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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0463.PDF
471 World Airlines Survey A 48-page special feature BRITAIN'S NEW BOARD Plain Man's Guide to the Air Transport Licensing Board By the Air Transport Editor ON a day soon to be announced, the Air Transport LicensingBoard will face its first real test. On this day, and probablyon the two following days, it will hear arguments for and against the addition of a second British airline on the world's most impor-tant international route, the North Atlantic. Cunard Eagle is the applicant, BOAC the objector. The future of British air transportrests in the hands of this new Board, and it is timely to summarize its constitution and terms of reference. This is perhaps best done byanswering some of the questions that are often asked about it. What is the Board's purpose? As defined in the Civil Aviation Licensing Act, I960, its statutoryduty is "to further the development of British civil aviation.'" Why was it necessary?The Civil Aviation Act of 1946 gave BOAC and BEA the mono- poly of Britain's scheduled air services. The independents were indue course allowed to operate some scheduled services as associates of the corporations, but as time went by many of these associateagreements became a legal fiction. They had given the independents a licence to compete, rather than associate with the corporations,and the law had to be changed before it became an ass. The corporations' monopoly was revoked in 1960, and the inde-pendents were then free to apply for any services. The Air Transport Licensing Board was created to license and control this freedom, andto replace the Air Transport Advisory Council (see later). For the first time in the industry, air service licences were to be issued, theissuing authority being the Board. Who can apply to the Board, and for what kind of licences? Any British operator, independent or corporation, can apply for any kind of air service. There are six kinds of licence, explained in Table 1. Certain classes of operation are exempt from licensing. Is it the Board's job to protect BOAC and BEA?No, this is not specifically laid down in the Act, but the constitu- tion of the Board provides powerful safeguards for the two corpora-tions. For example, among the things that the Board has to consider before allowing an independent on to a BOAC or BEA route are:(1) the adequacy of BOAC or BEA services; (2) the possibility of wasteful duplication of, or material diversion from, BEA or BOACservices; and (3) the corporations' financial commitments or com- mercial agreements [i.e. pool agreements]. There will be no mass handing over of BOAC's and BEA'sbusiness to the independents, but this business is no longer legally inviolate. If anyone can apply for anything, so to speak, won't the Board be inundated with applications from ambitious independents? This obvious possibility was foreseen, and the Minister decidedthat there was to be a financial deterrent to the frivolous and vexatious applicant. It costs quite a lot of money to apply for alicence; British United Airways (who could hardly be classed as a frivolous applicant) had to pay more than £3,000 when they appliedfor a network of scheduled services in Europe and to Africa. The scale of charges, graded accordingly to the desirability of themarket, is illustrated in Table 2 and in the map, overleaf. The phrase "the Minister decided" suggests that the Board does what the Minister tells it; just how independent is it? The idea was that it should be a completely independent executivelicensing authority—unlike the old Air Transport Advisory Council, whose job was only to advise the Minister (though he alwaysaccepted their advice). In fact, the Minister gave the Board a considerable degree ofindependence, though it is clear that he has reserved to himself two important powers, over (1) international traffic rights, and (2) inter-national (though not United Kingdom domestic) fares. He has retained complete control over these important aspects of Britishair transport because they involve questions of national sovereignty which—in his view—cannot be delegated. So far as fares are concerned, the Minister's role is largely that ofa rubber-stamper of fare agreements reached by the International Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade association, of whichBOAC, BEA, British United, Cunard Eagle and Skyways are members. His powers here are largely academic, but they exist. TheAct appears to allow scope for the Board to initiate changes; but final responsibility for international fares rests with the Minister. In the matter of traffic rights the Board's role must be passive.Indeed, it must actually be submissive, because the Minister—under the draconian Section 2(3) of the Act—can tell the Board to rejectany application which, in his opinion, looks as though it might upset a foreign operator. Just how often he will exercise this powerremains to be seen; he did not do so when British United and Cunard Eagle applied for a series of European routes which nearlyall looked tricky from the traffic-rights point of view. But so long as he has this power, and has in his pocket the master key to thedouble lock of fares and traffic rights, and has the last word on appeals, the Board cannot really be called independent. [ Continued overleaf] Table 1: Classes of Air Service Licence Class A Class B Class C Class D Class E Class F Scheduled service to specified points, usually at aspecified fare. Six months' notice required. Generally intended to cover inclusive tours, this is fornon-scheduled services between specified points at separate fares (usually specified) open to the generalpublic. Six months' notice required. Generally intended to cover charter operations of notmore than three flights; the points are specified, but not the fare. Seventy-two hours' notice required.Generally intended to cover "group" charter (see text) operations, in this case of more than three flights.Points are specified, but not the fare. Two to 12 weeks' notice required, depending on area (see Table 2 andmap). This is for any sort of air transport service, scheduled ornon-scheduled, between unspecified places. It will be useful for operators who often get very short notice offlights, and will avoid the need for a hearing each time such a flight comes up. Six months' notice required.Covers anything other than an air transport service that is not an exempted service. Footnote: The precise definitions of each class of licence are given inthe Civil Aviation (Licensing) Regulations, 1960; the above definitions are a general interpretation only. THE BOARD'S EIGHT WISE MEN :— Prof D. T. jack Mr A. H. Wilson Prof R. G. D. Allen Mr C. Bagnall Mr E. Baldry Mr C. P. Harvey, QC Sir Frisian How Mr W. P. lames (chairman) deputy chairman)
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