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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1056.PDF
10 FLIGHT International, 5 July 1962 AIR COM MERCE,.. months of 1960. Hours flown increased from 1,333 in 1960 to 7,260 in 1961 and in the same period tonnes of freight carried were trebled. A major change this year will be the introduction of the five Viscount 708s acquired from Air France, which will lessen con siderably the airline's previous dependence on aircraft leased from Air France, Aimautic, TAI, UAT and Air Algerie. Air Inter's current bulletin makes no mention of its announced plans to operate two MH.260 Super Broussards this summer, but Viscounts will replace leased equipment on all but four of the year-round routes and most of the seasonal routes. Air Inter will, incidentally, use its own flight and cabin crews in the Viscounts. Existing frequencies on certain routes, such as Paris - Lyons, Paris - Toulouse and perhaps Paris - Nimes, will be doubled, and the French businessman will be able to leave Lyons or Toulouse in the morning, spend a day in Paris and return the same evening, morning departures from Paris conferring the same degree of accessibility on Lyons and Toulouse. The Viscount's speed will make a difference to existing times: Lyons and Clermont-Ferrand will be only 1 hour from Paris, Toulouse 14 hours and Strasbourg 1 hour if the projected Paris - Strasbourg route, which would be operated jointly by Air France and Air Inter, is deemed suitable for Viscounts. BOAC-CUNARD SAILS AWAY FIRST service operated by BOAC-Cunard left London Airport on Sunday, June 24, bound for Manchester, Glasgow, New York and Bermuda with 38 passengers on board. The Boeing 707 was in BOAC livery, but when the necessary route licence amendments are obtained through the Air Transport Licensing Board, BOAC- Cunard's name will appear on its aircraft, which until then will operate in BOAC or Cunard Eagle markings. An interchange of commercial staffs has already started; in cities where both BOAC and Cunard have offices an airline representative will work per manently in the Cunard office to make reservations, sell tickets and answer inquiries. Cunard will similarly have a shipping represent ative in BOAC's offices. CONNIVANCE AT MONOPOLY? THE BOAC-Cunard tie-up has not unnaturally been the subject of exchanges in the Commons. Asked by Mr Frederick Lee (Lab, Newton) whether he would make a statement giving details of the financial arrangements, Mr Thorneycroft said: "The decision of the British Overseas Airways Corporation and Cunard to join forces has my full support." Airlines on the Atlantic had suffered severe losses; the United Kingdom was facing fierce competition on these routes; and by concentrating their capacity, maintenance facilities, sales effort and managerial experience BOAC and Cunard should strengthen the British civil aviation effort in this vital area. BOAC's contribution to the BOAC-Cunard capital would not involve them in any additional borrowing from the Exchequer. BOAC would operate the new company's aircraft on their behalf and charge them a price to cover full costs. As regards any possible change in the ownership of the Cunard Steam-Ship Co, BOAC retained the right to call for the transfer to themselves of the 30 per cent Cunard holding. Mr Lee then asked: "Is it not obvious that the only reason BOAC have done this is because they are afraid of the Air Transport Licensing Board and the decisions that may be given ? What now is the Government's policy ? First of all we had a public monopoly broken on the Atlantic (Opposition cheers) by the Air Licensing Act, 1960, in the interests of freer competition. Now the Minister connives at the creation of a monopoly with the independents inside it in order to ensure that we do not suffer the disadvantage of wasteful competition. What has now happened to the Air Licensing Act, 1960?" The Minister replied that whatever else could be said about this arrangement it was certainly not a monopoly. The new company would face fierce competition on the north Atlantic and his belief— shared by the chairman of BOAC—was that it would be advant ageous to BOAC to share the managerial experience, sales offices and the like of Cunard. Losses would be borne in proportion to the wayinwhichthecapital was being put up and Cunard would, in that respect, bear their own losses. The Minister did not clarify Gov ernment policy any further, nor did he say what had happened to the intentions behind the Act. Mr Rankin (Lab, Govan), then asked: "If BEA now decided to take over an incompetent private airline would the Minister give the same welcome to them as he has given to BOAC when they show that public enterprise is a better form of organization in the air than private enterprise?" Mr Thorneycroft said he would naturally judge any case on its merits as it comes forward. "In my belief," he continued, "a merger of public and private enterprise, to anyone who is not completely doctrinaire in these matters may well appear to serve a very useful purpose." Mr Diamond (Lab, Gloucester) asked the Prime Minister to what extent it was the policy of the Government to approve the holding by nationalized industries, in appropriate cases, of the majority shareholding in and the control of private enterprise firms. Mr Macmillan stated in a written reply: "To the extent that it helps them to discharge the functions laid upon them by statute." ABNORMAL FLAP SETTING IN ORLY CRASH US EXPERTS investigating the Air France 707 accident at Orly in collaboration with the French authorities have found that the flaps were lowered to 42° instead of the customary 30° take-off setting. This abnormal setting, however, may possibly have been the result of the captain's trying to use as much flap as possible as an additional braking force. The take-off was abandoned, with less than 1,700ft of runway remaining, at a speed of 185 to 190kt, without the aircraft leaving the ground. Another possible cause that has been invest igated is that the elevator balance plate was jammed in the dive position and that this jamming was coupled with seizing or failure of the trim mechanism. Residents of Basse Terre island, Guadeloupe, on which the second Air France 707 crashed, have said that the aircraft appeared to be on fire before it hit the hillside. Two fishermen who saw it flying through a heavy rainstorm also said it appeared to be on fire and a woman witness said she saw a "long flame" escaping from one of the engines. The flight recorder has been recovered from the wreckage and an earlier report of difficulty in getting the under carriage down is now understood to be incorrect. The 707 was insured mainly by French insurance companies and was largely re-insured in London with British companies and Lloyd's underwriters. The London market is likely to be called on to pay at least half of the insured value of $5im (£2m). SWISSAIR'S PAPER PROFIT THANKS to their three DC-8s, Swissair claim to have narrowly avoided slipping into the red last year. While revenues are shown as having risen 15 per cent (traffic up 17 per cent, revenue rate down 2 per cent), total expenditure apparently rose 18 per cent (capacity up 25 per cent, unit cost down 7 per cent). These trends had the effect of dragging Swissair's load factor down from 59 to 55 per cent. Thus, while 1960 showed a healthy Fr5m gap between income and expense, in 1961 both revenue and expenditure all but converged at Fr377m (£31m). The year also saw a reduction in the fleet with an undisclosed number of aircraft being pensioned off. The accounting treatment accorded this item is somewhat unconventional; it appears that revenues from aircraft sales have been included somewhere in the operating account, thus inflating the operating profit. Had it not been for this item, together with a remarkable Fr2m reduction in aircraft depreciation, then Swissair's marginal profit would probably have been a loss. An above-average North Atlantic traffic growth and a substantial reduction in unit costs are the two main factors which are cited as having been primarily responsible for the year's relatively favourable outcome. And both these factors must be credited to the DC-8s. By averaging 3,700hr last year with each of these three aircraft, Swissair were able to increase their North Atlantic carryings by a third when most rivals were struggling to maintain the previous year's level. This route consequently showed a sufficiently high profit to compensate for the losses incurred on all other areas. A particularly difficult route was that to the East, which suffered acutely from jet competition. Only with the arrival of the Convair 880s towards the close of the year did the route start to recover. Together, this handful of DC-8s and Convairs accounted for as much as half of Swissair's total 1961 output of 208m c.t.m.
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