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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0263.PDF
f( IGHT International, 21 February 1963 251 AIR CO E R C E Mr Bamberg and Eagle EVER since the better half of his airline was taken over by BOAC-Cunard last June, Cunard Eagle Airways chairman Mr Harold Bamberg has been seeking to regain the control he lost when, in March 1960, he sold out to Cunard. This he has now succeeded in doing. On Feb ruary 14 it was announced that he n has purchased from Cunard a 60 per I . W I cent share in the airline. This means H **" that, after three years, he is once •-. ^k fl again master of the airline he founded in 1948. He is, he says, extremely pleased that "it will now be possible for me to replan the policy and activities of the company, and to develop it in my own way." The price paid by Mr Bamberg is not disclosed. It, has been un officially said at various times that Cunard paid hkn"about £lm for Eagle; if this is anything like correct, and assuming that the value of the company after the BOAC-Cunard deal would be not more than £|m, it is possible that the cost of a 60 per cent reposses sion—this is a sheer guess—would be about ££m. Why has Cunard retained 40 per cent? It is believed that Mr Bamberg made the purchase from his own resources, and it is probable that he would have repossessed 100 per cent had he been able to do so. It is understood that he has an option on the re maining 40 per cent. Mr Bamberg's first task now will obviously be a complete financial reconstruction of his company. Financial backing, it is understood, is available. It is probable that Eagle Airways (the Cunard prefix is definitely to be dropped, though the emblem will be retained) will pay special attention to domestic routes. They possess new licences for the major trunk routes from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast and they will almost certainly re apply for frequencies which, unlike the once-daily granted, will make the network more of an economic proposition. Eagle could well view themselves as the major alternative UK domestic carrier. They have never made any secret of their belief that the time is ripe for parallel competition with BEA on the domestic trunk routes; and they have new ideas—such as business men's flights—to offer. Though domestic routes, as BEA know well, have their economic disadvantages, charity begins at home —and domestics present no bilateral problems. Eagle also possess licences for services to new European points (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Venice, Dublin and Nice), and it remains to be seen whether any of these might be "traded" in return for more UK domestic scope. There is, it seems, no question of a merger with British United Airways. Mr Bamberg's answer to questions on this point would probably be an even firmer "no" than the one he gave last April at his Boeing 707 inaugural press conference. Nor, it is believed, are Mr Bamberg's Caribbean plans likely to be taken any further, ai least for the time being. If Eagle are planning to go all out for domestic business it may be assumed that they will not do so in any "clever" way. The most careful plan will be drawn up, and—with the financial back- ing that is apparently assured—the fleet of two Britannias, three DC-6s and two Viscounts enlarged. Mr Bamberg and his redoubt able airline may well have learned that too much enterprise and i'litiative may, in a corporation-dominated world, not always be rewarding. The Eagle vigour remains intact and the "remains" of the dis membered body are not as insignificant as may have been supposed. The network of seasonal European services is doing well; Mr Bamberg is owner of Lunns and Poly, two of the biggest travel agents in the country, and no doubt a valuable traffic-producing property; the engineering base—which, it is believed, may shortly be expanded—is full to capacity and making money on maintenance contracts for BOAC-Cunard (which will continue), and more recently, for Ghana Airways (Britannias). Above all, the original team remains and there is no doubt that it is in good heart. Mr Bamberg said last week: "I am confident that we have an excellent future. Despite the low returns currently offered by investment in aviation, there is a vast international market which is growing steadily. The profit-making record of Eagle Airways in the past shows the company's spirit of enter prise: with the background of this record, coupled with the en thusiasm and experience of the staff, we are going ahead." BEA's Appeal to the Minister against the ATLB's award of "scheduled inclusive-tour" licences to Cunard Eagle, Skyways Coach Air, Derby Aviation and Channel Airways has, as this issue goes to press, been dismissed on the recommendation of the Min ister's commissioner who heard the appeal, Sir John Lang. Channel Airways' Appeal Fails As we go to press it is announced that Sir Kenneth Roberts-Wray, the commissioner appointed by the Minister to hear Channel Airways' appeal against the ATLB's refusal to allow supplementary passengers on their Bristol - Cork, Bristol - Jersey car ferry services, has recommended that the appeal be dismissed. The Minister has accepted the recommendation. On his recent visit to the United Kingdom, Mr Najeeb Halaby, administrator of the FAA (left), called at Weybridge where he met Sir George Edwards, man aging director of the British Aircraft Corporation
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