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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1353.PDF
! WORKERSENTRANCE FLIGHT, 14 September 1961 457 Suitable for VCIOs, of which Nigeria Airways will have two from SOAC's fleet of 15, the African airline's new engineering hangar at Lagos is depicted in this architect's drawing. Consultant engineers are Hedley S. Crabtree & Co Ltd of London and the architect is Mr R. A. Rathbone. The small diagram shows the planned future extensions AIR COMMERCE... of European air transport. The ideal, of course, is a multilateralagreement on free trade in the air; and while progress is inevitably slow, a little bit more liberality is agreed in principle each year.Usually the ECAC publishes a communique at the end of each annual meeting, summarizing what took place; this year it did notdo so, but it is possible nevertheless to obtain a broad picture of what transpired. The meeting took place from July 5 to July 19. One importantagreement was that the multilateral on non-scheduled services Flight, April 15, 1960, page 545)—which is a really quite successfulattempt to liberalize non-scheduled operations in Europe—should now be extended to include closed groups. The UK definition ofa closed group, as laid down in the Civil Aviation (Licensing) Regulations, 19£0, appears to have been accepted. The mostimportant, and surprising, decision was that there will not be another full meeting of the ECAC until 1964. This is not considered to bean indication that the ECAC is tired; the idea is that the machinery will be more manageable if small groups are allocated to examinespecific problems. It was agreed, for example, that the Institut de Transport Aerienshould undertake a study of European non-scheduled operations, rather similar to the study the ITA did on the inclusive tour busi-ness. The report is due to be ready in March. And it was resolved, in principle, to try to find some way of embracing inclusive tourswithin a multilateral agreement. The expansion of air freight was discussed and a specialist group was asked to submit its views onways and means of easing national formalities and to recommend ways in which governments could be more liberal in their attitudestowards air freight traffic. THE MAGIC POOL RECENT issues of Air-India's admirable staff magazine MagicCarpet have contained interesting references to the BOAC/Qantas/Air-lndia tripartite pool agreement. Reporting earlier in the summer on the completion of the first year of the pool (whichended in October I960) Mr B. W. Patel, the general manager, said that the airline has raised "substantial amounts" from the pool,this being "mainly due to the fact that we had the largest equip- ment." (During half the year concerned, Air-India operated 707sas well as Super Constellations; BOAC operated Comets and Britannias, and Qantas Boeing 707s.) Mr Patel noted that "in theinitial stages of a pool there is always disparity and imbalance." He does not say which airline benefited from this imbalance duringthe first year of the pool, but it is reasonable to infer that it was Air-India; during 1960-61 Air-India's overall load factor plungeddrastically—to 47.3 per cent compared with 58.2 per cent in the previous year. Passenger load factor fell to 50.1 per cent from56.8 per cent. Mr Patel says that, but for th? pool, Air-India would not have introduced Boeings and opened the North Atlantic route inthe same year. Writing in another recent issue of Magic Carpet, Air-India's financial controller, Mr N. J. Pavri, refers to '"substantial creditsreceived from the tripartite revenue pool." This pool, he says, eliminates competition among the pool partners and, so far as thetotal pool receipts are concerned, "it does not matter very much as to which partner actually carries the traffic." He adds, however,that it should be the company's "constant endeavour" to increase the revenues earned by all three partners. Noting that the Indian Government has absolved Air-Indiafrom all interest payments until October 1, 1966, largely because of the airline's interest commitments on its Boeing 707s, Mr Pavrisays that this is "a dispensation for which the corporation is very grateful to the Government." No doubt Air-India is gratified alsoby the recent decision of the US Ex-lm Bank to advance a loan of $8.1m to the Indian Government to meet part of the dollar expendi-ture on the purchase of two additional Boeing 707-420s by Air-India. It appears that, thanks to a beneficent government, a helpfulEx-lm Bank, and what is evidently a highly favourable pool agreement with BOAC and Qantas, Air-India is having a verysmooth financial passage into the jet age. Footnote: The BOAC/Qantas/Air-India pool agreement is likelyto be discussed at the ATLB hearings, due to come up in the second half of November, into British United's application for FarEastern routes. It will be recalled that this agreement contains a clause giving BOAC exclusive rights to scheduled services on theroutes concerned in the pool. HOW TO SATISFY THE ARB THE ARB's notice to licensed aircraft engineers and to owners ofcivil aircraft No. 60, Issue 2, issued on August 1, deals withthe requirements for an Air Operator's Certificate, and supplements the Ministry's original Notes for the Guidance and Information ofApplicants for an Air Operator's Certificate, discussed in our issue of January 20. An AOC is of course a legal requirement for alloperators of public transport aircraft of over 5,0001b a.u.w. The Ministry seeks the advice of the ARB in matters of engineeringcompetence; and here, published for the first time, is what the ARB expects an AOC-worthy operator to show. A current maintenance schedule, approved in accordance withBritish Civil Airworthiness Requirements, must be available for each aircraft operated. In addition to the more obvious require-ments such as sufficient skilled engineering staff, sufficient hangar space, equipment and workshop facilities, suitable quarantine andbonded stores must be provided together with suitable stores records. Current technical literature and drawings must be available forthe aircraft concerned, and there must be an arrangement with the manufacturer whereby the operator is notified of all amendments toand reissues of such literature and drawings. Where any part of the maintenance is to be carried out at aroute station, the operator must ensure that acceptable facilities are provided and appropriately licensed aircraft engineers areavailable for certification purposes. Such additional maintenance facilities as may, in the ARB's opinion, be necessary for the particu-lar type of operation must be provided, and the ARB will make periodic checks to ensure that maintenance facilities are up tostandard. Where an operator does not intend to carry out his own maintenance, alternative arrangements made with other main-tenance organizations, and the operator's liaison with the latter, must be approved by the ARB. Aerolineas Argentinas is to be the first Avro 748 customer to take delivery. Visiting Avro's Woodford and Chadderton factories on August 31 were officials of the airline, which has ordered nine 748s. From left to right, Mr C. L. Hatton, general superintendent, VVoodford; Ing Cagnacci, engineering director. Aerolineas Argentinas; Mr P. R. Hildebrandt, London manager, Aerolineas Argentines; Mr £. Galitzine, sales manager, A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd; Brig £. Mirant Bor4e, vice-president of Aerolineas Argentinas; and Ing Aeron R. E. Tizio, Aerolineas Argentinas technical representative resident at A. V. Roe
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