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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0156.PDF
158-159 FLIGHT International, 1 February 1962 AIR CO E R C E A Bigger British United "The future [of the independents] will lie with the strong"—Mr Peter Thorneycroft, Minister of Aviation, at the BIATA annual dinner, London, November 1961. "We can't rule out the possibility of further mergers among members of BIATA .. .but it is surely healthy that new aggressive managements rise to take up the running and the weaker give up the race"—Mr Clive Hunting, president of BIATA, on the same occasion. TWO months after the above words were spoken came a brief announcement from British United Airways and British Aviation Services (Silver City) to the effect that Air Holdings Ltd had been formed to take over the share capital of the two companies. It may be recalled that Air Holdings was formed last November, "as an investment holding company [to] be used for the amalgama tion of BUA and for the rationalization of the various activities of the group." Although the news was headlined as a merger, it is in fact a take-over by British United (which is still digesting the companies swallowed in 1960) of Silver City. Two points are of particular significance. First, British United now has behind it the biggest shipping company in the western world, P & O, of which Silver City was a 70 per cent owned sub sidiary. The existing shipping interests behind British United— British and Commonwealth, Furness Withy and Blue Star Line— have through Air Holdings acquired Silver City from P & O and have retained the dominant position. Mr Mekie's Position? This is clear from the second significant point, which is that the board of Air Holdings is predominantly British United. Mr Myles Wyatt, chairman of BUA, is chairman; and Sir Nicholas Cayzer, chairman of British and Commonwealth (which is of course behind British United) is deputy chairman. Of the eight other board members, all but two (Anderson and Mountain) are British United. The name of Mr Eoin C. Mekie, Silver City's chairman, is not to be found among the Air Holdings directors and his future position in the new company is difficult to ascertain. The other directors are: Sir Donald Anderson; Mr P. B. Guinness; Mr F. A. Laker; Sir Brian Mountain; Mr G. N. A. Murrant; Lord Poole; Mr G. H. Trott; and Mr R. L. Cumming (secretary and director). How big is the new independent relative to BOAC and BEA? It is of course possible to take any number of yardsticks; but com paring the work capacity of the fleets in terms of ton-m.p.h. it is apparent that British United is about 45 per cent the size of BEA and about 30 per cent the size of BOAC. The fleet is, in fact, quite a big (if heterogeneous) one, comprising six long-haul Britannias, 2 DC-6s, 14 Viscounts (including three leased by Silver City), 25 Bristol Freighters, 13 DC-3s, five DC-4s, four Hermes, seven Doves, three Herons and one Rapide—not to mention BUA's fifty-odd helicopters and small fixed-wing types. In addition to having P & O behind it, which will be the main source of British United's new strength, the goodwill of the name Silver City and the network of cross-Channel air services (which carried 400,000 passengers last year) will count for a great deal. For how much longer Silver Sity would have remained in business without fresh capital is a matter for speculation. In the last two or three years the airline is believed to have been losing money, and has appeared uncertain of where it was going. It has seen its car- ferry rival Channel Air Bridge, a British United subsidiary, forging ahead with new long-haul plans and Carvair equipment. It has seemed indecisive about the pressing need for replacement aircraft and new routes; nothing came of the proposed Silver City car ferr\ services from the north of England, nor of the various.new vehicle- ferry replacement aircraft (Handley Page, Breguet, Hurel Dubois) with which Silver City's name was at various times linked. Silver City has not been short of ideas; during the last two years it has attempted to ally itself with British Railways and, at one stage, with BEA. The possibilities of absorbing other companies, including Eagle as it then was, were also examined. But, perhaps by a combination of adverse luck and apparent P & O unwillingness to put more money in its aviation subsidiary, none of Silver City's big ideas (except the rail spur into Le Touquet) has ever borne fruit. An intriguing matter for speculation is the future relationship between Channel Air Bridge, an autonomous British United subsidiary, and its traditional car-ferry rival Silver City, which is now in the family. Obviously the tremendous goodwill of the name Silver City will not be lightly discarded: on the other hand Channel Air Bridge, as related in our "Airline Profile" on January 4, is a thriving concern which is going places with its new Carvairs and new long-haul routes into Europe. There may be closer technical collaboration, particularly in respect ofBristol Freighter maintenance and operations, and perhaps also in sales. Common management of the cross-Channel car ferry business must obviously come in time, and all the signs are that it will be British United in the driving seat. The big question now is whether Cunard Eagle will be absorbed by British United Airways (or, strictly speaking, by Air Holdings Ltd). Some observers of the scene are asking not whether, but when, Cunard Eagle will join the group. A bridge between BUA and Cunard Eagle has in fact existed since the summer, when the two companies decided not to fight each other's applications for European routes and agreed to rationalize their route ambitions. (A small but significant point of interest here is that both companies have recently been fighting their licensing battles with the same counsel, Mr Gerald Gardiner, QC.) The future of Cunard Eagle is largely dependent on the attitude of Cunard Steam-Ship to continued investment in its air transport Air Cdre James Alexander, OBE, succeeds Capt L R. Ambrose as London manager for Qantas. Capt Ambrose takes up a new appointment as manager of the aicline's western division
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