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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1336.PDF
Al R COM MERCE . . . NOW FOR EDINBURGH TWO cities, three airports, and 1 £m passengers a year. Yet even if there had been an ideal site for an international airport midway in the 44 miles between Edinburgh and Glasgow, it would probably take more than the Ministry of Aviation to unite the rival interests of Glaswegians and Edinburghians. However, as we recorded in these pages on June 13, after prolonged negotiations the Ministry and Glasgow Corporation have concluded an agreement for sharing the development and operation of Abbotsinch Naval Air Station to replace Renfrew as the City's airport for short and medium range of operations. It will be recalled that the 6,000ft runway at Renfrew could not be extended, owing to the airport's proximity to housing and industrial areas. Prestwick was not considered suitable as the City's airport, because of its 35 miles by road from Glasgow. When it comes into service in 1966, Abbotsinch will have two 7,000ft runways which will be adequate for all short and medium range airliners, and long-range 707s and DC-8s at reduced weight. There is room to extend the Abbotsinch runways up to about 8.000ft, but further extensions to the 10,000ft or so needed for regular transatlantic operations would involve quite a lot of property demolition. Contrary to fears expressed in some quarters, Prestwick is therefore likely to continue to handle the majority of transatlantic services to and from Scotland. However, there is some doubt as to whether these operations will be sufficient to justify the £4m airport improvements now almost complete. The number of passengers handled by Prestwick seems to have stabi lized at around 350,000 per annum, although there was a fall in the numbers during 1962. When Abbotsinch takes over from Renfrew in 1966, the Ministry of Aviation intend to sell the site for industrial development, and the area covered by the main runway will form part of a motorway from the city centre to Abbotsinch. On July 10, the final ceremonial mustering at HMS Sanderling, the Royal Naval Air Station at Abbotsinch, was carried out. The Navy will finally move out in October this year, when work is due to begin on converting the airport for civil operations. Councillor William Taylor, leader of the majority Labour group is on record as saying that Glasgow Corporation will have to form an airport committee after the summer recess. One of the first jobs of the committee, he said, would be to appoint an airport director with an unusually free hand to make important decisions. In this res pect, Glasgow would be following in the footsteps of Manchester Corporation who allow their airport director Mr G. Harvey to make fairly important spot decisions. Councillor Taylor listed what, in his opinion, were the three equally important objectives for Abbotsinch: The best possible airport for serving the Clyde Valley; an airport worth looking at from the architectural aspect; a profitable airport. Running the airport will be one of the biggest jobs the Corporation has ever undertaken, and with no previous experience of airport operations, Councillor Taylor says the Cor poration would be wise if they allow the man who will control Abbotsinch to be "in with the bricks." The first Siemens seat-reservation system ordered by Lufthansa will be installed towards the end of 1964. Data entered by the booking clerks are transmitted over public Telex circuits to a central computer. Initially, agent sets such as those shown here will be provided at 64 Lufthansa sales offices in Germany and the network will later be extended to include London, Rome, Paris and other major cities The agreement over Abbotsinch marks the first stage ip the Ministry of Aviation's municipalization of Scotland's airports. Now it is the turn of Edinburgh. Despite a very high diversion rate due to cross winds on the only long runway and grossly over crowded passenger handling facilities, Edinburgh's airport at Turnhouse handled 330,000 passengers last year, and the traffic growth rate is well above the average for United Kingdom airports. A decision must be taken soon to implement the necessary im provements if the growth of air traffic into Edinburgh is not to be seriously restricted. Last year, an estimated 10,000 passengers were diverted because of crosswinds and the present terminal facili ties are strained to the limit. The terminal buildings, erected in 1956, are now coping with four times the number of passengers for which they were designed. It has been reported that negotiations on the future development and operation of Turnhouse between the Ministry and Edinburgh Corporation will begin very soon. Although there seems to be no doubt that the Corporation is willing to take over the airport, there is likely to be a fair amount of haggling over the conditions. It has been estimated that the new runway will cost £lm, and with a new or enlarged terminal building the total airport bill could well be in the region of £3m if the £2.15m which Glasgow Corporation is paying over 30 years as half the cost of developing Abbotsinch can be taken as a guide. Airports in the Clyde and Forth valley. An article on this page summarizes the present situation in the programme of rationalizing and modernizing now going on \
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