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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0579.PDF
557 HT International, 18 April 1963 Within an hour each of these aircraft, parked by the Ponte Aerea passenger gates at Sao Paulo, will be on its way 80 per cent full to Rio de Janeiro „_, . ,., . J Flight International photograph Passengers arrive at the airport, go to the Ponte Aerea desk (see photograph), and buy a ticket. Only rarely do they have to wait for more than an hour, and more often than not they are airborne within 15 minutes or less. Each passenger is given a number, which is called out when his turn to embark arrives. Anything up to a dozen traffic staff are on duty. A passenger can, if he wishes, and without extra charge, make a firm reservation, and he can also specify the aircraft or carrier of his choice. Thus the com petitive element is retained, and this aspect is further safeguarded by an agreement that the director of the Ponte Aerea, who at present is Sr Vasco Ortigao de Mello of Cruzeiro, is appointed on an annual rotating basis among the three carriers. The superinten dents at Rio and Sao Paulo are also on a rotating basis. In actual fact, however, the operation has worked so smoothly that no changes in this management have been made since operations began in August 1960. If ever there is any trouble the presidents of the three companies meet to sort it out. A daily bulletin on each company's performance is circulated and this always includes infor mation on flights that are cancelled or delayed. Accounts, too, are settled daily. The ticket itself is extremely simple, comprising four detachable sections (see photograph). It is as simple as it could possibly be, requiring the minimum of filling in and no carbon copies. Baggage is checked in the normal way, checks being issued to passengers —though the average baggage load is relatively small. In 1961, the first full year of Ponte Aerea operation, 760,000 passengers were carried. This number increased by 12 per cent to 850,000 in 1962. Annual passenger load factor is around the 80 per cent mark. Load factors recorded in a recent typical week were: Tuesday March 26, 76 per cent; Wednesday March 27, 89 per cent; Thursday March 28, 86 per cent; Friday March 29, 75 per cent; Saturday March 30, 86 per cent; Sunday March 31 (Sunday being usually the quietest day), 51 per cent; Monday April 1, 69 per cent. The flight itself is a pleasant surprise to anyone who, with a bus journey in Sao Paulo fresh in the memory, might well be prepared for a rather rough, take-it-or-leave-it service in a much dented, malodorous old aeroplane. In fact, the Varig Convair 240 in which I flew (the one in the photograph) was clean and brightly polished, and the interior (with two-by-two seating for 44) was clean, bright and comfortable. Two smoothly valeted stewards offered, free of charge, a choice of drinks (whisky, martini or fruit juice), fresh chicken or ham sandwiches, a choice of newspapers, and the usual pre-take-off and pre-landing sweets. Passenger address—like all announcements I heard at Santos Dumont and Congonhas—was in Portuguese only. So far as Brazilians are concerned the Ponte Aerea may or may not be what it in fact is—the world's first really high-frequency air bus service. It does not really occur to them that this is pro gressive air transport. The only lead they have followed is their own; the only advice they have taken is from their own experience. Like other things they have done, the Ponte is an amenity they have evolved for themselves to make life better for Brazilians. For the visiting Englishman perhaps the most salutary observation is that the Ponte Aerea is providing work for surplus BEA Viscount 701s. How about a Ponte Aerea between London and Glasgow? BEA LOSES APPEAL BEA's appeal against the Air Transport Licensing Board's decision to delete the conditional stop at Bournemouth on British United (CI)'s scheduled service licence between Manchester and Jersey has been refused by the Minister of Aviation on the advice of the appeal commissioner, Sir Ralph Hone. In giving his reasons Sir Ralph says: "The removal of this condition is desirable in the in terests of the efficient working of this service by Airlines Jersey (now British United (CI)) and that this consideration outweighs any possible protection that this might afford to BEA's interests, which at the best could only be marginal." In presenting the grounds of appeal, BEA's representative Mr H. E. Marking, laid great stress on the fact that the compulsory stop at Bournemouth had not been published by Airlines Jersey in their timetable. It was claimed that in effect this deprived BEA of the protection afforded them by the compulsory stop. Mr Marking also directed much of his argument to rebut Airlines Jersey's submission that the stop rendered the service uneconomic. In defence, BUA(CI) maintained that all the evidence before the Board had established the public demand for more direct services between Manchester and Jersey during the summer months. The BUA representative, J. R. Bayley, mentioned that BEA planned a 15 per cent increase in capacity during 1963 and that last summer the corporation provided about 7,680 seats per month in each direction over the route, compared with the total Airlines Jersey effort of 7,548 seats for the whole period April 1 -August 31. Wie Ponte Aerea ticket comprises four detachable portions. On the left (re moved from this spec/men) is the coupon which is used by the airlines for revenue accounting; next is the ticket retained ")' the passenger; next is the portion then up at the gate; and on the right is 'he portion retained by the traffic staff "t the counter. Validity is 30 days PONTE AEREA1C? \ ?ASP- CRUZEIRO -VARIG BILHETE »E PASSAGES* U e Nlll Z • S.PAWMI-KtO CrS PONTE AEREA WM IE im$Ml HLV I V A f JKJSA A BSSESVA DO UJGAS S VAU3BA mio-&f»Airj,o PONTE AEREAJft'7*o»9- VASP-CRUZEIRO-VARJG TILII rss covrov OK v«o las • s L: • ,.» • . j ! r,\i.v :: =4 A n mm ttolugw nmu,. tft)t«4 da - i'ATA MM '. .;
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