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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1754.PDF
860 FLIGHT, 30 November 19f AIR COMMERCE . . . FRUGALITY IN SCOTLANDL OW-FARE pressures are coming from the new Scottish inde-pendent Caledonian Airways (Prestwick) Ltd, which was due to make its first charter passenger carrying flight yesterday, November29, from London to Barbados; a second flight on December 12 to Lourenco Marques will carry members of the Overseas VisitorsClub of London. Caledonian took delivery of the first of two 104- seat DC-7Cs leased from Sabena on November 15, and will fly99 passengers of the St Margaret's Guild of Scotland to New York on December 21. Sabena will carry out all maintenance on Cale-donian's DC-7Cs, thus enabling the Scottish carrier to take advan- tage of first-class maintenance without prohibitive capital expendi-ture on spares holdings and a large engineering staff involving high overheads—obviously a good point in persuading the Board of As recorded last week, the Argosy earned revenue for the first time < -, commercial operations when, on November 17, BEA's fi.st aircn \ (G-APRM) flew 6± tons of shoe-making machinery from Manchester 0 Paris. The load, consigned by a Leicester firm, is seen here going aboc i by Rolamat conve\or. FLII scheduled BEA Argosy operations, due o start on November 26, have been delayed by the loaders' stri • the adequacy of Caledonian's financial resources. Mr de la Hay :Caledonian's managing director, has said that his firm has receivt j permission to operate a dozen group-charter flights to New Zei-land. The company could offer transatlantic group charter fares >f as low as £35 a head in the off season if a full load can be securedand adeauate return loads arranged; such fares would be in the region of £80 during the summer months. SAS TO CANCEL CONVAIR 990s? HPHAT SAS is having second thoughts about its Convair 990J. order was revealed recently by the airline's new president, Mr Curt Nicolin. He told aircrew that some 160 pilots and 40navigators and flight engineers may be declared redundant nexl summer, depending on complete disposal of DC-7Cs and onnegotiations to withdraw from its Convair 990 commitment. SAS has two 990s on order and has arranged to lease two of theseven ordered by Swissair; a decision not to operate Convair 990s would involve not only the manufacturers but also Swissair,who were to have overhauled the Convair jets for SAS under the technical agreement signed three years ago between the two carriers. Some adjustments to the DC-8/990/Caravelle fleet rationaliza-tion programme as originally planned by SAS and Swissair will obviously now be necessary, and it seems that there is simply noienough work to justify a third type of jet for SAS. This is borne out by the carrier's plans to cut services to New York from 21 to14 flights weekly next summer, and services to Los Angeles from eight to six flights. Three of the 14 DC-7Cs operated by SAS were traded in over ayear ago to GALCO, a General Dynamics subsidiary, in part- payment for the two 990s on order, and were later sold to Riddle.Ten more SAS DC-7Cs have just been sold to Riddle, and all are due to be delivered to Miami this month. SAS also plans to sellthe Hotel Royal in Copenhagen, in which it had invested £l.lm, and is reported to have received several US offers already. CUNARD EAGLE WESTERN (continued from page 853) of not only the most affluent Britons. Miami's hotel prices in theoff-season are astonishingly cheap—S4 a night at a first-class hotel. The terminal at Miami International Airport is truly vast; ittakes about ten minutes to walk from one end to the other. Every- thing is under one roof and on one floor—all the airline counters,restaurants, cofl'ee bars, an aquarium, and shops and concessions of every kind. The whole place, air-conditioned of course, isbeautifully cool by contrast with the humid heat outside and in the fingers to the gates. All seems very quiet and relaxed: in thisrespect Miami airport (air-yard as it is known locally) is quite unlike any other I have been to—a remarkable impression for the world'sthird busiest airport to convey. It is not possible to look across the airport without seeing at any one moment at least three aircrafton the move—taking off, landing, or taxying. Soft music, as in a!l American airport terminals, enhances the feeling of quietude. Everything seems to be arranged for the convenience of thepassengers rather than for the convenience of the airport manage- ment. For example, not only is there a public observation deck ontop of each finger, from which marvellous views of the busy ramps are available; if you haven't got a dime for the turnstiles, there is achange machine conveniently at hand. And there is not one single notice anywhere saying don't do this or don't do that. I wanted to take some photographs; I hadn't got much time beforemy flight, and I did not know what to do about obtaining permis- sion. So, with some trepidation, and taking care to be as unob-trusive as possible, I walked out on to the apron for a few minutes. 1 took all the pictures I wanted, and nobody minded or even noticed.The absence of officiousness was remarkable, considering the security aspects of hi-jacking, with Dr Castro & Co only 50 milesaway. It was strange, too, to be able to drive round the airport and pulloff the road anywhere and just wander around among aeroplanes, hundreds of them, of varied type and vintage and rare markings:C-46s and DC-4s belonging to obscure Latin American operators; the black "free Cuba" B-26 that bombed Havana a few monthsago; a gaggle of Northrop Raiders in Mexican civil markings; a dozen retired Logiir C-46s; an Imperial Airlines Constellation;half-a-dozen mothballed PanAm Stratocruisers. Only the Pan American maintenance area is fenced off; everywhere else is opento anyone who enjoys pottering about among aeroplanes. Miami's greatest attraction is the Seaquarium, a zoo for seaanimals (they don't call them fish). At the mention of the name Cunard Eagle we were given a personally conducted tour by the manager himself. (" It sure is good to have you with us," he said.)We were just in time to see the sharks being fed with rish dangled from a rope—a fearsome spectacle, traumatic in its effect on thosespectators who were thinking of gjing swimming in the bay later in the day. The uncanny intelligence of the porpjises, which leap12 feet out of the water and pluck a cigarette out of a keeper's mouth, is hard to believe even when it is seen. The only aspect ofthe Seaquarium that grates is the commentary, which is constant and all-pervading, battering the senses and dulling one's apprecia-tion of a place that speaks for itself as the world's most wonderful aquarium. From Miami it is but a 50-minute hop on the Cunard EagleViscount frequent shuttle service (with complimentary rum swizzle) to Nassau. 1 did not stay there very long, just two days and a night.but long enough to be charmed by the old town, by the soft pink beaches and the warm blue sea—so clear that from an aeroplaneyou can still see the bottom miles from the reefs. At night the chirruping of the tree-frogs sends one to sleep, and by day curiousbuzzing noises can be heard in the tops of the palm trees. "That buzzing noise," I said to Cunard Eagle's man in Nassau, Mr JeanSavage; "it sounds like a monkey using an electric shaver." "That's right," he said, "that's just what it is." And he and Mr Joe Smith,one of the airline's youthful American sales reps, went on telling me about Cunard Eagle's promotional-fare policies. I cannot close without paying a sincere compliment to thisairline's cabin service. It is dispensed with rare charm, not just to non-rev passengers like me, but to every revenue customer also.Whether these are fractious old ladies wanting cotton wml for their ears or small boys wishing to play tanks in the aisle when breakfast isbeing served, they are the first and h'nal reason for an airline's being. Postscript Since these articles were written, the Government hasvetoed Cunard Eagle's North Atlantic licence. It has done so on the grounds that BOAC, who ordered additional Boeings durirgthe ATLB hearings, has purchased adequate aircraft capacity. I can well appreciate the bitter disillusionment of Cunard Eagle ariof its parent—disillusionment that must amount almost to a feelii g of betrayal. My own reaction is one of regret that the name Cunard, a nation Iasset which in America has the prestige of the name Rolls-Royc . is not to be allowed to serve Britain in the air as it has for so loi •?(until air transport intervened) on the sea. This seems not or unfortunate, but unjust.
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