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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1321.PDF
FLIGHT, 12 August 1960 n-ii-ed of being the only airlines to operate both four-jet Boeings " DC-8s. The order brings the total of Boeing 720s sold to 82 ^ the family total, for all versions of the Boeing 707, to 245. Of"these, 140 had been delivered by the end of July. A SORT OF MISUNDERSTANDING T UNDERTAKING a three-week tour of civil airports and faci- le "lities in the United States is a Soviet delegation led by Lt-Gen Georgi S. Shchetchikov, first deputy chief of Aeroflot. That the invitation to Aeroflot should have been confirmed so soon after the State Department broke off talks on a US-Russian c;vil air agreement seems indicative of the desire of both sides to get down to business. These negotiations, one of the results of President Eisenhower sdiscussions with Mr Kruschev at Camp David last November, are aimed at an exchange of traffic rights for Aeroflot and PanAmerican. The latter has already been certificated for Russian routes by the CAB for fifteen years "if and when agreement couldbe reached." Such agreement seemed very far away on July 14 when talks which were to begin that day in Washington werecalled off "until a more suitable time" because of "a mounting campaign of vilification against the United States."Pouring oil on troubled waters at a conference in Washington last week, Gen Shchetchikov said that "We feel that the cessationof talks between our governments concerning an air agreement was just a sort of misunderstanding—a temporary misunderstand-ing and anyhow these talks will be resumed." The Soviet Unionwas interested in flying to the United States, just as the US was interested in obtaining rights to fly to the Soviet Union. BRITAIN'S INSOLVENT AIRPORTS THE Ministry of Aviation are unable to give any forecast ofwhen the 15 principal UK state-owned airports will become self-supporting. The Treasury see no hope of avoiding furthersubstantial deficits over the next few years. These gloomy facts are examined in the report of the Committee of Public Accounts*who say that they are "disturbed" by the size of the deficit. Can an airport—municipal or state-owned—be made to pay itsway? The municipal answer, as expressed by Coventry and Southend, is probably that it can. The Ministry of Aviation'sexperience so far is that airports lose money and that, in general, big airports lose more money than small airports. Last year therewere deficits at London of £2.1 million, at Prestwick (see page 232) of £0.5 million, and at Gatwick of nearly £1 million. Solutionsput forward by the Ministry have been to close or to threaten to close some of the smaller airports (Croydon, Blackbushe, Stanstedand Eastleigh) and to off-load some of the burden of operation on to municipal authorities. Meanwhile the MoA are advised by theCommittee to reduce deficits at state-owned airports by economies in staff and better methods of working. Accounting techniquesare being improved as a method of management and "steps are being taken to make the best use of the Trading Accounts . . .by the staff at the airports responsible for their operation." Airport revenue, as the Committee of Public Accounts werereminded, stems primarily from rents and from aircraft landing fees and passenger charges. Landing fees at British airports arealready among the highest in the world (and it is reliably reported that they may go up again), and the service charge is comparablewith those charged in other countries; and rents—particularly at Gatwick—have been the cause of some bitter complaint fromsmaller operators. Apart from raising landing fees and service charges—matterswhich the Committee suggest should be "tested constantly" against 227 Now back from India, the Argosy demonstrator brought home this record of the "Rolamat" loading system being demonstrated to Mr V. K. Krishna Menon and Gen K. 5. Thimmaya, Chief of Army Staff, by Mr Peter Fowler, Hawker Siddeley representative in India what traffic will bear—what else can be done to improve theeconomies of Britain's state-owned airports? The guardians of public accounts recommend simply that operating efficiency shouldbe increased. They might also have suggested a more imaginative approach to aerodrome operation, particularly in the incidentalservices from which can be derived useful additional revenue. An airport should be a social rendezvous: restaurants, hotels, spec-tator enclosures, duty-free shops and guided tours are all potential sources of income relatively independent of aircraft movements.Business aircraft might be encouraged to use Britain's airports by readier "special VFR" access through control zones. Another question the Committee examined was: Should localauthorities be required to take on the entire expense of operating their local airport? Previously, the Ministry "has been reluctantto charge" for technical and other services now provided free. Manchester is a case in point. Up to March 1959 the Ministrycontributed about £ 1 million towards the cost of capital works and provided technical services at a cost of about £183,000. TheMoA have the right to levy charges for technical services, but this was in no case exercised. With transfers of airport authorityunder negotiation at Liverpool, Cardiff and Blackpool and agreed at Elmdon, this is a matter, the Committee suggest, that shouldnow be reviewed. A proportion of receipts from landing fees might be paid to the Ministry towards the cost of technical services,since for the State to continue to provide technical services as these airports expand can, it is argued, result only in an increasingburden on the taxpayer. But increasing the costs of municipal operation seems, on itsown, a stony path towards airport solvency. A bolder, more fundamental solution might be for the Treasury to make morereadily available through the Ministry of Aviation long-term capital for airport development to an economic level of utilization. A. T. P. * Second Report from the Committee of Public Accounts, Session 1959-60. Price 2s, HMSO. Suggested by the American Crane and Hoist Corporation for transport around Los Angeles Airport is this "rapid transit system" of 25-seat overhead bi-rail cars. They would be lowered by hoists at ticket buildings, car parks and at other convenient points
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