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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0478.PDF
456 FLIGHT International, 4 April 1962 AIR CO E R C E Battle of the Troops THERE is no readily available source of information on the trooping contracts let by the Government to British indepen dent airlines. These companies are not very forthcoming—particu larly now—about these contracts. But there are no secrets, except in respect of cost, about Forces' operations, and a little research into the subject is timely now that both BOAC and BEA are assert ing their rights to do this work. About 95 per cent of British air trooping* is carried out under two/three-year contracts between the Air Ministry (acting on behalf of the Service departments) and British United Airways and Cunard Eagle Airways. The remaining 5 per cent is ad hoc trooping, fixed up at relatively short notice, and carried out by independents as well as by both BOAC and BEA. It is probably this ad hoc work, rather than long-term trooping, which is behind the recent BOAC and BEA applications to the ATLB for permission to carry troops on their scheduled public transport services. So far only BOAC have said that they ought to be allowed to tender for the long- term contracts. In pleading their case for scheduled services in competition with BOAC and BEA, British United and Cunard Eagle have always emphasized to the Licensing Board and to Ministry appeal com missioners that all airlines are now equal before the 1960 Licensing Act. The two companies have successfully obtained a number of international licences. These look good on paper but, because of foreign traffic-rights problems, they do not add up to many ton- miles of revenue-earning business. It will not have escaped attention that neither British United nor Cunard Eagle have appeared particularly anxious to implement their newly-acquired international licences. After two years of noisy battling to get these licences, the date for the inauguration of most of them (April 1, 1963) passes by without a murmur. The reasons for this are, first and foremost, the traffic-rights problem (though this does not apply in the case of BUA's new London - Amsterdam licence). Secondly, Cunard Eagle have been engrossed in a fight for independence, from which they have only just emerged victorious. But there could well be another reason: the possibility that they may have to trade flesh-and-blood troops for paper civilians. The key words were spoken by Mr Julian Amery, Minister of Aviation, in the House of Commons last November. The Minister said that any decision to give long-term trooping contracts to BOAC and BEA must be viewed against the ability of the indepen dents to take up their new scheduled services. It looks as though BUA and Cunard Eagle are beginning to wonder whether they may have to pay too high a price for their new licences. At first sight the corporations' applications to the ATLB to carry Forces traffic on scheduled services appear to strike at the very roots of the independents' economy. BUA probably earn £4m a year from trooping, and Eagle £lm. Understandably, dis may was the first reaction from the independents when, round about last October, rumours first began to buzz around the in- industry that BEA and BOAC were planning to bid for the trooping business. But now that the applications can be seen in perspective it seems that the independents need not worry too much, for three reasons. In the first place trooping has for some years represented a dimin ishing share of the independents' total effort. In terms of revenue, for instance, this share has fallen from as much as one-third in the mid-fifties down to one-sixth at the present time. This is the result not of a declining movement in Forces traffic but of a rapid expansion of public transport business. Trooping has in fact risen gradually in recent years from an annual level of about 400m * "Trooping" is the carriage of British servicemen and their families to, from and between British military bases and garrisons overseas. WHO FLIES THE FORCES? Route UK - Singapore/ Hong Kong UK-Aden/ Nairobi/ Cyprus UK - Gibraltar/ Malta/North Africa (e.g. Benina, El Adem, Idris) UK - East Med/ "Medair" UK - Germany Operator British United British United RAF Transport Command Cunard Eagle British United Aircraft Type Britannia 310 (103 seats) Britannia 310 (110 seats) Comet 2 Viscount 700 Viscount 800 (65 seats) Expiry Date May 1964 Sept 1964 1966? Oct 1963 with option to extend for one year Mar 31, 1964 Approx Frequency 15 per month 6 per month N/A 2 per week 30 flhghts per week, weekdays only Re marl Accounts about on total trot pass-miles revenue Taken over Cunard DC-6s in 1962 folio, flil i Twice - wa flight from to Malts lowed by"rui Med" flight* Accounts more than half of trooping I bers J *Will continue at least until Comet 2 fatigue life expires in three or four years'! tTaking in Nicosia, El Adem, Idris, Benina, and back to Malta; formerly carried! Cyprus-based Eagle Viking. ^Flights from UK (two-thirds London and one-third Manchester) to two civil airp Hanover and Dusseldorf, and two military fields, RAF Guttersloh and RAF Wilde The first BAC One-Eleven, a BAC-owned aircraft, has been painted in the colours of British United, the first customer. Already the second air craft is in the wing join-up jig, the third fuselage is built, and the fourth fuselage is in the assembly jig. A structural test specimen is under test, and a second test specimen is being built
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