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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1540.PDF
644 FLIGHT, 19 October 1961 An affectionate " memorial tribute " to the DC-3 was recently held by BEA maintenance engineers at their London Heathrow base. The occasion was the last overhaul by BEA of a DC-3, a type which has been in continuous service with the corporation since February 1946. BEA's few remaining DC-3s, used for air freighting, will be replaced in November by Argosies AIR COMMERCE . . . THE BIG APPEAL (concluded) HERE we continue and conclude our summary, published in the previoustwo issues, of the evidence given at BOAC's appeal against the Air Transport Licensing Board's decision to grant Cunard Eagle a NorthAtlantic route licence. MR Fisher, for BOAC. suggested that Mr Gardiner had alsobeen playing a •gramophone record"—of the speech he hadmade to the Board at the hearing of applications for European services. Little of what Mr Gardiner had said, he submitted, related to the argu-ment heard by the Board, and Mr Gardiner seemed to be trying to manufacture a case out of thin air. Mr Fisher said he would not repeathis opening speech; nothing said by Mr Gardiner had thrown doubt on the correctness of the submissions made, which had been summarizedin writing. Dealing with various points raised by Mr Gardiner. Mr Fishersuggested that it was the duty of BOAC to develop the services which they had powers to provide. The duty of BOAC had always been con-strued as being to develop world-wide services and the corporation had built up, and intended to maintain, a tremendous national asset.Mr Fisher agreed that the repeal of Section 24 of the 1949 Act gave equal opportunity to apply; who should succeed was controlled, inthe absence of evidence on other considerations, by the provisions of Section 2(2) of the 1960 Act. There had been no submission to theBoard that they had a duty to grant independents enough licences to enable them to buy jet aircraft and survive, nor was there any indicationthat the Board had had this in mind. Mr Fisher said that Counsel for Cunard Eagle had argued that thelicence granted was '"only a little one." The appeal was a matter of principle, in a case which would help to establish vital precedents, andit must be decided on the evidence in the light of Section 2(2) of the 1960 Act. The traffic results of the last few months, since the Board'shearing of the application, were very relevant as they indicated that this would be the worst possible time to introduce a second carrier on theroute. BOAC's financial commitments for the purchase of aircraft, based on the assumption that the Corporation would carry the fullBritish share of the traffic, had had the approval of H.M. Government. The fact now important was that the aircraft ordered were still adequatefor the whole British traffic potential. The three Boeings which had been ordered this year had not been forroutes covered by this hearing. BOAC's objection under 2(2)(g) relied on orders placed for Boeings in 1956 and for VClOs and Super VClOsin 1958. "The Boeings we ordered in '61," said Mr Fisher, "have nothing to do with the case." Mr Fisher discounted the advantages ofa second operator claimed by Mr Gardiner. One result of thegrant might well be that the British aircraft industry would have no customers atall able to place development orders for aircraft like the VC10. It was not true that BOAC had underestimated traffic: their capacity shortagesin the 1950s had been caused by the Comet I disasters and shortage of dollars. Progress on VClOs at Vickers" works was on schedule. Asfor Mr Gardiner's suggestion that BOAC had been mollycoddled, there were 18 highly competitive rivals on the North Atlantic routes and theentry of Cunard Eagle would only make things more difficult for BOAC. Inter-Governmental agreements might be affected by the grant of alicence and were therefore relevant: no negotiation of rights would be Unlike most airlines, who are restraining their enthusiasm for the idea ofsupersonics, Lufthansa exhibited this model of a Mach 3 airliner at their recent annual meeting in Bonn. The German airline is discussing projects with the US industry, and hopes to introduce supersonic airliners in 1970. A note about Lufthansa's loss in I960 appears on the opposite page involved so the exercise by the Minister of the guillotine powers reservedto him in Section 2(3) of the Act of I960 would not have been justified. Nevertheless, BOAC's position under the existing agreement might beadversely affected and their bargaining powers in future negotiations with American airlines prejudiced. An important point was the possi-bility that America might call for termination or revision of the agree- ment. Mr Fisher submitted that Mr Ashton Hill had suggested noalternative to the BOAC proposition that British carriers could expect to handle not more than 50 per cent of the total UK and USA carriers'loads. This was, therefore, a reasonable basis on which to assess the capacity that would be justified. Mr Fisher submitted that no evidencehad been offered that BOAC's services were inadequate and the Board had conceded that there would be material diversion but had consideredit irrelevant. Wasteful duplication would exist if resources were not being used ashad been intended. All the airlines on the North Atlantic could at present accept 40 per cent more passengers without any increase incapacity; unused capacity was wasted capacity and the addition of Cunard Eagle's Boeings in these circumstances would surely be wastefulduplication. Defending BOAC's handling of statistics, Mr Fisher claimed that, when the actual figures for 1960-61 were "cleaned." theerror in the estimate was seen to be only 7,000 in 400,000 or less than 2 per cent. Mr Fisher referred again to the figures submitted by BOAC toillustrate the financial implications of the difference between BOAC's and Cunard Eagle's traffic estimates, to support the argument that thediversion would not be immaterial. He repeated the argument that fare cuts foreseen by BOAC might not now be made, so that trafficincreases these cuts—or greater reductions assumed by the Board —might have brought about were unlikely, whereas the trade recessionhad materialized and traffic increases had been consequently retarded. It was unlikely, in the view of BOAC, that the sales effort of CunardEagle, added to that of the eleven carriers already on the route, would noticeably increase traffic. Taking the seven possible advantages suggested by Mr Gardiner oneby one, Counsel for BOAC criticized them in turn (mostly not for the first time!) and pointed out that they were not matters recommendedto the attention of the Board in Section 2(2) of the 1960 Act. Asking why Cunard Eagle had not cross-appealed if they were disappointedwith the licence awarded, Mr Fisher said he thought they were very lucky to have got anything at all: the Board were wrong to award alicence, having accepted all BOAC's arguments under Section 2(2). In any case, 65,000 passengers carried by Cunard Eagle each year wouldmean a revenue loss of £5m annually to BOAC and this incursion would seriously damage BOAC's position as the main British flagcarrier on world routes. Finally, asking the Commissioner to give the fullest weight to evidence on recent traffic submitted by BOAC, MrFisher reminded him that the corporation had made provision for ample capacity to carry the British share of the traffic now and in thefuture. They were, in fact, proposing to reduce the capacity offered by 7 per cent in 1962-63; surely this was the worst possible moment tointroduce additional capacity provided by another carrier. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL CADETS THE MoA is introducing an officer cadet scheme for civil airtraffic control. School-leavers with the necessary academic qualifications will be invited to apply for places in a four-year train- ing scheme at the Air Traffic Control School at Hum. In the past traffic controllers have been largely recruited from men with flying experience, but the traffic service is expanding, and this source is not likely to prove adequate in the future. Moreover, this is essentially a profession that requires, to quote the Ministry of Aviation, "resilience, quick thinking and resourcefulness." To obtain the high standard required and to determine whether a school-leaver has these qualities will mean that a form of selection, possibly on the lines of aircrew selection, will have to be implemented. Applicants for a cadetship who meet the educational require- ments (GCE, with passes in five subjects, one of which must be English and two of which, including mathematics or a scientific subject, must be advanced level) and have the personal qualities necessary, will, after successful interview, undergo full-time train- ing for four years. This will include some flying instruction, and at the conclusion of the course cadets, who will be paid while training, will be promoted to ATC Officers, Grade III. Full details of the scheme are being circulated to schools and education authorities and the first intake into the ATC School at Hum will commence in February 1962.
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