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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2166.PDF
548 FLIGHT, 30 September I960 AIR COMMERCE . . . AUSTRALIAN SUNBIRD "CARLIER this month TAA began to take over the Qantas•*—' services in Papua - New Guinea and with them six DC-3s and four Otters previously operated by the Australian internationalairline. In the near future TAA hopes to extend its network to encom-pass more of the territory and the adjacent islands. These services would supplement those operated by DC-6Bs and Friendships onthe trunk routes between the Australian mainland, Port Moresby and Lae. During the change-over period from Qantas to TAA,the timetable for internal Papua - New Guinea services has been retained and reservation facilities remain unaltered. But to empha-size that the services are under new management TAA has adopted for them the title Sunbird, because "we think it typifies the localclimate and is the name of a small, brightly coloured bird found in the territory." A NEW NAME IN IRELAND T TLSTER AIRLINES, a new Northern Irish independent, has*-' applied to operate a scheduled service between Belfast (Nutt's Corner) and Enniskillen (St Angelo). If it is authorized this willbe the first domestic service within the six north-eastern counties of Ireland—the Aer Lingus Dublin - Shannon service is, atpresent, the only domestic route operated within the Republic of Ireland. LOCKHEED'S FREIGHTER PLANS ACCORDING to an American source, Lockheed have dis-•**-continued work on the commercial version of the C-130B Hercules, following failure of a commercial customer to "definitizeits contract for five as of July 31." The C-130B is the military development of the C-130A, being heavier and more powerfulwith Allison 501D-22s of 4,050 e.h.p. The Super Hercules (GL-207), which may be fitted with Rolls-Royce Tynes, remains in the project stage. There is also a turbofan swept-wing development, the GL-207-42, with JT3D-lls of22,0001b thrust Flight, June 10, page 809). A SERVICE FROM LEEDS TO LONDON AFTER a break of four years, BKS are to reintroduce on a• regular basis a service from Leeds/Bradford airport at Yeadon to London. It will operate daily from October 3, except at week-ends, leaving Yeadon at 0800hr and London Airport each evening at 1900hr. The last venture by BKS on this route terminated at the end ofsummer 1956. Some seats have been available on the Leeds - London sector of the company's weekly service to Bilbao duringthis summer, but the present timetable, opening significantly at the start of the winter season, represents a determined effort torecapture business traffic on this route. If demand appears satis- factory a second service, with timings suitable for business visitorsto Leeds/Bradford from London, may be opened later. The monthly return fare is £7 and journey time lhr 20min. The Irish Ferry Bristol 170 service between Liverpool andDublin has been successful, carrying more than 2,000 cars since May. Extended first until the end of October, it will now beoperated daily throughout the winter. The Edinburgh - Belfast service will also now operate all the year round. One of South African Airways' three Boeing 707-320s, which are due to be officially inaugurated on the London - Johannesburg SAA/BOAC "Springbok" service next Sunday, October 2 (see story below) SPRINGBOK 707s •"THE Springbok service between Johannesburg and London•*• was actually operated by SAA's Boeing 707s before the official inauguration on Sunday next, October 2. A 707 operated thescheduled service normally operated by a DC-7B on September 14, and passenger flights were made on September 21 and 28.SAA's DC-7Bs will take over some domestic services (four times a week from Johannesburg to Cape Town as a mixed first-class/Skycoach aircraft) and will be retained on the fortnightly Wallaby service to Perth in Australia. There are also reports thatSAA are going to Tel Aviv with the DC-7B. Certainly the airline will have plenty of surplus capacity from tomorrow, October 1,with seven DC-3s, five DC-4s, four Constellations and four DC-7Bs which have not been fully utilised. The bulk of domestictraffic is carried by the seven Viscount 813s and international traffic (from October 1) with Boeing 707s. SAA has two 707s forfour services a week between Johannesburg and London, with a third for delivery in January, when services will doubtless bestepped up. C RATIONALIZATION REWARDEDT HOSE who championed the cause of rationalization in Italianair transport must find well-deserved satisfaction in the 1959 report and accounts of their country's national carrier. Althoughat first sight a profit of £87,000 on revenues of £20 million may suggest scant cause for rejoicing, when seen against the massivelosses incurred by Italian airlines in the past (£1 million in 1958), the latest results show remarkable improvement. That this profit was obtained in the face of low average revenuerates (60 pence per l.t.m. as against 67 pence for BEA) and low load-factors (55 per cent compared with BEA's 68 per cent), wasdue to the admirably low cost-level of 34 pence per c.t.m. that Alitalia has now achieved. Undoubtedly, an important reason forthis low level was that the bulk of the 1959 output of 145 million c.t.m. was produced by the Viscount and the DC-6B—possiblythe two most efficient pre-jet transports. But of equal significance is the human factor: whereas Europe's airlines currently show atypical annual staff output of about 20,000 c.t.m. per employee, Alitalia's 4,700 employees last year averaged well over 30,000c.t.m. each. Not only has stern budgetary pruning had a lot to do with this exceptionally economical use of staff, but the long-haulcharacter of the airline—about one half of its traffic moves on intercontinental routes—also assists the company in obtaining ahigh level of output in relation to the work-force. According to the report, the most successful long-haul routeswere those to North America and to Africa. In contrast, services to Latin America, to the Middle East and to India tended to beunprofitable. Results for Alitalia's intra-European routes were mixed, with Spain, Switzerland and France doing well whileBelgium, Germany and Austria were disappointing. The domestic network, despite a 25 per cent traffic expansion, continued toshow a loss. Alitalia have no intention of letting their meteoric growth ofrecent years slacken off, and are already in process of takin? final deliverv of an initial batch of four Conway DC-8s and fourCaravelles. The full fleet of 12 Caravelles and eight DC-8s wiM be in operation early in 1962, bv which time the company should havebeen operating within Air Union for nearly a year. The rewards of rationalization should then be abundantly clear to Alitalia'srivals. TEAL AN ALL-NZ AIRLINE?T HE possibility that Pan American may obtain rights to operate across the Tasman Sea between Auckland and Svdney arises from negotiations now going on between the New Zealand and US civil aviation authorities. So far this route has been monopolized by TEAL, which is owned by Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand wants for TEAL a route from Auckland via Tahiti and Hawaii to San Francisco, and is said to be offering reciprocal rights to Pan American. TEAL also wants rights beyond San Francisco. The future of TEAL, which New Zealand is reported to beenvisaging as its international flag carrier, is now under review, and it is reported that New Zealand mav be given the opportunityto buy out Australia's interest in the airline. If this occurred they would, it seems, be in the position of competing against PanAm sjets with Electras. Meanwhile, the French also want trans-Tasman rights betweenSydney and Auckland for TAI—presumably in exchange for rights previously given to TEAL through Tahiti to Hawaiiand bevond to the US. It is said that New Zealand has conceded trans-Tasman rights to TAI, but it is not certain that theAustralians would allow TAI's DC-8s to operate the service from Sydney—unless the French give Qantas traffic rights in Pans.
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