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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1320.PDF
226 AIR COMMERCE ... tion it may be noted (a) that staff members rose only slightly from19,010 to 19,131 and (b) that Board remuneration fell from £40,000 to £35,000); and (2), the cost of "communications,stationery and postages" fell from £2.2m to £2.0m. This table also pinpoints those items which have rocketed—aircraft amortiza-tion up from £5.4m to £7.5m, fleet insurance doubled from £1.3m to £2.6m. Turning from the operations of BOAC to those of its subsidiariesand associates, again the picture here is one of overall improvement. The overall loss has been cut by £4m, from £5.1m in 1958-59 to£l.lm in 1959-60. Although BWIA and Kuwait Airways went from bad to worse (in each case, the volume of annual expenditureappears to be out of all relation to the amount of work done), Middle East Airlines showed a vastly improved result. Unfor-tunately, the BOAC accounts do not provide adequate details of the finances of partly owned companies such as MEA (as opposedto wholly owned subsidiaries such as Aden Airways and BWIA), and for this reason it is impossible to comment on the extraordinaryapparent improvement in the Lebanese carrier's affairs. Much of this improvement could, for instance, be no more than a book-keeping adjustment such as the cancellation of provisions now considered unnecessary. In passing, it might be noted that sometraffic statistics for BOAC's associates and subsidiaries would not be amiss. The improved operating results of both the corporation and itsassociated companies are shown in the corporation's balance sheet. Here again the presentation is much improved; the way in whichcapital has been utilized is clear at a glance. But the figures are a sombre reminder of BOAC's unhappy past, the accumulateddeficit having now reached £15m. In annual terms this deficit involves BOAC in a yearly interest payment of over £|m—perhaps a case of the sins of the father being visited upon the son. Another feature of the latest balance sheet is the corporation'sincreasing reliance on short-term capital. The fact that BOAC continues to produce balance sheets with current liabilities in FLIGHT, 12 August lo,)0 Here is the first air-to-air photograph of Max Holste's Turbom^c Bastan-powered Super Broussard, taken on its VAthr first flighfn July 29. The pilot was Andre Jouannet. By August 4 the Su™ Broussard had flown lOhr 20min in seven flights excess of current assets (£29m as against £22m on March -n1960) is partly due to the date upon which the financial year draws' to a close. By choosing March 31 the corporation necessanlvshows a large sum—over £12m in 1960—as a current liability to cover tickets sold in advance for the summer season Nevertheless, it still seems that BOAC relies on its highly credit-worthy position as a nationalized undertaking to depend on short-termcredit to a degree that would be considered imprudent in any private enterprise. The third major feature of the balance sheet is the extent towhich BOAC continues to be overcapitalized. Of the £143 mcapital—long, medium and short-term—that has been poured into the corporation (excluding subsidies amounting to about £30min the pre-Thomas era), some £90m are employed on BOAC's current operations. By comparison, revenue from all sources in1959-60 was £79m. This means that BOAC is still unable to turn its capital over once a year. As managerial and technicalefficiency improves, the corporation should be able to achieve a better capital: revenue ratio. Indeed, a well-run airline shouldbe able to turn its capital over at least twice a year. If BOAC fails to achieve more efficient use of its capital its planned futureexpenditure of £124m could be an alarming prospect, for if the corporation is to be financed by raising fresh capital rather thanby ploughing back profits, then interest payments will become a treadmill from which the corporation will never escape. Howeverif it continues along the course it followed in 1959-60, and provided Sir Matthew can ward off premature supersonic invest-ment, there seems little cause for pessimism. BEA's VANGUARD DATE IS MARCH 1 f ANGUARDS in full service on the London - Paris route onMarch 1, 1961, is BEA's announced intention, with ad hoc schedules before that date—possibly during the Christmas rush,Glasgow services may be introduced in April. But before certification BEA have to amass 200hr of route flying, primarilyto clear the modified engines for ARB certification, though some necessary refresher-training of crews will be carried out con-currently. No date has been set for certification, and neither BEA nor Vickers can yet say when the first of the corporation's sixV.951s is due to be delivered to BEA. Rolls-Royce are still expecting to despatch the first modified Tynes to Vickers nextmonth. Meanwhile limited flight testing continues at Weybridge with the development V.951 and two TCA V.952s. TCA's date for introducing Vanguards, a Canadian correspon-dent reports, is early January. Their 23 aircraft, all V.952 (Mk 2) series, will follow on after BEA's six V.951s already completed(and which, so far as the airframe is concerned, are virtually certificated). BEA's remaining 14 Vanguards—all V.953 (Mk 2)series—will start to be delivered in July 1961, with six expected to be with BEA by the end of September. END OF MASCO AS a result of "administrative reorganization designed to stream-**• line aircraft maintenance," MASCO (The Mid-East Aircraft Servicing Co) in which BOAC Associated Companies had a sub-stantial shareholding, is to be disbanded. It undertook engireering work for BOAC, Kuwait Airways, the Lebanese Air Force, IranianAirways, Gulf Aviation, the Iraq Petroleum Co, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Iraqi Airways and Aden Airways. Its work is to becarried on by Middle East Airlines. The latter found it an economic necessity to have overhaul and maintenance of theirfour Comets under their direct control and not done by MASCO on their behalf. The staff of MASCO were offered a transfer toMEA, and Mr W. K. Forsyth, BOAC's manager line maintenance, has become MEA's engineering controller. MASCO's formergeneral manager, Mr George Carayan, has been made assistant managing director (engineering) of MEA. BOEINGS FOR EASTERN AIR LINES "CASTERN AIR LINES have ordered ten Boeing 72OBs for*-^ delivery in 1961. The aircraft will be powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-12s of 13,0001b thrust. The order, worthabout $44 million, will be financed either directly by the airline, or by a corporation set up to purchase the aircraft and lease themexclusively to Eastern. It is significant that Eastern, who have bought 40 Electras and 16 DC-8s, have turned to the third of thebig West Coast manufacturers for their intermediate range air- craft. They will now share the distinction with PanAm and Air transport roundabout: United's terminal at San Francisco is equ.'pp™ with these telescopic "jetways" giving simultaneous access to «« DC-8s at the end of the finger
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