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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0079.PDF
1GHT International, 18 January 1962 79 » A I R C INCLUSIVE TOUR OVERBIDDING? EXCEPT for a big batch of last-minute applications by Euravia on behalf of its associate, Universal Sky Tours, the Air Transport Licensing Board has now published decisions on nearly all of the 800 applications by British independents for inclusive tours this coming summer. About 250 of these applications have been success ful, the rest having either been withdrawn—a surprisingly high number—or rejected. As usual, Palma, the Costa Brava and Lourdes continue to be far and away the most popular destinations, with Basle being particularly important as a jumping-off point, particularly for coach tours. British United emerge as the most successful applicants, with about 80 licences to their credit—one-third of which are substitutions for licences which otherwise would have gone to Air Safaris or Tradair. Next come Silver City and Derby Aviation, with about 60 and 30 licences respectively. The remaining 80 licences are spread thinly over Britain's other independents, only Autair, Dan- Air, Skyways, Cunard Eagle and Caledonian having more than ten apiece. In terms of capacity these awards are not capable of easy measure ment. The original applications must have been equivalent to well over one million return seats each summer for up to seven years. A rough calculation suggests that the figure for approved capacity stands at about one-third of a million return seats for summer 1962, falling off very rapidly to a low figure for summer 1964 (the most distant point in time on which the Board has trained its sights). The independents' total approved capacity for 1962 gives, however, an incomplete indication of the coming year's inclusive- tour business, because it does not allow for the activities of BEA, which carries more inclusive-tour passengers on its scheduled ser vices than do the independents on all their IT charters. A further source of severe competition for the independents will be from foreign carriers. Scheduled airlines on the Continent are for the first time aiming to take a really deep bite at Britain's IT cherry: Swissair and Air France in particular are hoping to move into this field in a big way. But perhaps even more potent will be the business of non-scheduled Continental operators, usually working hand-in-glove with their national airlines. Alitalia's sub sidiary, Societa Aerea Mediterrania, probably tops the list, with a fleet of six 87-seat DC-6Bs concentrated on the UK - Italy summer IT market. Aviaco's fleet of Convairs and DC-4s, mostly hired from Iberia, will carry a large proportion of UK-Spain traffic previously moving under the British flag. And DC-6Bs of TAI, UAT and Airnautic will be shuttling back and forth from Britain io Perpignan and Nice. Others in this field include Air Maroc, Tunisair, Balair, Adria, LTU and Transair Sweden. If the hopes of all these prospective IT operators materialize, 1962 will indeed be a remarkable year. But all the signs, alas, are pointing in the other direction. Most important, the credit squeeze —which came into effect too late last year, to affect the travel market significantly—is likely to restrict traffic substantially. It is obvious, too, that many travel agents are aiming at the same clients and, even if traffic develops, these agents are certain to be dis appointed. This suggests that if all carriers, British and European scheduled and charter, are taken together, there is likely to be an excessive amount of IT capacity available this summer. If pro lamines are cut back, as seems likely, it is the foreigners who will 'robably be the first to feel the pinch. O M M E R C E FIRST JET TRADER ORDER TCA's order for four DC-8F Jet Traders, briefly recorded last week, is significant for three reasons: it is the first firm airline order for a jet freighter; it marks TCA's departure from Rolls-Royce turbines: and it was placed despite availability of a Canadian-built alternative, the CL-44. The DC-8Fs will be powered by Pratt and Whitney JT3D-3turbofans; TCA's 11 DC-8-40s have Conway 509s. As an operator of Tynes in its Vanguard fleet, TCA might have been expected to prefer the Tyne-powered Canadair CL-44. Canadair did, in fact, try to persuade the Canadian Government that TCA should purchase CL-44s. A point that probably weighed with TCA's management was that if freight growth failed to come up to expectations the DC-8F would be more competitive as a passenger carrier than the CL-44; TCA did not agree with Canadair's estimate of future freight traffic. Total value of TCA's order is $30m including spares, and delivery is scheduled for early in 1963. The DC-8 order book now totals 176, of which 23 are still to be delivered. TCA's first two DC-8Fs will be delivered with convertible passenger-cargo interiors, but the second two will be delivered with passenger interiors similar to those on TCA's DC-8-40s. The DC-8F (Flight, November 23, page 818) has a range with maximum fuel of 6,550 n.m. and can carry a payload of 28,8301b over this distance. The DC-8F demonstrator and prototype is due to make its first flight in September. TCA's DC-8F order should meet the recent accusation of Mr Grant McConachie. CPAL's president, that TCA "has kindly vacated the low-fare propeller field and the all-cargo field, so that all of this traffic is being carried on British aircraft..." At Hatfield on January 9 to watch the first flight of the Trident were: Lord Douglas, chairman (f BEA (facing camera); Mr A. H. Milward, chief executive of RE A (back to camera); and (right) Sir Aubrey Burke, deputy chairman of Hawker Siddeley Aviation. On the left are Mr A. S. Kennedy, director, HawkerSiddeley, and Lady Douglas. The occasion is reported on page 76 and illustrated on pages 80 and 81 "Flight International" photograph
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