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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0960.PDF
60 FLIGHT, 13 July 1961 The first of 15 ex-TCA DC-4Ms acquired by Overseas Aviation is now, the company states, operat- ing in the temporary livery of the Gatwick-based inde- pendent. This is one of their ex-BOAC aircraft ATLB PUBLIC MEETING 21 HERE we continue our report of the Air Transport Licensing Board'sbiggest and most complicated hearing to date. Key figures are the chair- man, Prof Jack, whose deft handling of the proceedings is in the Terring-ton tradition; Mr Henry Marking of BEA and Mr Ashton Hill of Cunard Eagle, whose expertise in argument and cross-examination matches thatof professional counsel (which their companies have not employed): and British United's counsel, Mr Gerald Gardiner, QC, whose highlyskilled advocacy is of the agreeably friendly and non-forensic kind appropriate to an air transport hearing. CROSS-EXAMINATION of Mr Whybrow, a BUA witness,on the comparison between N. Atlantic and European farestructures and trends was continued by Mr Marking forBEA. He suggested that the charts and tables produced by BUA were misleading in that they were based on propeller services across the Atlantic, which would be only 6 per cent of the total in 1962-63, and that the European routes considered had been chosen because they favoured BUA's case—excluding, for example, the Gibraltar and Malta routes, which had the lowest rates per mile outside the British Isles. First-class fares had not been taken into account; these were 85 per cent higher than tourist fares over the Atlantic but only 37 per cent higher in Europe. Mr Whybrow said that the lowest fares available to the public had been considered on both routes; N. Atlantic fare changes being considered by I ATA might affect jet services. The 18 route? BUA had used as a basis for European figures were a representative cross section: special low fares were available on two-thirds of them. Mr Marking referred to the charts prepared by BEA, introduced at the end of the previous hearing, which included night excursion fares in Europe, and were based on a different selection of routes. He suggested that BEA 52 showed a generally lower fare level in Europe than on the N. Atlantic, taking April 1958 as the base point and taking into account European night inclusive tour rates. BEA 53 showed that there had been a drop of over 3d per passenger- mile on European routes and over 2d on domestic routes since 1947. Mr Marking suggested that the BUA traffic statistics might be misleading as they might not include figures for certain coach-air and short distance cross-Channel services which carried heavy traffic. He also suggested that transit passengers might have been included in the numbers of passengers to certain European coun- tries. Mr Whybrow stated that the source of the figures used by BUA was the Board of Trade, Mr Marking suggesting that the figures might also have been influenced by the inclusion of free and rebated passengers, and asking whether Mr Whybrow would assess these as 10 per cent of the total. Mr Whybrow said it would, in his opinion, be more like 5 per cent. BEA's Inclusive Tour Traffic Mr Marking next questioned Mr Whybrow about inclusive tourtraffic and asked whether he knew how many IT passengers had been carried by BEA; Mr Whybrow said he did not, as the figures were notincluded in the BEA report. Mr Marking then produced a chart (BEA 55) showing IT traffic on BEA and independent aircraft andasked Mr Whybrow to agree that this showed that BEA had in fact carried more IT traffic up to 1956 and had again overtaken the inde-pendents in 1958-59. Witness wanted to know the source of BEA figures and Mr Marking remarked that he was asking the questions. Counsel for BUA asked Mr Whybrow about IT traffic, and the wit-ness quoted from the BEA report for 1959-60 which stated that BEA's IT traffic had increased by 46 per cent in the summer of 1959. TheATAC report for 1960 had also commented on the reduction in IT business by special flights as a result of the availability of IT bookingson scheduled services. This intervention, together with that of foreign carriers on pooled services, was seriously affecting the IT business of theindependents. Counsel also asked whether the Gibraltar and Malta routes were cabotage routes and therefore not subject to IATA controlof fares; Mr Whybrow confirmed that this was so. Asked what he thought would be the future pattern of fares on the North Atlantic andEuropean routes. Mr Whybrow said that he thought European fares would probably go down in about 1965, and Atlantic fares would besharply reduced. Mr F. A. Laker, executive director of the Air Transport Division ofBUA, was the next witness. Questioned by counsel, he said that BUA's proposed Victoria Station Air Terminal would not depend on thesuccess of the applications. Heads of agreement with the British Trans- port Commission had been signed. BUA would go ahead with thisproject, which would have the advantage of providing air facilities at the traditional gateway to the Continent, with good rail connections toGatwick, which was the main terminal and operating centre of BUA, who had spent about half a million pounds on hangars and workshopsand were now spending a further £85,000 on an administration block. Gatwick was readily available to people living in South and South-EastEngland. Mr Laker felt there was scope for parallel operation. Traffic wasincreasing. A second carrier using an airport complementary to Heath- row would benefit passengers and produce useful competition. He wasnot in favour of pooling agreements. BUA had originally decided to re-equip with Trident aircraft butvarious considerations, including the possibility of rapid turnrounds and greater flexibility of operation with smaller aircraft, the readyavailability of the manufacturer's base at Weybridge, good take-off performance and rapid climb—with consequent reduction in the nuis-ance caused by noise—had led them to change to the BAC-111. The company's finances were adequate for this re-equipment. Questionedby counsel about finances, Mr Laker said that a major company such as BUA needed a share of scheduled services to provide a reasonabledegree of security in view of the high cost of equipment. Trooping contracts were marginal—a major contract had operated last year at aprice which represented only 1.4d per passenger-mile—and were normally initially for one year, but could be broken at three or sixmonths' notice. Effects of Pools Inclusive tour business had, he said, been pioneered by Airwork withPolytechnic Tours in 1948, and had gone ahead rapidly after regulariza- tion in 1952. ITX fares [inclusive tour fares on scheduled services]had been introduced in 1959 (effective in 1960) and independents had carried less IT traffic in 1960 than in 1959. Mr Laker thought thatspecial IT flights would be virtually finished within ten years. Counsel for BUA continued his examination of Mr Laker with areference to three agreements which had been put in by BEA, and asked what proportion of traffic from the UK. was generated by the UK.Mr Laker estimated seven to every one generated elsewhere: of the total traffic BEA carried about 56 per cent. Questioned on the effectsof pools. Mr Laker said that he thought that these discouraged staff" by removing the incentive of competition, diverted revenue from Briitshoperators and led to operation of restricted frequencies at high load factors. He thought that a load factor above about 70-75 per centmeant that the ceiling of traffic for the frequency operated was being reached. If a term were to be imposed on any licence granted he wouldwant this to be at least the write-off term of the aircraft to be used. BUA could start operations on any route for which a licence might begranted by 1963. They expected delivery of BAC-llls to start in 1964 and would want a licence extending until 1973. Building up a servicewould take time and he would not expect to achieve the hoped-for load factor at first. Mr Marking, for BEA, began his cross-examination of Mr Lakerby reference to a pamphlet issued by BUA at approximately the date of application by BUA for the licences being considered (Flight. January27, page 128). BUA had stated in this pamphlet that the routes for which they were applying represented the minimum required foreconomic operation. Mr Marking referred to the withdrawal of certain of these applications and asked whether this meant that the remainingroutes, for which BUA were still applying, could not be economically operated. Mr Laker explained that work had been found since the time of theapplications to occupy five of the ten Viscounts that had then appeared likely to be surplus to requirements. In reply to further questions, heexplained that this work included services to Las Palmas, Tenerife. Sierra Leone and the duplication of the Sudan Airways service toKhartoum and had not all been contemplated at the time the applica- tions were submitted. Questioned about his resentment of BEA's competition on inclusivetour traffic, he said that he considered this unfair competition. Con- tracted tour work was short-term and seasonal, whereas BEA wereable to offer inclusive tour rates on any route and at any frequency. He thought the unrestricted activity of BEA was unfair competition inview of the restrictions imposed on the independents. Mr Marking asked whether he thought that BEA's 56 per cent of European airtraffic and large proportion of inclusive tour business were the result of competition from a monopoly which BUA had suggested was "com-placent and supine"; he also asked how Mr Laker reconciled his state- ment, in a TV interview, that BUA's existing network only had enoughscheduled service work to cater for one big jet and that they needed "a minimum of nine aircraft with an increased scheduled network to makeit a viable situation commercially" with the suggestion that the indepen-
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