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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0865.PDF
FLIGHT, 22 June 1961 877 Parliament, near which the Boeing Vertol 107 prototype demonstrator is ;een here flying on June 9, may soon be asking questions about BEA's reported decision to import this helicopter (though probably not its T-3 engines) in preference to a British product. On board for this flight, ib ing which a landing was made on the Thames near Westminster Br dge, was Mr A. H. Milward, BEA's chief executive. The aircraft was flown by Capt J. A. Cameron, BEA's chief helicopter pilot AIR COMMERCE D.H.126 IN THE NEWS FOR some months now it has been an open secret that deHavilland Aircraft have been testing market reaction to whatmight be broadly termed a 30-seat DC-3 replacement with two rear-mounted turbofan jets—the smallest jet airliner (as opposed tojet executive) yet attempted. Among the operators who are on record as having shown interest are Airlines of New South Wales, asubsidiary of Ansett-ANA, and Trans-Australia Airlines (Flight, May 25, page 725). So far, de Havilland have volunteered noinformation, but at Hatfield last week, while the Press were asking senior officials of United Arab Airlines about their plans for thefuture, the subject of the D.H.126 was raised. The question that brought this new project into the news,directed to UAA, was: "Do you intend to replace your Viscounts with a small jet, and if so, what ?" The answer came from MrHussein Tewfik, deputy general manager of the airline: "Yes, we want to buy the D.H.126." Asked how many and when, MrTewfik said UAA would need seven to replace six Viscounts in 1964. During the ensuing exchanges, it was said that the pricebeing quoted was about £190,000. Mr H. G. Sturgeon, managing director of de Havilland Aircraft,said that the decision to produce the aircraft "hangs on the optimum size." He went on: "We want a design easily optimized to suit allairlines, because of the difficult economic problems you run into in aircraft of this class, which has to operate stages of up to five orsix hundred miles." It was not an aircraft likely to be ordered in large batches—orders of five to 15 at a time might be typical of thekind of business they would do. In appearance the D.H.126 resembled the D.H.125, though of course it was larger. In reply to a question, Mr Sturgeon thought it reasonable toassume that an aircraft of this class would get Government sup- port. The D.H.126 had already been through the TASG [Ministryof Aviation Transport Aircraft Study Group] and had, he thought, been well received. The TASG had received presentations of theD.H.121, D.H.125 and D.H.126 at the same time. Asked whether Viscounts would be accepted in part exchangefor D.H.126s, Mr Sturgeon said: "We think that airlines will be able to realize a better second-hand price than we could." Aircraftmanufacturers were not dealers and, after all, people who wanted second-hand cars didn't always go to a dealer. Would the enginebe the Rolls-Royce RB.172? Mr Sturgeon said that no decision had been made, but "we have got to have a specific approachingthat of a piston engine." During the course of the exchanges it was evident that Rolls-Royce, Bristol Siddeley and de Havilland are alloffering new turbofan engine designs for the D.H.126. [UAA and the VC10: page 880. LORD DOUGLAS RE-APPOINTED LORD Douglas of Kirtleside, chairman ofBEA,has accepted theinvitation of the Minister of Aviation, Mr Peter Thorneycroft,to continue as chairman of the board until December 23, 1963, when he will be 70. He became chairman in March 1949, having joinedthe board little more than four months earlier, and his present appointment was due to end in March next year. FARE-FREEZE THAW ? LIKE some Yeti of the Himalayas, material diversion continuesto leave its tracks on air transport, inspiring myths attributing exaggerated and even fearsome powers to it, although to manypeople it is more of a shadow than a substance. Certainly our Air Transport Licensing Board must soon be wishing that the phrasehad never found its way into the new Act. What is not always realized is that it is possible for an airline tocause material diversion from its own scheduled traffic by offering attractive group charter rates on non-scheduled flights in depreciatedpiston-engined equipment—a class of business into which they have been driven by charter operators like Flying Tiger, Seaboard, Riddleand Cunard Eagle. The number of transatlantic charter flights between the USA and Europe has grown immensely since 1957. In that year there were just over 500 flights by scheduled and non-scheduled carriers, compared with more than 1,500 in 1960. In terms of passengers, not quite 39,000 people availed themselves oftransatlantic charter flights in 1957 compared with nearly 130,000 in 1960. Of these about one-third were carried by US operators.IATA is beginning to be seriously concerned at the diversion from scheduled services, and an "informal" meeting of 16 airlinesin New York on June 2 is to be followed by what has been described as a "crucial conference" in London on July 18 of the 18 trans-atlantic I ATA carriers to discuss proposals for meeting group charter competition with their own group charter rates. Several IATA carriers are already very much in the group travelbusiness: BO AC, for instance, has been operating something like two DC-7C or Britannia charters a day in the 1960 and currentsummer seasons, and flew more than 31,000 non-scheduled hours in 1960 compared with little more than 13,000 hours in 1959.It can hardly be doubted that these charters have diverted some traffic from scheduled services as well as having generatedentirely new traffic that could only have flown at group rates. BOAC's western routes are not getting the traffic to match the hugeincreases in capacity, and this is attributed by BOAC to the American trade recession and President Kennedy"s reference toAmerica's foreign exchange shortage, leading Americans to fly Pan Am and TWA. BOAC has nearly 50 per cent more seats for sale on the USroutes this season but business has increased by only 10 per cent so far. "All Atlantic carriers are in the same position," says BOAC,"and there are still empty seats right through the peak season on all airlines." Load factor on the North Atlantic for all IATA carriers was downby no less than seven points in 1960 over the 1959 figure, a result of excess capacity on scheduled services and a consequence, no lessdire for having been predicted years ago, of the introduction of big jets. The natural growth of group charter as a fourth, sub-economyclass has resulted in several proposals from 1ATA carriers for this category of traffic. TCA has proposed a £71 London - Montrealreturn fare for groups numbering 45 upwards against the current £163 jet economy fare. BOAC is said to be not so keen on this, onthe grounds that parties not large enough for charter could be carried aboard ordinary scheduled flights in the same cabin asindividual passengers who are paying much more than group rates. (This, it will be recalled, is how BEA got into the independents'inclusive-tour business in 1959.) Also envisaged by I ATA, so it is reported, is a 23-day excursion fare of £107 applying all the yearround, instead of only in the off-season, giving the tourist an extra six days over last winter's 17-day £125 London-New York jetexcursion fare. It seems that the two-year "fare-freeze" agreed by IATA atCannes last October is having to be reconsidered as jet load factors continue to fall at an alarming rate. BOAC say frankly that thechoice now before them lies between cutting schedules or selling harder. The corporation has chosen to sell harder.
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