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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0629.PDF
FLIGHT International, 19 April 1962 LETTERS . . . operating costs must be about 4d per passenger mile, leaving 1.3d per mile or between £15 and £20 per passenger for the indirect costs. These figures are meant to give only a rough idea of the situation, but they show clearly that indirect costs as well as direct costs must be reduced before the full benefit can be attained. This must result from cutting fares in the first place and flying more people with the same number of employees, otherwise it might be better to reduce airlines to mere operators of aircraft and leave the processing of passengers to travel agents. Few people realize that, given the proper encouragement now, the industry can provide an aircraft in the next decade that will (a) bring the total cost of the London-New York trip down to £10 return, (b) reduce the direct cost of the West to East Pakistan trip to £1, (c) fly an immigrant from England to Australia for £15 direct cost, and (d) bring fast air freight down to 2d per ton mile. What response has there been to the H.P.I 17 project, itself only a step in the right direction? I am afraid this will go the same way as the Hughes 700-seater flying-boat (which was flown in 1947) and the Armstrong Whitworth six-jet flying-wing project, which never went further than the successful two-jet AW.52. Will the official British atti tude await the results of the present American research programme into laminar flow, when the lead that the British industry has gained through its own initiative will be lost ? Surely, working towards really low-cost transportation (in any medium) should be the aim of every government which desires an increase in the general standard of living for all. It will bring lasting benefits, whereas the long-range, super sonic jet airliner (built purely for speed) will eventually be replaced by ever faster rocket ships. St Albans, Herts GRADUATE Jet Economics SIR,—I have been waiting for the experts to challenge "Jeremiah's" assumptions (Letters, February 1) but it seems it's to be left to the "amateurs" to do so. His first assumption, "that no more than a certain per centage of the world's population is prepared to pay for being flown from one point to another at any one time," should surely be completed by "at a particular price." Rela tively small fare-changes often result in relatively large traffic variations. His second assumption, "that bigger and faster aircraft are more expensive ..." is true only on the basis of cost per flying hour. They are significantly cheaper on the basis of cost per capacity ton-mile. (BOAC report 1960-61: Boeing 707, 14.59d, Britannia 312, 18.52d, Comet, 21.38d, DC-7C, 23.71d/c.t.m.) My comment centres on why the cheap capacity has not been converted into profitable load. This I believe is due to a glaring anomaly in the present fare-structure, which charges the highest prices for the cheapest seats to produce, e.g., the jet economy return Atlantic fare is £20 more than the propeller fare, though the seat costs 20 per cent less to produce. The result has been unprofitable load factors on the big jets, and the continued operation of high-cost propeller equipment. The first step towards improved profitability must be to abolish the jet surcharge. Most people will then book on the jets, giving them high load factors. Surplus propeller flights can then be withdrawn, the highest-cost types being the first to go. The second step must be to lower fares generally to generate an increasing volume of business. The big jets should be able to do this at the same profit per passenger carried and at a fare 20 per cent below existing propeller fares. This fare would also convert much charter traffic back to scheduled flights. Thus a trend towards increasing revenues combined with decreasing costs would begin, which I believe might halt the rush "down the slope to self- destruction at ever-increasing speed." Another statement with which I cannot agree is that "the 627 only way to achieve really high load factors is to reduce fares." This will increase the volume of traffic, but load factor depends on the capacity provided to carry that volume. Last season's troubles could as equally well be ascribed to too much capacity as to too high a fare level. In future, operators would do well not to increase capacity by a spectacular amount unless they reduce fares by a significant margin at the same time. But fares can only be lowered profitably by lowering costs proportionately, and I feel that replacing three propeller aircraft with one big jet of equal work capacity is the most likely way to achieve this. Surrey FAN-FAN How Many Will Fly Foreign? SIR,—We have read your issue of February 15 and noted the comments of one of your correspondents, which would tend to deprecate our services, together with those of SAM and AVIACO. We have been carrying out inclusive tour business in England for the last two years, and we feel that the extension of the services in 1962 is also due to the high reliability we have been able to achieve in the past. We have been complimented by our English charterers in 1961 as the most reliable operators on the British inclusive tours market. Paris 8e AIRNAUTIC J. Lennard, Secretaire de Direction Ecclesiastical Upward Charlies SIR,—I am very curious to know whether the building of the P.M.280 Tartuca in ten weeks from scratch Flight Inter national, April 5, page 522) constitutes a record for powered aircraft in any country from 1903 onwards. Furthermore, I would also like to know how many Continental ecclesiasts indulge in upward Charlies in nippy little sports planes. Obviously the Tartuca is no tortoise, with 160 m.p.h. from a 60 h.p. engine! What would it do with a 95 h.p. Continental flat four? The 1959 British Taylor monoplane powered with a modest 36 h.p. JAP looked a fine basic design for something hotter. Meanwhile we cannot help but admire the growing stream of French "one offs" and the flood of American "home builts" of which I have collected 80 examples over a relatively short period. This time I am not decrying British aviation but I shall be mighty glad when we get back into the air. Birmingham 14 MAURICE AUSTIN FORTHCOMING EVENTS Apr 23 Tiger Club: Flying Display, Panshanger. Apr 25 RAeS Graduates' and Students' Section: " Selling Aircraft—The Technical Approach," by M. J. Goldsmith. Apr 25-27 RAeS, BIS, College of Aeronautics: Symposium on Rocket Propulsion. Apr 30 RAeS Historical Group: "Three Decades of the Aero Engine," Air Cdre F. R. Banks. May 2 Society of Weight Engineers London Branch) : a.g. m. May 2 RAeSJInstitution of Electrical Engineers: Discussion on Aircraft Electrical Supply Characteristics and their Effects on Design of Electronic Equipment. May 6 600 City of London) Sqn Flight Group, Breakfast Patrol, Biggin Hill. May 9 Society of Environmental Engineers: "Operation of a Combined Climatic and Random Vibration Test Facility," by S. S. Duncan. May 9 Britisn Interplanetary Society: "Ground-borne Micro wave Aerials for Space Communications," by F. J. D. Taylor. May 10 RAeS: Annual General Meeting. May 11 RAeS Man-powered Aircraft Group: "The Haessler- Villinger Man-powered Aircraft," by Dipt Franz Villinger.
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