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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1692.PDF
796 FLIGHT, 23 November 1961 AIR COMMERCE... CLEARING THE BAHAMAS AIR ? REPOSSESSION of Bahamas Airways by BOAC was "prima-rily a matter for BOAC's commercial judgment," and theMinister accepts the arguments put forward by BOAC in its annual report. He also "accepts . . . responsibility for the action taken."This was said in the Commons on November 13 by the Parlia- mentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aviation, Mr C. M. Wood-house, in reply to a question by Mr John Rankin (Lab, Glasgow, Govan). Pressed further by Mr Rankin to say whether the Ministerhas "had for some time" a special report on this matter, and would he publish it, Mr Woodhousc replied: "All the necessary informa-tion has been published in BOAC's annual report." In Flight for September 28, page 524, Mr Keith Granville, chair-man of BOAC Associated Companies, said that a full report about Bahamas Airways was with the Minister. (This report, it is presumed,is one that was made for BOAC last summer by an independent commission comprising Sir Frederick Tymms and Mr StephenWheatcroft.) Mr Granville had been asked in a Flight interview by Mr Frank Beswick about the "extraordinary circumstances"in which Bahamas Airways had been sold by BOAC to private enterprise and then bought back again; would he state, he was asked,the net financial result of the two transactions? Mr Granville's reply was: "I am unable to give you the figures. A full report isnow with the Minister." This statement is not contradicted by Mr Woodhouse in his reply to Mr Rankin: all that Mr Woodhouseis saying is that all the necessary information has been published. Flight has been told by Mr Eric Rylands that he is concernedwith what he says are inaccuracies in the article on Bahamas Air- ways by the Air Transport Editor which appeared in Flight forNovember 9. Mr Rylands says that the sale of an interest in Baha- mas Airways to Mr David Brown and to himself, and its subsequentre-purchase by BOAC. was governed by the terms of an agreement completed at the time of the purchase, and therefore "certain com-ments" made by Flight cannot, he claims, be justified. Mr Rylands is, he says, preparing a statement of the facts governing his associa-tion with Bahamas Airways (which BOAC announced it was going to repossess in December 1960). He will be submitting this state-ment to the chairman of BOAC during the next week or so. As soon as the facts—which are presumably additional to those in theTymms report—have been laid before Sir Matthew Slattery, Mr Rylands has promised to let Flight have a similar statement. In thishe will, he says, correct the alleged Flight inaccuracies. UAA's THIRD COMET ORDER T TNITED ARAB AIRLINES has confirmed an order for anvJ additional two Comet 4Cs. This second repeat-order will bring its fleet to seven (see Flight last week). It is understood thatthe aircraft are already well advanced on the production line. Meanwhile the Egyptian airline is still undecided about its choiceof long-haul jet equipment, a choice which is believed to lie between the Boeing 707 and the Vickers VC10. The managing director, MrHassan Mahmud, has recently been in England for further talks with the British Aircraft Corporation. No decision on a replacement for the Viscount, which UAA dur-ing last summer thought would be the D.H.126, has yet been made. BILATERALS IN THE NEWS BRITAIN'S bilateral air agreement negotiators, led by MrsAllison Munro, have been unusually busy in recent weeks.The Minister of Aviation himself, Mr Peter Thorneycroft, joined the British delegation, led by Mrs Munro, which recently went toMontreal to talk about the implications of CPAL's claim for a Vancouver - London service. And the Turks, for the first time, arebeing openly fractious about their air agreements, not only with Britain but with other countries also; Mr Michael Custance, deputysecretary to the Ministry of Aviation, has recently been in Italy to pour oil on long-troubled Anglo-Italian bilateral waters; and thelegal tussle between BOAC (and other European North Atlantic carriers) and the CAB, who are calling for fifth-freedom trafficstatistics, continues. Two other bilaterals, one with the Swiss and the other with the Philippines, have been the subject of peacefullyconcluded negotiations. First, the Anglo-Canadian agreement. As already reported, theCanadian Government recently designated CPAL for its long-sought route from Vancouver to London via Edmonton and Calgary, butthe British Government did not approve. As Mr Peter Thorney- croft said in Montreal, the issue involves the question of whether theNorth Atlantic can support more than two carriers and, if so, whether there should be three or four carriers. He had no complaintabout the Canadian designation of CPAL although he pointed out that the inclusion of Calgary on the route was outside the terms ofthe existing air agreement. Mr Thorneycroft said that the Anglo- Canadian air agreement will be re-opened at talks in London earlynext year, and that this could lead to a general revision "aimed at providing a more balanced arrangement for Canadian and Britishairlines." It will be recalled that the Air Transport Licensing Board refused Cunard Eagle's application to operate between the UK andCanada on the grounds, fundamentally, that it would upset the existing BOAC/TCA pool agreement. Obviously the addition oftwo more carriers to the UK - Canada route would provide addi- tional capacity that would have to be carefully regulated if it isnot to prejudice the BOAC/TCA operation. The Turkish Government, concerned about the financial situa-tion of THY, has been threatening to reduce BOAC frequencies on the Istanbul - Frankfurt route and is also said to have asked BEAto change schedules which conflict with those of THY. Other carriers whose rights in Ankara or Istanbul have been similarlythreatened are MEA and Pan American. Negotiations in Rome with the Italians about BOAC and BEAcapacities and frequencies, which Alitalia have long felt is dispropor- tionate to their "quota," have resulted in additional fifth-freedomrights for Alitalia out of London for one flight a day to any US terminal (not only New York, as at present), increasing to nineflights a week by 1964. Alitalia also gets traffic rights for three flights a week Hong Kong - Tokyo and two flights a weekSingapore - Sydney. A Philippine delegation led by HE the Hon Leon Ma. Guerrero,Philippine Ambassador, and a UK delegation led by Mr G. McD. Wilson of the MoA have met in London and "satisfactorily" con-cluded arrangements about the current and future pattern of air services between the two countries, as laid down in 1955. Finally, as already reported, the Swiss Government has grantedChannel Air Bridge traffic rights in Basle and Geneva for the new car ferry services due to start next April. Up to eight services aweek to Switzerland are provided for, with passengers supplemen- tary to car passengers limited to eight per single flight. Frenchintransigence over Channel Air Bridge's wish to operate vehicle ferry services to Strasbourg appears to have mellowed as a result. BEA WILL NOT OPPOSE BOAC LAST Tuesday, November 21, the ATLB was due to open itshearings into British United and BOAC applications for newAfrican routes. The hearings were due to continue yesterday and today and are likely to be resumed on November 28, 29 and 30. In the list of objectors to BOAC applications appeared BEA—apparently the first clash between the two corporations. But BEA will not now in fact be objecting to the BOAC applications,which are for new routes to the Congo and for additional stops to the Congo on existing African routes to South and West Africa.The grounds of BEA's initial concern, which led to their appearing as an objector, arose from the inclusion by BOAC of Brussels asan optional stop, the London - Brussels route not being one of those included in the BOAC-BEA pool agreement concluded two orthree years ago covering parallel European sectors. It is understood that the problem was resolved before the hearing, presumably byinclusion of London - Brussels in the agreement. British United Airways are applying for points in the Congo onthe London - Johannesburg service, to which BOAC are objecting. BUA is also stating its case for a London - Lagos service via Gibral-tar, Las Palmas (or Tenerife) and Freetown, and for a London - Mauritius service via Entebbe or Nairobi, to which BOAC arealso objecting. There is another independent application, from Starways, for a service from Glasgow to Lagos via Liverpool,Manchester, Gibraltar, Bathurst and Freetown. BEA has been awarded the US Flight Safety Foundation's bronze plaque, sponsored by "Aviation Week," for its air safety work. It is the first airline outside the USA to have been so honoured
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