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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0671.PDF
AIR 18 May 1961 COMMERCE 681 nnurd hopes to attract sufficient trade from exporters andimporters in London and the south-east to operate freight services. jt may be recalled that it was Hugh and Audrey Kennard who.in 11JJ6, formed Air Kruise at Lympne, and they may be regarded as tin pioneers in this country of inclusive-tour travel. Nothinghas rccn said about the source from which the new company will recei-e financial backing, but the amount is said to be substantial. 1961 SAFETY RECORD SO FAR ALL 78 occupants of Air France Super Constellation F-BHBMlost their lives when the aircraft crashed 20 miles south ofEdieie- in the Sahara Desert, on May 10. There were 69 passengers and a crew of nine on board. The flight. Air France 406, left Brazzaville late on May 9 bound for Paris, and had called at Bangui and Fort Lamy. When it crashed it was en route for Marseilles, where it was reported over- due at 0500hr GMT. Search aircraft found the wreckage some hours after. In reviewing the 1960 safety record we said: "'It is a soberingthought that if traffic increases in 1961 at the same rate as in 1960 and the fatality rate remains at an optimistic 1.2 per 100m passenger-miles, then nearly 1,000 passengers are going to be killed in 1961 on scheduled services.'" Nearly five months into 1961, only (rela-tively speaking) 272 passengers have been killed. TROUBLE IN THE PHILIPPINES FEW airlines have had to undergo such a searching cross-examination as that to which Philippine Air Lines has oflate been subjected. The tragic loss of two DC-3s last winter led to a short-lived amount of adverse customer-reaction, a longer-livedattack in the Press, and a Senate inquiry that is still scrutinizing the company's affairs. PAL has until now been administered by afirm of managing agents, A. Soriano y Cia. with Mr Soriano (who is part of the Filipino establishment) as president. The presentfracas has resulted in a substantial re-organization of the airline's management, including the resignation of Mr Soriano. In these harassed circumstances it is hardly surprising that theannual report for 1960 is a sketchy affair. PAL's traffic trend in 1960 was a microcosm of world developments in general, withtraffic increasing quickly (in this case by 24 per cent) under the stimulus of high-density, low-fare services, but with load factorsdropping because capacity increased even more rapidly. Another typically adverse influence was a rise in unit costs, largely the resultof higher depreciation charges. The net effect of these adversities was a reduction in profit from Pesos 2.5m to 1.6m. Early next year PAL will be taking delivery of two DC-8s—bought at a cost of S5.3m each—which will allow resumption of the trans-Pacific services to the USA that were abandoned in 1954.Meanwhile, their only international operation continues to be the daily Viscount service linking Manila and Hong Kong. The com-pany's four Viscounts (one was only recently added to the fleet) also fly over a number of the more important inter-island serviceswithin the Philippines. The bulk of these domestic services are, however, operated by a fleet of almost 30 DC-3s. supplemented bya pair of F-27s. The economy of these domestic services is now squeezed by weight restrictions imposed on the DC-3s following thetwo accidents. The final group of PAL services consists of the highly uneconomical rural network, which is operated by a fleet offour Twin Pioneers (a fifth is on order) and four Otters. Last year these rural services lost almost Pesos ^m. The expenses—and losses—likely to arise in the early stages ofDC-8 operation, coupled with the threat of increasing jet competi- tion on regional routes and diminishing returns from the domesticservices, do not add up to a picture which can be too pleasing to PAL's shareholders. Vickers can still make up an impressive assembly line out of Viscount orders, as this picture testifies. It shows Viscounts in production at Vickers' Hum factory, with an 807 for New Zealand National Airways in the foreground and 810s for Japan, Germany and Ghana behind TEN HIS FOR BUA (from page 674) But the main reason, he said, was that the BAC-111 is "a straight,one hundred per cent replacement for the Viscount." His airline had had "a few things to say" in their specification for their new jet;for example, it had to be the same size as the Viscount, operate to the same WAT curve, and operate non-stop between London andMalta against a 40kt wind with reserves, the design case. At question time a number of important remarks were forth-coming from both Sir George and Mr Laker. Asked about the flying control system. Sir George said that it would be manual, butthe aircraft would be capable of development from autoflare to autolanding. Had the type of autopilot been specified? "Let's sayno to make it easy" was the good humoured reply. Was the order conditional on the success of British United's licence application?"1 was rather afraid of this one coming up," said Mr Laker, who remarked that it would be a pity to turn a BAC press conferenceinto an attack on the corporations. "Let me say that we want ten BAC-111s to do our existing business. The ten will be supple-mented by a further five in the event of our licences being granted." Had the remaining ten of the 20 aircraft being built yet been ear-marked? The indications were, said Sir George amid laughter, that "thirty of the remaining ten would be earmarked fairly soon."What was the price? Sir George said he expected that the fixed price would not be lower than £775,000, rising to more than£800,000, depending on special equipment and developments. He remarked that BAC were already developing the 111, "to take thecorner of the payload-range curve from about 500 miles to, say, double—to over 1,000 miles." Design weight was the zero fuelweight and the wing had been designed for the gust case and not for the take-off case.How about British United's order for four VClOs? No decision has yet been made, replied Mr Laker. Would there be Governmentparticipation in the 111? The short answer to that, replied Sir George, was yes; the Government was prepared in principle tocontribute to the cost of launching the project. He did not know in what proportion, and even if he did he would not be allowed to say.Would Government support be forthcoming for the 107 also? For the moment, replied Sir George, support would just be for theBAC-111. He thought that the development costs of the Viscount ("in simple arithmetic that a plumber can understand") wereabout half the sum paid to the Government in royalties. It had been "not too unsuccessful a venture for the Government." Other points that came out during question time were that theVC11 has been shelved, it having been decided that the BAC-111 is "a better bet." Collaboration with an American company onthe 111 had "not been seriously discussed. . . . This is an area," said Sir George, "in which we are pretty good on our own." One type of airline pooling for which there is universal approval is that of common spares-holdings, a device with which TWA, and 32 other operators participating in a conference at Kansas City recently, will this year save £l2m. The meeting had the resounding title "World Wide Consolidated Meeting for Pooling and Technical Facilities and Services at Line Stations." Among those taking part were (I to r) D. M. Munro, BOAC; E. Komayayasi, JAL; A. E. Jordan, TWA; R. Lozet, Air France; and K. L. Kantham, Air-India
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