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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0447.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 1961 455 A new BEA service to Budapest was opened on Apr// 3 in partnership with Malev. The Hungarian airline will use llyushin II-18s and BEA will operate Viscounts, each twice-weekly. Seen here at Ferihegy Airport is V.806 G-APIM on a pre-inaugural proving fight monopoly. "If you restrict air trade to a singlecarrier," he said, "the growth of this dynamic industry is bound to be limited." Some people said that airtransport was different because trading rights had to be negotiated; but this was not true of the Colonies,thanks to which Britain was "in a better bargaining position than any other nation, including the USA."Some people believed that State ownership was the best way of running an industry, but they overlookedthe achievements of firms like Sainsbury, Ford, Wool- worth, Lipton and so on "who have had the men andwomen with the small purse in mind." And to have an industry, especially one as dynamic as air trans-port, rationalized from the start was restrictive to new ideas. He had "no hesitation in saying" that theimpetus for the low-fare Skycoach services came from British private enterprise. The Americans, French and Canadians had foundit possible to license "plurality of enterprise," and British Ford "would rather see an order go to Vauxhallthan lose it to Volkswagen"; there was a harmony of interest and sentiment in British trade. There was, he went on, a need for "individuality of enterpriseand the inception of new ideas in our industry." Size and age were not necessarily synonymous with drive and initiative. And Britishsuccess in aircraft manufacture depended on a thriving native user demand; the size of our aircraft industry, he said, "must depend onthe size and strength of our operating industry." It was not easy for one carrier to support aircraft development, "but the wholeeconomic picture changes when there is more than one carrier." The British aircraft industry, he thought, "have got an uphill fightwith the Americans, in every facet of production." Among the points made by Mr Bamberg during the discussionwere that, in his view, air cargo "woke up about a year ago." But it was important that Customs co-operated fully; a lot of docu-mentation was out of date, and Customs could be extremely helpful in eliminating formalities. Zurich-New York cargo, forexample, might take 72hr to clear in London. On the subject of traffic rights, there was nothing against a secondBritish carrier on the North Atlantic; and though IATA controlled fares, individual airlines could influence fare levels—"BEA havepersuaded 18 other countries to reduce fares in Europe." There was always the possibility of the open-rate situation, as was nowlikely in respect of North Atlantic cargo. Asked how independents could break into the corporation poolagreements that appeared to restrict independent opportunities to expansion, Mr Bamberg admitted there were difficulties and thatsome share of the cake would have to come from BEA. But it was, he said, difficult to generalize about pools and bilateral agreements—"not all nations take a restrictive view as regards traffic rights." There were difficulties, "but this should not affect the Air Trans-port Licensing Board considering a bigger share for private enterprise." BRITAIN'S BUSIEST AIRPORTS A PARAGRAPH on these pages last week dealt with the growthof Britain's airport traffic in 1960. The table below, which supplements it, shows which airports handled the larger share.Three indices of workload have been taken; total movements, which include take-offs and landings by light aircraft on trainingflights; air transport movements, and passengers handled. London (Heathrow) easily tops the list and Southend's air traffic controllerscan claim without fear of contradiction that their workload is second only to that of London. Another feature of this table is therelative position of Gatwick; although the runway is now quite busy, air transport movements are still only two-thirds of total Airport Heathrow Southend Gatwick Manchester Ferryfield Blackpool Birmingham Luton Prestwick Stansted Total move- ments 146,506 69,991 35,848 34,029 33,716 32,460 31,190 29,232 24,671 24,049 Airport Heathrow Southend Ferryfield Manchester Glasgow Gatwick Belfast Birmingham Prestwick Hum Air transport move-ments 135,468 33,446 32,610 28,346 22,244 19,593 14,044 11,747 9,262 9,096 Airport Heathrow Manchester Glasgow Gatwick Belfast Southend Prestwick Birmingham Ronaldsway Edinburgh Passengers handled (thou-sands) 5,380 751 652 475 428 381 301 283 275224 Note: Channel Islands aerodromes are not included The Government have recently made a present to Mali of three DC-3s. They were bought from BEA for a sum, inclusive of delivery charges and other items, of about £75,000. Mali, the newly independent West African state, is to be supplied by the USSR with //-/8s, Il-I4s, An-2s and Mi-4 helicopters, as well as airport equipment movements, so that the passenger building is probably still workingwell below capacity. Glasgow's place is also interesting, since nearly all its movements are made by air transport aircraft. A GUIDE TO RED TAPE UNTIL April 11 last year there were as many sets of regula-tions governing non-scheduled airline operations as there were countries. On that date 14 European countries, including theUK, implemented an agreement on a common set of rules which we described as a small but significant step towards the elusive idealof freedom of the air. Cargo flights in particular were allowed out on parole. The full context of the agreement was published by HMStationery Office in command paper Cmnd 1099. The countries concerned were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,West Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey. The Ministry has now published a helpful civil aviation informa-tion circular, No. 30/1961, which provides guidance on the red tape (the Ministry does not of course use this expression) with whichcountries entwine non-scheduled operations. The circular points out that the 1960 Civil Aviation Licensing Act does not affect "anyneed there may be for obtaining prior permission [for non-scheduled flights] from other civil aviation administrations." Annexes to thiscircular, which should have a place in every airline's commercial department, summarize the requirements of 42 countries. Anyqueries should be directed to the Ministry of Aviation, Branch ACG4, Shell-Mex House, Strand, London, WC2, telephone TempleBar 1207, extension 297 or 769. The European amnesty, after a year's experience, seems to beworking well, although some UK airlines are worried about the amount of inclusive-tour business being booked with UK travelagents by foreign operators such as Societe Area Mediterranea and Balair. British operators, who have to apply to the Air Trans-port Licensing Board for the necessary B licence, feel that this procedure is losing them business to foreign operators. This atany rate is what they say, though it is difficult to obtain chapter- and-verse about these complaints.
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