FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1376.PDF
190 A revealing illustration in the current Aer Lingus annual report is this comparison of air/sea passenger traffic growth on the Irish Sea routes AIR COMMERCE. . . GREAT YEAR FOR THE IRISH AMONG the world's fullest and frankest airline reports, that of Irish International Airlines ranks high—close, indeed, to those of BOAC and BEA. The report just published reveals a profit for the year 1961-62; and although it was small in relation to revenue— £256,000 on £9,851.000—it was a considerable achievement in a generally depressing airline financial year. It is as well to remember, however, that if the Irish company had had to pay interest on its State capital, as the UK corporations do, then the small declared profit would have been transformed into a deficit. Some people contend that Irish International Airlines, because it has not so far paid interest on the State share of its capital, in fact receives a hidden subsidy. But whether it is viewed as a subsidy or not, there is nothing hidden about it. The general manager, Mr J. F. Dempsey, says in his report: "It must be said that while interest at commercial rates is paid on the loan capital no dividend, or at least no cash dividend, has yet been paid to the state on the share capital. It is reasonable that some form of direct remuneration of the share capital should be expected but the margin of profit has so far been too small for that. It would have meant contracting the reserves and depleting the FLIGHT International, 9 August 1962 resources which are needed to develop the earning potential of the airline and to maintain the general contribution which the airline has been making to the national economy." In other words, Irish International Airlines is not only a credit to, but also an asset to, Ireland, and the Irish are prepared to subsidize it. But, as Mr Dempsey notes, "just as with every other commodin. money is very difficult to come by if you have not the wherewithal to pay for it." Ireland flies under the name Irish International Airlines, which comprises two legally separate companies, Aer Lingus and Aerlinte. The former concentrates on European and domestic routes, and the latter on transatlantic services. For all practical purposes they operate as a single unit in the system known as Aer Lingus-lrish International Airlines. The parent company, Aer Rianta, has a quite different function, primarily that of managing Dublin Airport. The operating results of Aer Lingus and Aerlinte are accounted for separately. Aer Lingus increased its load ton-miles by 11 per cent for a c.t.m. increase of 16 per cent. Load factor dropped three- points from 66 per cent to 63 per cent. This is a very healthy figure. probably one of the best in the industry last year; and the Aer Lingus passenger load factor was, at 66 per cent, the highest achieved b> any European airline. However, breakeven load factors weie high, only one point below those actually achieved. The final result was a small profit of £43,000 after various allocations and adjustments. The Aer Lingus proportion of passenger traffic between Ireland and the UK fell last year in relation to the BEA proportion. The routes concerned (from Dublin to London, Manchester and Birmingham) are operated in pool with BEA. According to the bi lateral agreement BEA are gradually building up their services so that eventually both sides will be operating on a 50-50 basis. Meanwhile, says Mr Dempsey, until parity is reached, "it is likely that the greater part of the additional passenger traffic on those routes will fall to BEA." He adds somewhat ruefully: "Hitherto, and indeed for many years past, Aer Lingus alone has borne practically the whole burden of the expenditure of building up, publicizing and otherwise promoting travel on the cross-Channel routes and that unbalanced state of affairs, so favourable to our competitors, shows no signs of changing." The report also reminds people that Aer Lingus has the shortest average flight length of any European airline, and also that it operates mainly between airports at which the landing fees are among the highest in the world. Aerlinte, the transatlantic wing, had its full year of Boeing opera tion in the year under review and it managed to sell 58 per cent of its capacity compared with the 51 per cent industry average on the route. And it made a profit of £200,000 on revenue of some £4.2m —revenue which was no less than 69 per cent higher than in the previous year. NEW SAFETY (continued from page 185) with effect from October 1, 1962. These maximum weights are: 25,9001b for C-47 series 3 and 4; 26,8001b for DC-3s with Transair undercarriage doors;* and 27,9001b for DC-3s with AirResearch Maximizer kit. The catastrophic effect of this on a standard DC-3 would be to reduce the payload by approximately ten passengers at stage lengths over 180 miles. Needless to say, this move by the SGAC has been condemned by Britain as rather mechant under Article 33 of the ICAO 1944 Chicago Convention, which states: "Certificates of Airworthiness and certificates of competency and licences issued or rendered valid by the contracting State in which the aircraft is registered shall be recognized as valid by the other contracting States, provided that the requirements under which such certificates or licences were issued or rendered valid are equal to or above the minimum standards which may be established from time to time pursuant to this Convention." However, France claims that under Article 41 the provisions of this Article do not apply to aircraft submitted to the appropriate national authorities for certification prior to a date three years after the date of adoption of an international standard of airworthiness for such equipment, and Annex 6 of the convention contains * Fully described in Flight for June 29,1956, these doors considerably smooth the airflow around the partially exposed mainwheel. such an amendment to the standards. The net result is deadlock. Neither side appears willing to afford the cost of arbitration by the International Court at The Hague. This latest MoA move to revise the ANRs for older aircraft is an attempt to raise the standard of the regulations to an acceptable minimum level of safety for public transport operations. Although the accident records of most aircraft in this group, particularly the DC-3, have been satisfactory since the present regulations came into force, the aircraft worst hit by them have not been so satisfactory. One concluding thought concerning the aspect of safety which seems to involve the older type of transport aircraft far more often than climb performance is en route navigation, where operating procedures seem far more liable to loose interpretation. Veteran Census The following list is compiled from the July 1962 issue of the UK civil aircraft Register:— DC-3 (total 63): Jersey, 6; Air Links, 2; Autair, 2; BKS. 3: BEA, 1; BUA, 12; Cambrian, 8; Dan-Air, 3; Derby. 7; Channel Airways, 8; Skyways, 4; Stanvays, 3; Tyne-Tees, 1: Westpoint, 3. Bristol 170 (34): BKS, 3; BUA, 25; Dan-Air, 3; Channel, 2: Trans-European, 1. Viking (17): Autair, 2; Cunard Eagle, 2; Channel, 3; Eros, 3; Tradait, 7. Rapide: 14 with ten operators. DC-4 (10): BUA, 4; Channel, 1; Lloyd, 2; Starways, 3. York (9): Dan-Air, 4; Skyways, 4. Hermes (4): Silver City, 4.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
