 312s entered scheduled service onthe North Atlantic, which they did in December 1957. It has been reported that Overseas Aviation have shown some interest in twoof these DC-7Cs, but so far there is no news of any potential dollar customers.That there is a potential dollar market for such second-hand aircraft as these is illustrated by the recent acquisition of 12 ex-American Airlines DC-7Cs by Overseas National Airways, one of the biggest US supplemental carriers, for trans-Pacific flightsunder military contract. Certainly this class of carrier would seem to be the corporation's best dollar sales prospect for DC-7Cs. The 14 Stratocruisers were traded in to Boeing as part-paymentfor the corporation's 15 Boeing 707s, and BOAC's 1957-58 annual report disclosed that "amortization rates for the Stratocruisershave been adjusted, so that their residual value next year [i.e. 1959] would be that which Boeing will pay for them in the turn-in dealagainst the 707s on order." Boeing appointed the Babb Co as exclusive agents for the sale of these Stratocruisers, and all 14 weredisposed of to Transocean Airlines (TALOA), the first being delivered to Transocean in July 1958.TALOA, one of the best known US supplemental carriers (though it is now reported to be in financial difficulties) has beenoperating its Stratocruisers on low-fare services across the Pacific as far as Okinawa, and between New York, Chicago, Los Angeles On ;ce but not icebound at Anchor- age, Alaska: a General Dynamics Convair 880. It is undergoing tests in heavy icing conditions in the upper atmosphere as part of its functional and reliability tests for the FAA. Over 154hr of this pro- gramme had been completed by the end of last month m^^^s^r^
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