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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0270.PDF
274 FLIGHT, 3 March 196 MEA-LATEST COMET OPERATOR MEA's second Comet the subject of a deliver picture on page 25i last week, is now ii. scheduled service. It i: pictured here at Coin trin Airport, Geneva (Below) Plenty of spaa for expansion is avail able for MEA's over haul base, the twi hangars of which an now busy with work fc a number of airline-. "FLIGHT" photographs JET competition and additional expenditure resulting fromthe introduction of Comets notwithstanding, Middle EastAirlines may show a small profit in 1960. The airline's finances thus present a much happier face than they did two yearsago, when the Lebanese revolution ended. Plans for future expan- sion are based on opening-up new routes with Comet 4Cs, oncontinued high fleet-utilization, and on a sustained effort to reduce engineering costs. Two factors should influence MEA engineering efficiency thisyear. First is the reorganization that has followed the disband- ment of MASCO—the engineering organization funded by BOACand intended to become an overhaul base for many airlines in the Middle East area. It was also hoped that the organization couldact in a hiring capacity, leasing aircraft to operators during the period required for check 4s. MASCO never made money, partlybecause it never got properly under way, but also because, it seems, the wish of other operators to have their aircraft overhauled in theLebanon was over-estimated. There was thus no call for reserve aircraft, and Dart overhaul—another activity which was contem-plated—was made uneconomic with the rapid rise of time- between-overhauls of this engine. The hangars and equipmentwere bought by MEA at cost price. MASCO is, however, still a property holding company and ownsthe land on which the two new hangars, now taken over by MEA, are situated. The airline's engineering organization was stiffenedafter the exchange (Mr W. K. Forsyth, BOAC's manager, line maintenance, is now engineering controller) and it is now res-ponsible not only for the day-to-day maintenance and overhaul of MEA Comets and Viscounts, but performs on a limited scaletasks which would have been taken on by MASCO—overhauls for Kuwait Airways, Gulf Aviation and the Lebanese Air ForceTogether the organization handles some eight major airlines and its comprehensive maintenance facilities are available to casualvisitors—the PZL Kos was seen in one of the hangars during a recent visit. The other factor influencing MEA's future efficiency is thescheme recently introduced by Sheikh Najib Alamuddin whereby employees are made shareholders in the airline. About 20 percent of MEA's shares are allotted to its 1,975 employees and are bought by them over a period of six years up to a value equivalentto six months' salary. The management guarantees an annual dividend of 5 per cent and guarantees also to return the purchaseprice at any time during the five years following purchase. About 10 per cent of this block of shares has so far been taken up, but itwas explained that a service qualification is necessary before an employee becomes eligible to apply for shares. MEA is also thefirst company in the Middle East to introduce a full medical insur- ance scheme and free dentistry for employees and their families. Although 1961 is to be a year of consolidation for the airline,expansion is anticipated on three fronts: on routes to Africa, leading possibly to services to South America; on services to Prague, Istanbul and beyond, and on the expansion of tourism inthe Lebanon. Two weeks ago a Czechoslovakian delegation visited the Lebanon to discuss an exchange of traffic rights. TheCzechs are asking for services from Prague to Beirut via Sophia, Tirana or Belgrade and through to Kabul, leaving eventuallyto Bombay, Rangoon and Djakarta and other points beyond India. In return for traffic rights through Beirut, the Lebaneseare asking for services through Prague to Frankfurt, Zurich and London, through Ankara and Istanbul, and on through Paris,Hamburg and Amsterdam. "We are waiting to go behind the Iron Curtain," said the Sheikh, "and we note that airlines such asEast German Lufthansa want rights in the Middle East and beyond." MEA are making great efforts to attract tourists to theLebanon, and the lower off-season fares which were introduced last month should bring their own reward. Both President andPrime Minister of the Lebanon, Gen Fouad Chehab and Saeb Bey Salam, say that they are aware of deficiencies in the trans-port system, tourist hotels and beaches, but they hope that, under private enterprise, these will shortly be rectified. There are somespecial attractions: it is possible in the Lebanon to go ski-ing among the cedars barely an hour and a half after swimming inthe warm Mediterranean. If the tourist trade can be developed sufficiently, seashore and mountain slope might eventually belinked by scheduled helicopter services—the first in the Middle East. A. T. P. Now less than five hours from London, the Lebanon has much to offer the tourist. On the left is the city of Beirut and, right, part of the temple of Baalbek on the site of one of the world's oldest cities ^vfiJ *av,..
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