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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1322.PDF
AIR COMMERCE . . . WORLD'S BIGGEST AIRLINE ' I 'HERE may soon be no doubt which airline is the biggest in-*- the world. If United Air Lines' proposed take-over of Capital Airlines (Flight last week) is approved by the CAB, United willbecome the biggest passenger-carrier, and perhaps the biggest by any index of measurement. Roughly speaking United's domestic network extends from eastcoast to west coast, while that of Capital is mainly an eastern network running from north to south. The take-over wouldgive United access to 46 new points sustaining an aggregate population of between 10 and 12 million—a new market, inother words, the size of a country like the Netherlands. Of the 46 new points, nine have a population of more than half a million,and two—Minneapolis-St Paul and Buffalo—are among the fifty- odd cities of the world with a population of more than a million.And United may now serve 17 of the 20 biggest US cities. More specifically, the take-over gives United access to importantpoints such as Miami, New Orleans and Atlanta in the south and Minneapolis-St Paul and Buffalo in the north. But more signifi-cant than a mere list of new points are the routes on which United's position may now be greatly strengthened. For example,UAL will be easily the strongest carrier on the Chicago - Wash- ington route in competition with American, and likewise onChicago - Detroit, a market in which Capital have always been the leaders. And UAL's position will be similarly strengthenedon the routes between New York and Chicago, Cleveland, Pitts- burgh and Detroit, on the last-named of which it will now geta direct service. It should be noted that Capital's plum route to Miami is not from New York, like those to Atlanta and NewOrleans, but from the Great Lakes cities, in all of which United will be more firmly entrenched than before. It is reported that some of the local-service lines, including Airline Eastern American United TWA ... Capital PanAm Delta... Braniff Northwest . National TOP TEN Passengers 9.6m 7.75m 7.54m 5.9m 4.16m 3.2m 3.1m 2.17m 2.14m 1.93m US AIRLINES Passenger Miles 5,025m 5,737m 5,161m 5,673m 1,612m 4,594m 1,619m 1,032m1,751m 1.168m No. of Aircraft 228 204 196 185 92 140 86 6767 50 No. of Employees 17,764 23,747 21,439 19,909 7,838 22,121 7,371 5,3827,257 4,291 Note: 1959 figures, source Airlift. United front: modelling for the cameras are the men behind the great US airline merger discussed on this page. Mr Thomas D. Neelands, chairman of Capital, thrusts a Viscount at Mr W. A. Patterson, president of United, while the latter tucks a DC-8 firmly under his arm Lufthansa's first Lockheed L.I649A has been converted to all-freight configuration by Lockheed Aircraft Service. "Remanufacture" as LAS term it, comprises cutting openings for two cargo doors and adding heavy-duty L.1049H floors and tie-downs. In the larger photograph the aircraft is being prepared for flight from Ontario International Airport, California Piedmont and North Central, have applied to the CAB to take over a great many of the less profitable short-haul local service sectors operated by Capital. Probably UAL will not shed many tears handing over these routes to specialist local service Friend- ship operators. Footnote: United ranked No 3 in 1959 among the world's biggestairlines in terms of passengers carried. They flew 7J million passengers, being exceeded by American and Eastern, the latter being No 1. ButCapital have been No 5 with more than 4 million passengers. Obviously, in the table (col. 1) the United and Capital figures cannot be addedtogether to derive a measure of the prospective size of the new United, since, as explained above, many Capital routes will eitherbe duplicated or given up. . . . AND CAPITAL'S CREDITORS do Vickers get out of the United-Capital merger? Asreported last week, it is proposed not only that 15 of Capital's Viscounts are to be returned to Vickers, but that also the Britishmanufacturer will receive $15.9m (£5.7m) of new United Air Lines 5? per cent preferred stock, 60,000 shares of United's com-mon stock, with the right to purchase up to about the end of 1967 200,000 shares of common stock at $45 (£16) per share. The value of 15 used Viscount 745Ds on a second-hand marketis probably not more than £200,000 each, or £3m for the fleet. Failing outright sale, Vickers could probably lease these aircraft,which might command a rental of about £5,000 per month. The value of the proposed Vickers shareholding in United wouldappear to be high, but would US anti-trust laws allow such a deal? Past experience, particularly in respect of Howard Hughesand the relationship of his manufacturing and airline interests, suggests that it is difficult enough for even an American aircraftmanufacturer to be associated financially with the airline business. AIRMAIL ANNIVERSARY TPWENTY-ONE years of airmail service between Britain and-^ North America was celebrated by BOAC on August 5. On that date in 1939 the Short C class flying-boat Caribou inauguratedthe first airmail service from Southampton to New York via Foynes (near Shannon), Botwood, Newfoundland and Montreal. Journeytime was 36hr 34min of which flying time was just over 31hr. Eight round trips were made by Caribou and Cabot before theoutbreak of war and mail comprised the entire payload. The aircraft, it may be recalled, were flight-refuelled by Harrow tankersafter taking off from Foynes on westbound flights and Botwood on the return. Over the past decade, BOAC's mail traffic has almost doubled,
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