FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0697.PDF
FLIGHT International, 9 May 1963 669 expect to get anything up to £6,400 with an American domestic airline" is precisely because the management of his new company would enable and require him to produce more than twice as many passenger-miles (4m per year) as he did with BEA. And don't kid yourself [continues our correspondent], he gets a better standard of living all right. Therefore, the 5.4d/mile level of BEA's fares should be assumed to correspond with the official equivalent of 6.3c/mile—the same rate as in the United States—rather than the 8c suggested. However [he goes on], as many of us have discovered for ourselves—even if the price is the same one gets crowded, inconvenient and discourteous service on BEA. The reason for this, as well as the low productivity, is clearly described in a classic 700-page treatise which was published 14 years ago and must be on several shelves at Ruislip. It is Airline Competition, by F. W. Gill and G. L. Bates of Harvard Business School, and a few of their conclusions may be worth repeating:— On fares: "Competition, both from railroads and from other airlines, has been and continues to be an all-important factor in determining the fares charged the airline traveller." On aircraft: "Competition . . . has favourably influenced the development and purchase of the most modern and advanced equipment by the various airlines." On comfort: "Competition has brought to air transportation higher standards of passenger service such as meal service, sleeper service, reservations, and ticketing services than other wise would have resulted." On convenience: "Competition has usually assured the scheduling of equipment on convenient and frequent flights adapted to the traveller's needs." No established organization enjoys competition, and life for management is far easier if the Government will grant a monopoly and foreign companies will agree not to compete either. For tunately for the American public, both monopolies and pools are classed as Federal crimes punishable by imprisonment. Though the quality of airline service may seem a minor matter in the context of national economies, we in the aviation business should be the first to recognize that it may have a vital signifi cance even to people who do not see an aircraft from one month to the next. A recent article in the New York Times (April 21, 1963, page 4), described the collapse of the manufacturing industries and the appearance of ghost towns in Scotland and the North of England, and said:— "The line dividing the rich and poor nations of Britain can be plotted roughly on the map by reckoning the distances from London that can be travelled in three to three and a half hours by rail or road . . . [allowing] just enough time to get some work done and return to London on the same daw The central industrial belt of Scotland would be within three and a half hours of London by air, counting time to get to the airport. But air services in Britain have not kept up with the need." * * * BEA, as the New York Times so plainly sees from afar, have an important part to play in building a better Britain. Nobody appreciates more than BEA "the vital importance of rapid com munication." This indeed is the title of a series of BEA advertise ments now appearing in such organs as The Times. The advertise ment takes the form of a poem about a bus builder who lost a sale in Greece to "Someone Else, who'd flown that day Direct, non-stop—by BEA." The poem ends with this moral:— "The Commerce of our Island Nation Depends on Quick Communication! if you have Business to transact In Europe, bear in mind the fact That, often many times a day. The Aeroplanes of BEA Fly STRAIGHT to almost every spot Where Trade (and Profit) may be got." A contributor, Mr A. B. C. Body, felt constrained to compose the following:— "But what about Sir Arthur Crumb Whose factory is in Birmingham? His bus production's slowly dying For want of more domestic flying. He needs parts from far and wide Across the British countryside: Tyres from Speke and Tyneside wheels Dundee jute and Sheffield steels. For every bus he sends abroad A thousand bits must be installed. Alas! Sir Arthur and his men Find rail too slow from Birmingham. Quoth he: The Commerce of our Island Nation Depends on Quick Communication! If you have Business to transact Always bear in mind the fact That often, many times a day There are no seats on BEA And nothing flies to many a spot Where Trade (and Profit) may be got." POSTSCRIPT ON MEA's PROFITS IN reviewing MEA's report and accounts for 1961, we noted (issue of August 30, 1962) that the declared profit of over £L4m could not be taken at its face value because of the paucity of detail given in the supporting accounts. Now that the ICAO financial digest for 1961 is available, it is possible to evaluate the published figure a little more closely. ICAO show that the profit figure released by the airline is actually the margin between operating revenues and operating expenses. If allowance is made for capital losses on sale of aircraft, for interest on capital, for income tax and for "other non-operating items," the operating profit falls by £L3.4m to £Lfm. This figure has then to be reduced again to allow for various unspecified "adjustments" which amount to an extra charge of just over £L|m, leaving only £L176,000 to be added to the profit-and-loss account. The point is that MEA made a profit, though not the profit—as quoted by many airlines—that actually hit the headlines. As announced last October, the Duke of Edinburgh has instituted a personal award for competition by cadets at the College of Air Training, Hamble. Presented by His Royal Highness in his capacity as Master of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, it will be awarded at the end of each full course to the cadet with the best all-round record of character, initiative and ability. The Grand Master's Medal, as it will be known, has now been struck at the Royal Mint, and the obverse and reverse sides are shown here PanAm to Belgrade Until May 3, the only direct airline service between London and Belgrade has been once-weekly by one of Iraqi Airways' through Viscount services to Baghdad. From May 3 PanAm have opened a twice-weekly service linking the two capitals as part of their big-jet service from New York to Beirut calling at London, Frankfurt, Belgrade and Istanbul. In early June Jugo- slovenski Aerotransport will also open a twice-weekly service using Caravelles. Due to insufficient traffic, BEA abandoned direct services to Belgrade about 18 months ago after unsuccessfully negotiating with the Jugoslavian Government for many years for traffic rights.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
