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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0741.PDF
FLIGHT, 27 May 1960 741 fHE NEW PATTERN TAKES SHAPE •vTOW being advertised by Eagle Airways, the new air arm of- " Cunard, are the mid-Atlantic services which are to be operated ;.s from October 1. It was always certain that the coach classabotage service to Bermuda would be operated by Eagle; it was nly "possible" that Eagle would also be able to extend this serviceio Nassau (Flight, April 29, page 609). This is now confirmed Eagle will probably use DC-6Cs in all-coach configuration, thoughthe possible acquisition of a DC-7C from BOAC has been reported. Frequency will be monthly, and the service will be in pool withBOAC. It is understood that Eagle and BOAC will operate this service alternate months. Under the new deal Eagle—unlike British United Airways onthe African routes—will also share first-class business with BOAC. Eagle will operate first-class and economy-class to Bermuda andto Nassau at a weekly frequency. These operations, which may be with mixed-class Britannias, will also be in pool with BOAC,and they will be quite separate from the above-mentioned low- frequency, low-fare coach flights. TWA MAY MERGE WITH NORTHEAST THE board of Northeast Airlines (president, James W. Austin)has proposed that the airline should merge with TWA. The basis of this agreement would be an exchange of shares betweenNortheast and TWA on a three-for-one basis, and it is confirmed by TWA's president, Charles S. Thomas, that his airline isinterested and that it has the merger "under consideration." Before such a link-up could take place, approval would haveto be given by the CAB, the US Securities and Exchange Com- mission, and senior creditors and shareholders of Northeast andTWA. An equipment arrangement was arrived at last year whereby Northeast leased from TWA a Boeing 707-131 and a707-321 for its route between New York and Florida. This was a device to counter jet competition from National and Eastern,both of whom may be expected to object to the powerful com- petition that a TWA-Northeast merger could produce on thismuch-contested East Coast route. Northeast are essentially an old-established New Englandregional carrier with headquarters at Boston and roots going back to 1933 when the airline was formed as Boston-Maine Airways.Though they have experienced growth rates above-average for the US airline industry in the past three years (April 1960 revenuepassenger miles were up 19.5 per cent of those in April 1959), this expansion has not been marked by any great financial success.In spite of a 30 per cent increase in passenger revenues for 1959, loss on the year's operations was $7m. News of die merger proposals coincided with an announcementthat Northeast has concluded an arrangement with General Dynamics and General Electric for the lease of six Convair 880s,part of an order for 30 placed originally by the Hughes Tool Co. The last-named company is owned by Howard Hughes, who isalso a shareholder (with no voting rights) in the Atlas Corporation, which has a majority shareholding in Northeast. Hughes Tool areto lend up to $9.5m to Northeast for "jet integration expenses and other working capital," and the six CV-880s should be on theFlorida route next winter. Footnote: Northeast's present fleet comprises eleven DC-3s, tenDC-6Bs and ten Viscount 745s. The airline say that there has been "a strong public acceptance of the Viscount" and quote a 55 percent increase in Viscount traffic on the New York - Boston route in the first quarter of the year. Viscount system load factor was68.5 per cent. HOME BY SEA T> ARELY a month since Channel Air Bridge inaugurated rail/air-*-* no-passport day trips to Calais the company announces other no-passport trips out by air and back by sea. The sea carrierconcerned is Eagle Steamers, and Home Office and French Government approval has been given for these joint no-passportservices between Southend and Calais. No starting date has yet been announced but it will be this year and the fare will be£3 12s return. This compares with the day trip sea return fare of £2 and the air return fare of £3 19s. There is an additional chargeof Is 6d on the bus service into Calais town centre, or 7s 6d return to Dunkirk. Specific flights from Southend are to be allocated to this serviceand these leave at 0810, 0950 and 1130hr. The Eagle steamer Royal Daffodil will leave Calais at 1700hr. BREVITIES The Air Registration Board have issued BCAR Section E, Issue 2,Gliders and contents list Issue 30, May 16. A C-46 of Navegacao Aerea Brasileiia SA Nova Organizacas crashednear the runway at Ramey air force base Puerto Rico on May 9. All five occupants were killed. Manchester Corporation are to spend £700,000 on a new terminalapron and other improvements to Ringway Airport. The contractor will be Richard Costain. Norronafly of Norway has bought two Elizabethans from BEA for use on charters and inclusive tours. They will replace the airline's Convair 240, now sold. United Kingdom airlines' traffic in March was 18 per cent greaterthan last year; although capacity was up by 20 per cent, load factor fell a point from 61 to 60 per cent. Alitalia started jet services last Monday with a Caravelle servicebetween London and Rome. Frequency is daily and scheduled journey time is 2hr 20min. A Federal grand jury in Los Angeles has found that TWA was pardyat fault in the airliner collision over the Grand Canyon, Arizona, on June 30, 1956, in which 128 people were killed. The jury awarded about£105,000 to survivors of the pilot and navigator of the United Air Lines DC-7. United were cleared of blame. Sabena lost £1.4m on its operations in 1959 due, it says, to: riot-ing in Leopoldville last January; ebb of traffic after the Brussels Fair; competition from other airlines' jets on die North Adantic; and the slowrevival of the Belgian economy following the 1958 recession. Deficit is to be covered by a government loan to be paid Back from, future profits. 0 • A • [ Joseph Roos has been appointed chairman of the board of theInstitut du Transport Aerien. He succeeds the late Henri Siegfried. The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators will present the annualMeteorological Office awards on June 28 at 14 South Street, Park Lane, London Wl, at 1600hr. A Balair DC-4 crashed at Djebel Marr, 470 miles south of Khartoumon May 15. All 12 passengers and crew on board lost their lives. It was on a flight from Dahomey to Niamey. The quadripartite pool of BOAC, South African Airways, CentralAfrican Airways and East African Airways should become effective in October. This arrangement will supersede the present arrangement ofseparate pool agreements. A Delta Air Lines Convair 880 crashed and caught fire after takingoff from Atlanta Airport, Georgia, on May 23. It was on a training flight and was carrying a crew of four. Delta officials are reported assaying that a power failure occurred. Announced last week was the SIPA 270 Presence, a new Frenchtransport with an all-up weight of about 10,0001b and capable of carrying a car or up to 16 passengers. It is a twin-boom design poweredby two Turbomeca Astazous. Design work is well advanced. Provisional Government approval has been given to Inter-CityAirways to operate helicopter services to the Isle of Wight. Westland Widgeons will be used and provisional authorization covers 20 returnflights daily between Portsmouth and Ryde, 20 between Southampton and Cowes and four on the route Portsmouth, Ryde, Shanklin, Newport,Cowes and Southampton. The application is effective for ten years from this month. Used at Prestwick on the first occasion that BOAC's 707-420 visited the airport was a Blackburn starter truck. This was the first time the equipment had been used for starting a Conway. It is being employed with other 707s at London Airport and Paris A new recruit to the Herald sales team is G. M. Shipway, who has joined Handley Page (Reading) Ltd as commercial sales representative. He was previously with Rolls-Royce
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