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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1327.PDF
FLIGHT International, 2 August 1962 155 AIR CO E R C E British United Air Ferries THERE was a time when the name Silver City was synonymous in the public mind with cross-Channel car ferry air services. When the name Channel Air Bridge first appeared in September 1954, six years after Silver City, no one could ever have imagined that within eight years this company's chief executives, Messrs Laker and Whybrow, would be in the driving seat of their traditional rival. Yet this is what has happened. Last January Silver City was acquired by Air Holdings, parent company of the British United Airways group which includes Channel Air Bridge; and by the end of October this year the inte grated air ferry companies will fly under the name British United Air Ferries. The name Channel Air Bridge is already officially dead, though Silver City will continue to have legal existence until the end of the year. Under the chairmanship of Mr Myles Wyatt, Mr F. A. Laker will be managing director and Mr D. A. Whybrow general manager. In November the entire organization will move from the present Wigmore Street (Channel Air Bridge) and Knights- bridge (Silver City) London offices to Portland House, Victoria, which will be the new headquarters of the entire group. Silver City's activities are not of course comprised solely of vehicle ferries, and moves to integrate the company's active north ern division with the operations of Jersey Airlines (also a recent British United acquisition) are in hand. Trooping operations have been integrated with those of the parent company, and at the end of the year all Silver City's four Hermes will be scrapped. Rivalry between Silver City and Channel Air Bridge has always been keen, though competition has been rather more ideological than commercial. This is manifest in the fact that the existing route-patterns of both companies (see map overleaf) will continue much as before; no routes are to be cut and the public will still have the same wide choice of air ferry services to the Continent from Southend, Lydd and Bournemouth. Silver City's Manston base, which is to be taken over by the new independent Air Ferry (see page 158), has been closed, but this would have happened in any case. The smaller operator has succeeded for two reasons: (1) imagina tive forward thinking and planning, which has always been followed through; this is perhaps best exemplified in the one word '"Carvair." (2) While the Air Bridge forged ahead with new long- haul routes and Carvairs, Silver City seemed indecisive about the pressing need for replacement aircraft and new routes; it seemed commercially to stagnate. The company began to lose money, and it was evident that the shipping parent P & O became hesitant to invest further. Had P & O not sold Silver City to Air Holdings, Silver City's future might have been in some doubt. Ever since last January the task of integrating the management and operations of the two companies has been under way. Some of the Silver City directors left; but at the upper, middle and lower levels of the Silver City organization, quality, ability and experi ence have been recognized and rewarded with senior appointments. For example, Air Vice Marshal S. D. Macdonald and Mr M. D. Day are ex-Silver City directors who retain high responsibilities. The general principle has been to select the best material in both companies. Later in the year, when the reorganiza tion is complete, all the senior appointments are expected to be evenly distributed. The human problems involved in the integration, particularly as the changes in Silver City have been wrought by a smaller and younger erstwhile rival, must have been considerable. Commenting on this, Mr Douglas Whybrow says: "We found the same serious- minded enthusiastic staff in Silver City as we possessed in Channel Air Bridge. The quality was good everywhere. It was quite remarkable to find such enthusiasm for and devotion to the job." Wherever possible, in the interests of economy, certain activities are to be kept on a group (i.e. British United) basis—e.g. operations, purchasing, some engineering, legal matters, insurance and so on. The Silver City airport at Lydd, Ferryfield, is a big asset to the new company and will be a key base. At an early date the main runway will be lengthened to accommodate Carvairs, which next year will be scheduled from Lydd as well as from Southend on the long-haul routes to Basle, Geneva and Strasbourg. The demand for the new long-range services has been beyond all expectations Since the first services began last April, and next year the extra demand will be met by putting additional frequencies through Lydd. The necessary applications will soon be lodged with the Air Transport Licensing Board. A senior executive estimates that so far this year Channel Air Bridge have been turning away two and a half times the business that the Carvairs have actually carried. Since Carvair services began, eight cars and 19 passengers have been carried on average per round-trip—a load factor of, say, 80 per cent. When Carvair services began last April Channel Air Bridge expected that they might attract as many as 3,000 cars this year, of which 1,500 might At the end of the summer the Channel Air Bridge and Silver City fleet of Carvairs and Bristol Freighters will all be repainted in this livery, as indeed will all the aircraft in the British United group, the word "Airways" being dispensed with. The lettering will be in red and the cheat line in blue edged with gold. By the end of the year the familiar insignia of Silver City and Channel Air Bridge will have completely disappeared from all advertisements, timetables, brochures and so forth 0 ~"^SP^ Ajmt • , ••• . •*••-* •. ;•• • .• •. • fck 4^ BftinsH UNtfeo • f %»• • *K9S«sa - • - - • ••'•• • -*%•:. •sil /
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