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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0623.PDF
FLIGHT International, 25 April 1963 597 DR BEECHING AND THE AIRLINER RECENTLY an engineer wishing to drive some piles near the track at New Street station, Birmingham, where several routes converge, applied to a railway official for a "possession." He was told: • That section of the track belongs to the North Western and so it is nothing to do with us. This is the Midland side." Strictly speak ing, railway grouping took place 40 years ago. Cynics may have wondered whether Railway Air Services (alias BEA) have ever dropped one of their pre-war objects, which must have been to minimize competition with the railways. Sometimes the corporation's opposition to the provision of more adequate services from London to Manchester, for example, seems inexplic able in any other terms. Now this policy has led to a section in Dr Beechings' recent report on British Railways which must dismay all concerned with the furtherance of domestic air transport. Already three independent airlines, BKS, Cunard Eagle and Star- ways have realized that there is money to be made on internal routes, and BUA, Cambrian, Dan-Air and Derby seem to be won dering about it. Dr Beeching finds that "air transport is not competitive in terms of speed for inter-city distances of less than about 200 miles," and "this restricts the routes over which air competes seriously with rail to the London - Manchester, London - Newcastle and London - Scotland routes." This is a reasonable statement of the present position. But the Railways Board is misleading itself if it has concluded that this will necessarily continue over the next 20 years for which they should be planning. To question these conclusions is not to say that the railways have no role on the 150-200 mile routes, if they can con tinue to provide cheaper transport than the aeroplane. The rail ways can carry the diminishing band of customers who really do want to travel between city centres, as opposed to the more usual journey from a suburban home to an outlying factory, for example. But they are going to lose a lot of traffic if the domestic air routes are developed vigorously. The London-Scotland sleepers are well patronized now. But what is the average age of the passengers when compared with that of air travellers ? Many of the younger air passengers have never been to Scotland by rail, and the railways' ace card should be trumped in 1968 or thereabouts by the introduction of automatic landing. A long train journey makes it impractical for a London busi nessman to spend a morning in Manchester or Glasgow and the afternoon in his own office, a feat which can be achieved by air without undue exhaustion. Indeed, with frequent services and "closing times" down to Air Shuttle standards, the busy executive would be back in ample time for lunch, thus doubling his produc tivity compared with a railborne rival. The theory that most people work on trains can be dismissed by checking as one walks along the corridors. At present BEA is encouraging British Railways to carry its Birmingham to London feeder traffic, which is presumably un economical to the corporation because of the unbusinesslike dis counts imposed by the IATA provating committee and acquiesced in by the Minister of Aviation. Inconvenient timings, leading to low load factors and a maximum summer frequency of two flights daily, are both factors which have contributed to failure of this service. (An interesting aspect is that 25 per cent of the passengers use it for point-to-point journeys.) From the point of view of distance, a precisely comparable American sector is Milwaukee - Chicago, where about 30 services are provided daily, principally by North Central's stopping services, which also serve points further north. Around 750 connecting and point-to-point passengers are carried daily, the latter being about 15 per cent of the total. Thus even on a 90-mile route, where British Railways carry around 4,000 lucrative passengers a day, the air could have some impact. Dr Beeching may yet have to consider regaining more formal control of Railway Air Services. AIR TRANSPORT AT OXFORD The Royal Aeronautical Society's annual air transport course at Oriel College, Oxford, took place this year from March 18 to April 10. The course— the eighth—was as great a success as ever, and was attended by students and lecturers from all over the world Back row: R. H. Winckless (E. T. Bowring); K. B. Gan (Malaya ATC); G. H. Capsey (MoA); A. D. Cowell (Vickers);W. H. Napthine (BEA); B. M. Bowen (Norwich Union Insurance); C.Buchanan (Mexicana); M. L. Peixoto (BP, Lisbon); S. W. Greenwood (Bristol Siddeley); D. C. Kao (Formosa); E. C. Miles (BOAC); P. J. Baehr (Contraves, Switzerland); W. Hagos (Ethiopian); D. S. Scoffham (Shorts). Third row: P. P. Mawalagedera (Air Ceylon); T. L. Brcwn (BOAC); P. Watson (Avro); R. L. Gamlin (Bristol Siddeley); J. A. Ottewell (Bristol Aircraft); H. R Beattie (Avro); J. H. C. Kok (SAA); S. P. Quimbo (PAL); R. Bamford (R-R); K. G. Lie (Malayan Airways);G. Fernandez (Malayan Airways); K. H. Lancee (Fokker); J. Seekings (visiting lecturer, BEA). Second row: S. Tomanic (Adria Airways); M. G. H. Baudouin (Nord); C. G. B. McClure (Cranfield); F. Gonzalez (Mexicana); E. H. Burgess (Bristol Aircraft); C. R. Oliveiro (Malaya ATC); M. Dayal (IAC); H. A. Adlam (Shorts); D. G. Brown (D.H. Aircraft); D. V. Warren; C. R. Moss (Shell Aircraft); R. Peladan (guest lecturer, ITA). Front row: J. Carmona (Iberia); Z. Fux (Adria Airways); G. D. G. Shaw (BP); C. G. Walker (Leeds/Bradford Airport); D. C. Tennant (resident lecturer, TCA); W. Bray (guest lecturer, BOAC); S. F. Wheatcroft (resident lecturer); E. B. Croad (RAeS); G. Prill (guest lecturer, FAA); K. G. Wilkinson (resident lecturer, BEA); J. McLeary; E. A. Robinson (SAA). Not present: Dr A. M. Ballantyne (director); A. R. Barrowclough and B. J. Davenport, resident lecturers.
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