FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1721.PDF
530 FLIGHT International, 26 September ]g^ AIR CO E R C E British Eagle WITH typical resilience Eagle have fully recovered from their traumatic BOAC-Cunard experiences, and are all set to challenge BEA. Competition on Britain's main internal air routes will be introduced for the first time ever on the evening of Sunday, Nov ember 3, when British Eagle—as they are now known—will inaugurate a daily service to Glasgow. The next day, November 4, the programme gets into swing with daily services on the main trunk routes linking London with Edinburgh and Belfast. Aircraft will be Britannia 310-series, of which five (plus an option on two) are being acquired on hire-purchase from BO AC. They are fitted with 14 first-class and 87 tourist-class seats, and have attractively re- styled interiors. Eagle were finally licensed to operate these dom estic routes just under a year ago, but they have not yet done so because of the claimed non-viability of a one-frequency-a-day network. They have now decided, as Mr Bamberg says, to "show willing" regardless of the outcome of their request to the ATLB for increased frequency. As soon as the schedules were announced (see opposite page) reports began to gain currency that BEA had announced a new timetable "sandwiching" the Eagle departures. These reports may have originated in the advance BEA winter schedules, which were released to travel agents before British Eagle's announcement on September 16. Obviously prepared weeks before, the new BEA schedule includes a flight to Edinburgh leaving London at the same time, i.e., 1500hr, and leaving Edinburgh ten minutes after British Eagle. Perhaps BEA had got wind in advance of British Eagle's Edin burgh schedules. The corporation's declared policy is all-out com petition with the independents, and this presumably precludes timetabling agreements. Unfortunately, without such agreements a scramble for the best times tends to go on at the expense of the airlines and to the inconvenience of the public. Mr Bamberg said last week that he had "a lot of ideas" for the Mr Harold Bamberg (right), chairman of British Eagle, has decided to give names to his Britannias. The first aircraft (G-AOVT, below), re painted, overhauled and refurnished by BOAC, is named "Enterprise." Other names—all at one time given to the company's Yorks—include "Endeavour," "Good Fortune" and "Resolution" new services, though he would rather not at this stage enlarge on them. It is believed, however, that these include (1) full meal service, for example bacon-and-egg breakfast from Glasgow to London; (2) seat-selection facilities; and (3) trickle-loading arrangements for passengers, if not at London then at Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow, so that passengers can wait in the aircraft after checking in rather than in a lounge or a bus. British Eagle are not contemplating walk-on services at least until they have got the feel of the new routes for a year or two. Nor is it likely that they will start a free-gift war. Fares will be the same as BEA's. Mr Bamberg said last week that he expected to have the ATLB's decisions on his applications for increased frequency "in the next few weeks." If these applications were not granted, he was asked would he have to close down these new once-daily services? "1 hope not, no," Mr Bamberg said; "but we would be able to con tinue only with difficulty so far as the viablity of domestic route! as a whole is concerned." He said that British Eagle is "shootinj for a 60 per cent load factor." Eventually British Eagle aims to have a fleet of ten Britannias in addition to the two that have been in service for some time then are the five (plus two) coming from BOAC and one other from ai !\, \
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
