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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0544.PDF
1 542 FLIGHT International, 12 April 1962 Ghana is discussing with Russia the terms on which eight out of nine llyushin Il-I8s bought by Ghana Airways can be returned. Some of these aircraft have been standing idle at Accra, with covers on, since last October and are said to be costing Ghana Airways about £2,500 a day, including the salaries, accommodation and transport of the Russian crews. At the moment only two Il-I8s are operating scheduled services. (News item on this page) AIR COMMERCE. . . relatives of passengers clearing Customs, was quite unacceptable; nor is there anywhere to sit. The same door is used by passengers, porters, baggage and trolleys. The building was originally designed with a public gallery over the Customs hall so that friends and relatives could foregather up there in comfort and spot their relatives easily. But this gallery has been boarded up at the request of Customs, who—not un reasonably—do not like their necessary activities to be overlooked. The same sort of difficulty arose five years ago at New York Inter national's arrivals building, where the Customs hall is overlooked by a public gallery. It seems that there has been a communications failure between Customs—who were fully consulted when the building was planned—and the planners. Fortunately the No 3 passenger building is of flexible enough design to enable it to be modified, if necessary, to allow friends and relatives to spot passengers while sitting in comfort—and without overlooking the Customs proceedings. TURBOPROP SKYVAN INTEREST A SALES team which recently returned to the UK after a tour of New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand reports encouraging interest in the Short Skyvan II—the version powered with Astazou turboprops. Short Bros & Harland Ltd state that the performance characteristics of the Skyvan are being re-assessed in the light of information gathered during the tour. It is clear, they say, that the turboprop version is "ideally suited" to the operating conditions in the areas visited. So strong is the interest, in fact, that they have decided not to proceed with the production of the piston-engined Skyvan I. For these reasons the Skyvan prototype, expected to appear at the SBAC Show in September, will be die only piston- engined Skyvan built. A number of new features will be incorporated in production aircraft. For instance, the tyre pressure will be lower. Other changes contemplated are a steerable nosewheel, larger windows, and the introduction of a fuselage door. These features must involve some increase in weight. Nevertheless, it appears probable that the first production aircraft, expected to be available for delivery in mid-1964, will carry a 4,0001b payload as compared with the original 3,0001b load of the piston-engined version. MORE ABOUT LUXAIR AS reported last week (page 505) Luxembourg Airlines are now operating services, under the name Luxair, with a DC-4 and a Friendship 100. From South Africa comes news that Windhoek is now a port of entry for Luxair, presumably in association with Trek Airways, the South African independent which is closely connected with Luxair. Aldiough at one time South African Airways operated Constel lations to Europe by way of Windhoek, this route was abandoned and SAA passengers from Windhoek are now flown from that town to Salisbury to connect with the northbound SAA Boeing service. Trek Airways' European terminal for its cheap-fare services from South Africa has been Diisseldorf, but it is understood that this will end when Lufthansa starts its Boeing jet services to South Africa in May (see below). Trek and Luxair will then operate to Luxembourg from Johannesburg by way of Windhoek, main taining the strong low-fare competition already challenging the BOAC-SAA services. BOAC and SAA have announced fare reductions on services between London and Capetown, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London. The reductions are small, of up to 5 per cent only, and do not apply to the London-Johannesburg service. It also is announced that the South African Government has granted Lufthansa traffic rights at Johannesburg, rights which will enable it to uplift 100 passengers a week on the twice-weekly Boeing 720B services to be inaugurated in May between Frankfurt and Johannesburg. RUSSIAN SURPRISE "LOYAL to its principles of rendering unselfish assistance to economically underdeveloped countries, the USSR as a rule supplies aircraft free of charge with spare engines and other parts." This was said recently by Mr Yuriy Dolgov, director of the Soviet Aviaeksport Corporation. He added that Soviet pilots and engineers train local personnel on the spot, and that the USSR enables foreign aviation companies to train their crews in Soviet aviation schools. It was on these terms, he said, that Il-18s were sold to Mali, Ghana and Guinea. "One cannot but feel surprised, therefore," Mr Dolgov con tinued, "at the article published recently in a French magazine which claims that Soviet II-18s and their maintenance cost too much and that African passengers avoid them." Mr Dolgov quoted ton-mile costs for the 11-18 compared with the Electra and the Viscount. The figures he gave, although not qualified by any assumptions, were: Lockheed Electra, 21 cents per ton-mile; Viscount, 38 cents per ton-mile; 11-18, 19 cents per ton-mile. Notwithstanding these estimates, Ghana Airways is now con centrating on Viscounts and Britannias rather than on II-18s for the operation of most of its services. Final assembly of BAC One-Eleven rear fuselage light frames in progress at Filton. The operator is squeeze riveting one of the frames
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