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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0666.PDF
676 FLIGHT, 18 Ma, 961 EI-ADF "St. Ronan" was one of seven Viekers Vikings used on United Kingdom and Ireland routes in 1947-48 Four Bristol Wayfarers Mk3IE were purchased by Aer Lingus in 1952 pending delivery of their first Viscounts When first delivered in April 1954, Viscount V.7O7 EI-AFV "St. Patrick" was in natural metal finish with green-and-white fash Aer Lingus put their first Viscount V.808 into service on the main routes to the UK and Western Europe in May 1957. Since then EI-AJI "St. Gall" has been joined by another six In April 1958, after ten years, the Aerlinte North Atlantic service was revived, using three Lockheed L.I049 Super Constellations leased from Seaboard & Western. "St. Patrick" operated from Dublin to Boston and New York, via Shannon, until December I960, when the company's first Boeing 720 entered service Aer Lingus was the first European airline to place the Fokker F.27 Friendship in service (in November 1958), mainly on United Kingdom routes. EI-AKF "St. Finian" is one of seven Friendships named after Irish saints whose names begin with "F" A trio of Lockheed L.749 Constellations of Aerlinte Eireann, E/-AC "S; Patrick," EI-ACR "St. Enda" and EI-ADA "St. Brigid," on the op on at Shannon in September 1947 SHAMROCK SILVER JUBILEE . . . considerably modified the pattern of the company's operationsand enabled new routes to be opened during 1954-55 to Lourdes Biarritz and Barcelona. Further new equipment was ordered in1956 in the form of three 60-seater Viscount V.8O8s and seven 40- seater Fokker F.27 Friendships, to be delivered in 1957 and 1958, alogical partnership of turboprop aircraft for short and medium- length routes. The company celebrated its twenty-first anniversary in 1957by opening routes from Dublin (via Manchester) to Brussels, Diisseldorf, Frankfurt, Rome and Zurich. In 1959 three moreViscount V.808s were delivered and the route-system spread north- ward to Copenhagen and southward to Lisbon. In the same year aseasonal route to Blackpool, in conjunction with Silver City Air- ways, was opened; and during 1960, in addition to re-opening thedirect Shannon - London route, Aer Lingus inaugurated an all-the- year-round route to Leeds and Bradford, in pool with BKS AirTransport; they also started a special low-fare seasonal service to Cherbourg. By this time the fleet had grown to seven V.808Viscounts, seven Friendships and five Douglas DC-3s, the last- named being used mainly for charter and cargo work. A new strength and balance were given to the Irish airline systemwhen routes across the North Atlantic from Dublin and Shannon to New York and Boston were opened in 1958, using leased SuperConstellations. This service is operated by Aerlinte Eireann (Airlines of Ireland), a sister company of Aer Lingus, originallyfounded to serve the North Atlantic route which it was hoped would start in 1948. The two companies operate together as a singleairline, Aer Lingus - Irish International Airlines, having a unified management and staff. By the end of 1960 the first of three Boeing720-048 turbojets was superseding the piston-engined Super Constellations on the company's North Atlantic routes. All threenew aircraft were in service by Easter this year. Carrying 117 first- class and economy-class passengers, each takes approximately sixhours for the flight from Dublin to New York. During 1960 almost three-quarters of a million passengerstravelled by Aer Lingus - Irish International Airlines and nearly 13,000 tons of freight were carried over the North Atlantic.European and United Kingdom sectors of the system. The silver jubilee of Aer Lingus falls next week—on May 27—and brings with it new prospects (and all the new problems) associ- ated with a virile, expanding, yet still—by international airlinestandards—compact organization. Nevertheless, in the commercial field, the Irish airlines, by reason of their low overheads and of thecomplementary nature of their networks, possess unique advantages over their North American competitors, who are denied access tccertain important Western European countries to which Aer Lingus already operate. Looking into the future, with the Irish airline now serving almostall the densely populated regions of the United Kingdom, the frequency of these services will undoubtedly be increased—in fact,there are plans to operate the Boeing 720s on the busy Dublin • London route this summer and, possibly, to other destinations on theContinent. The medium and short-range sections of the system will this year include an extension of the Jersey route to Rennes, aDublin - Belfast and a Dublin - Cork service, as well as services from Cork to Bristol, Cardiff, London and Paris. Frequency onthe North Atlantic will reach a peak of two return flights daily during the tourist season, and this should ensure for the nationalairline an even larger share of the traffic terminating and originating in Ireland. Further plans include a cheap-fare, high-density serviceon United Kingdom routes and to selected Continental destina- tions, using 100-seater turboprop aircraft; and, by next spring, thereduction of reservation costs by drastic simplification of the com- plex airline reservations system. Fifth aircraft to bear the name of Ireland's patron saint is E/-Ai A St. Patrick"—a Boeing 720-048, flagship of the Aer Lingus-Irish h emo- tional Airlines fleet
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