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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1333.PDF
FLIGHT International, 2 August 1962 161 \ Westland Hovercraft Service with the SR.N2 will be operated between Ryde, Isle of Wight, and Southsea from August 13-17 and August 20-24. BW'IA's Deficit at the end of March after the first five months under Trinidad Government ownership was $WI 381,497 compared with a loss of $WI 611,233 in the same period of the previous year. BOAC's New Financial Comptroller is Mr Derek H. Glover. He was appointed to succeed Mr K. W. Bevan who, as already reported, is retiring. Mr Glover is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and joined BO AC in 1946 as an internal auditor. Since October 1957 he has been general manager, southern routes. Scottish Airport Authority? Mr Julian Amery, Minister of Aviation, has undertaken to consider the setting up of a Scottish airport authority to be responsible for all Scottish airports except Prestwick. The announcement came after a meeting between Mr Amery and Scottish airport organizations on July 24. Swissair's Brazil Rights The Brazilians have granted Swissair traffic rights which will allow the airline's Convair 990s to continue twice-weekly nights to Rio with "certain stopover rights" and an extension of the service to Santiago, to be served twice-weekly from August 26. Mercury Refused The ATLB has refused Mercury Airlines' application for a Leeds/Bradford - Cork route. Giving its reasons, the ATLB says that Derby Aviation have a Manchester - Cork licence which has not been operated because of the absence of traffic rights. When these are available Derby Aviation should be given the first opportunity to develop the service. The Board is also not satisfied about the demand for a Leeds/Bradford - Cork air service alone. TOO MANY FIRST-CLASS SEATS? AIR RESEARCH BUREAU statistics for intra-European traffic during the first quarter of 1962 show a 7.1 per cent increase in passenger-miles over the corresponding period in 1961. Seat-mile capacity increased 10.9 per cent, and consequently there was a further drop in load factor, by 1.7 points, to 48.1 per cent. Bearing in mind that in general these statistics do not include domestic traffic, or traffic of carriers not members of the ARB (Austrian Airlines, BUA, CSA, TAP, UAA and some others), a notable feature of the results is the continued expansion of first- class capacity. Since this expansion began, with the introduction of jet aircraft to European routes in 1959, first-class capacity has trebled whilst traffic has increased by two and a half times its former Seen here after a demonstration flight from Radlett in a Series 200 Dart Herald are members of a Thai Airways delegation who are evaluating the aircraft for their routes. The delegation was accompanied by Handley Page's technical director, Mr R. S. Stafford; Mr J. Allan, Herald designer; Sqn Ldr H. C. Hazelden, chief test pilot; and Mr R. S. Sowter, sales manager level, and now accounts for almost 10 per cent of the total passengers carried. As a result, the first-class load factor has dropped from 46.2 per cent to 38.5 per cent. Nevertheless, this need not cause immediate alarm, provided it is not apparent that first-class capacity would generate more revenue if used for tourist seats. However, on 31 sectors, involving more than half the total first-class capacity, the first/tourist load factor imbalance is of the order of 30/60 per cent, indicating that a situation may exist where it would be more profitable to carry the tourist-class passengers which are probably being turned away. Traffic between the north European capitals and Spain, Portugal, and the Balearic Islands still continues to show the highest rate of growth (22.9 per cent); whilst traffic between Paris and the Bene lux countries has declined by 7.8 per cent. Freight traffic increased 12.5 per cent over the same period last year, with one-third of the volume being carried on all-freight services, which continued their high rate of development with a 27.1 per cent increase. EURAVIA AND SKYWAYS AN advanced stage is believed to have been reached in negotiations for the acquisition of Skyways Ltd by Euravia. If this take-over materializes—and it is not yet a fait accompli—it could well go on record as one of the most surprising happenings in an industry renowned for its surprises. Euravia began operations only four months ago; Skyways were last year Britain's third biggest indepen dent (in terms of c.t.m.), and have been one of the elite members of Britain's independent airline industry. While both companies confirm that negotiations for an integra tion of operations are at an advanced stage, neither side is as yet willing to give any detailed information. But it is possible to specu late on the reasons behind the negotiations. On March 31 last Skyways' Far East freighting contract with BOAC, whereby the independent has for some years operated BOAC's scheduled freight services to Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney, came to an end. These services were operated with four big-door Constellation 749As, three of which were the subject of a purchasing agreement between Skyways and BOAC (the fourth has been returned to BOAC, and is up for sale). At one stroke, therefore, at least two-thirds and probably more of Skyways' revenues were lost. No announcement of the termina tion of this agreement was made; in fact the existence of these operations has never been officially referred to, the arrangement being regarded as a normal sub-contract of mutual benefit to corporation and independent alike; Skyways operated the services efficiently and at low cost. Then came BOAC's decision, because of excess capacity on the Atlantic, to switch 707s to the eastern routes. The big freight capacity thus released, plus DC-7F capacity, caused BOAC to end their agreement with Skyways. Meanwhile Euravia, also a Constellation operator (two 049s and one 149), have been steadily building up their inclusive-tour operations based on Luton. Run by Mr J. E. D. Williams and Capt. J. C. Harrington, and backed by big travel industry finance, Euravia, with low overheads and intensive utilization of the right aircraft at the right price, have been finding an answer to the old problem of how to run a successful business on peak holiday traffic alone. The demise of Skyways' long-haul operations, and the existence of three Connies with freight doors, prompted the opening up of negotiations for a possible partnership. The 749As, together with Skyways' existing licences for scheduled "Crusader" services to the Mediterranean, must have seemed to Euravia to open doors for the development of freight business and also a more balanced pattern of operations. In addition to being perhaps the best freight ing value for money, the 749As can also be used for passenger work —though they are not so suitable as the 049/149s, which do not need all the mod nav con, crew rest stations and longer range of the 749As. If Skyways' four Yorks are brought into the operation too, as seems probable, they will no doubt continue to operate on such specialist jobs as flying spare engines around the world for BOAC and Pan American, as they have successfully done with Skyways for some years now. It is understood that Skyways Coach Air Ltd—like Skyways a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mr Eric Rylands—will continue as at present to operate its successful pattern of Avro 748 services from Lympne to points in France. Mr Rylands recently spoke of his "great satisfaction" with the performance of the 748.
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