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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1041.PDF
1010 FLIGHT International, 27 June 1963 AIR COMMERCE . . . A RIBBON IN CALEDONIAN'S GLENGARRY HISTORY was made on June 17 when President Kennedy approved the CAB's award of the first US foreign carrier permit specifically for charter operations. The delighted recipient is Caledonian Air ways, who become the first British non-scheduled operator— indeed the first non-scheduled operator of any non-US country— to be granted a CAB permit for transatlantic charter flights. The permit is issued for a three-year period. It allows Caledonian to operate between any point in the UK and any point in the USA, subject to certain conditions. These conditions are rather less stringent than the "one for one" restriction originally proposed by the CAB examiner. "One-for- one" meant that Caledonian must uplift a charter from Britain for every charter uplifted out of the USA. The condition is now "three-for-four," meaning that Caledonian may uplift up to one- third more charters out of the US (up to a maximum of 15 more). Caledonian do not object to this—though connoisseurs of US international air transport policy will note that it is the first time the Americans have espoused the notion—which they have always shunned—of "predetermination." Caledonian applied for a CAB charter permit in May 1962, and the Board heard the application in August 1962. It was opposed by Pan American and TWA. In November 1962 a CAB examiner recommended in favour of Caledonian. There the matter has rested, awaiting the Board's decision and—like all foreign carrier permits— the signature of President Kennedy. As recently as last April there were signs that the CAB were in no hurry to approve this application. Mr Alan Boyd, the chairman BR'ABAZON ON PAA'S CONCORDE ORDER PAN AMERICAN'S order for the Concorde is "make-believe," and their insistence on CAB certification means that Americans are "in on the conspiracy from the beginning." This was alleged by Lord Brabazon in London on June 13 at the presentation of the trophies of the British Women Pilots' Association. Lord Brabazon, who is chairman of the ARB, said: "I have seen too many types of aircraft started in this country and the Americans being right in on them." It was, he said, "a very old trick." The ARB had been doing "a tremendous lot of work in the original investigation" of the Concorde. However, he still thought that "the thing is not wanted." The sonic bang was a problem that was not going to be solved, and he hoped that, when the time came, "the long-suffering British public will arise in their wrath." TOO MANY FOREIGN "ITs" SO far, inclusive-tour holiday flights from Britain to continental resorts have been accommodated by foreign countries outside the terms of bilateral agreements. But the airlines of these countries have been demanding—and getting—an increasing share of IT business, to the increasing concern of the British operators who pioneered and developed it. The market was the subject of an analysis in Flight International for May 16, pages 705-7. The broad conclusion was that by far the greater share of the business goes to British carriers, but that the share—in 1961 about 75 : 25—is diminishing. The point is that the Ministry of Aviation cannot, in the interests of international reciprocity, turn down applications for IT charter-flight permits from foreign airlines. Arguments like "but this is 100 per cent British—and British promoted—traffic, bringing your country tourist business" are always countered with "but it is our beautiful sunny country your traffic is visiting." Cunard Eagle know all this as well as anybody, which makes it all the more important to take note of their recent cri de coeur. In a pamphlet, Inclusive Tours, just published, Eagle describe and illustrate—with special emphasis on Perpignan—the upsurge in foreign carryings, and their key complaint is that British carriers are at a disadvantage because they have to submit to the licensing of the CAB, told Flight International that a decision was unlikely before completion of the CAB's Transatlantic Charter Investi gation. However, the British Government appears to have been taking a firm line in support of Caledonian. Early in 1962, when CAB were being awkward over a Cunard Eagle application for transatlantic charter rights, the Ministry of Aviation threatened to ban US non-scheduled charter flights into the UK. This resolved itself when Cuard Eagle's western operations were extinguished by the formation of BO AC-Cunard in June 1962. The principle in the case of Caledonian's application was no different; and recently, presumably pour encourager the CAB, the Ministry of Aviation banned a charter flight to London by the US company Intercontinental. The key words in the CAB order granting Caledonian's permit are: "Requests of US supplemental air carriers to conduct charter operations . . . are rarely denied by the British Government. . . On the basis of reciprocity, the Board tentatively concludes that it is in the public interest to grant a permit to Caledonian." Hitherto, transatlantic charters operated by Caledonian have been on the basis of individual or short-series approval. Now the company will be able to go ahead with the 1,500 hours of DC-7C transatlantic charter business that have been booked. No doubt Caledonian, as a Scottish company, will exploit the "ethnic affinity" market of the large Scottish community in the States and their relations in Scotland—just as, with notable success, Irish Air Lines and El Al have found natural markets among Irish and Jewish travellers across the Atlantic. procedures of the ATLB whereas foreign carriers merely have to apply to the Ministry. Even though the Ministry refers all foreign applications to the ATLB before clearing them, this does not in Eagle's view remove the disadvantage of the British operators. Eagle suggest four ways in which the ATLB IT licensing pro cedures should be liberalized: (1) Licences should be granted for at least three years. (2) Licences should not be limited to a single named travel agent. (3) Greater flexibility in respect of frequency and capacity should be accorded. (4) Licences should net be limited to named places, but to areas. In 1962, according to Eagle, the number of round-trip IT seats approved by the ATLB for British operators was 247,000, and 139,000 approved for foreign operators by the MoA. In 1963 the respective figures given are 299,000 and—so far—208,000. KLM's New President is Dr H. Albarda, vice-chairman and a member of the Board since 1946. He succeeds Mr E. H. van der Beugel, who resigned earlier this year. No Britannias for China BOAC have been informed by the authorities of the People's Republic of China that they have decided not to proceed further "at this time" with negotiations to buy BOAC's surplus Britannia 102s. SAS and Mr Braathens The Norwegian airline operator and shipowner Mr L. G. Braathen has offered to buy the Norwegian two-sevenths share in SAS. The proposal is being studied by the Norwegian Government. MoA Jet Noise Monitoring For the first time since the Ministry of Aviation began monitoring jet noise at London Heathrow in 1958, some results have been published. Infringement of the day and night noise limits (respectively 110 PNdb and 102 PNdb) has been markedly reduced—from 17.5 per cent by day and 39 per cent by night in the first three months of 1961, to 0.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively in the first three months of this year.
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