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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1875.PDF
682 FLIGHT International, 24 October 1963 AIR CO E R C E Postscript to the Domestic Decision DID British Eagle (Cunard Eagle at the time) aim too high with their applications for United Kingdom domestic trunk licences—licences which the Air Transport Licensing Board has thought fit so ruthlessly to refuse? In planning their case British Eagle might be forgiven for not predicting that the Board's apparent basic philosophy in deciding the case would be "that the interests of British civil aviation would not be served by adopting a course which would be detrimental to the financial interests of BEA at a time when these routes are not and are not likely to be profitable for some time." Nevertheless, it seems a pity that British Eagle did not confine the application to the minimum number of services needed to make a comfortable operation, and then con centrate evidence on the public need. As it was, the Board con cluded that if the granting of the applications was essential to the operating and economic viability of the airline—a matter on which they could hardly have an accurate opinion without the most detailed knowledge of the airline's circumstances and future plans —then it was "the result of its own acts." In dismissing British Eagle's viability argument, the Board noted that "having regard to the changes in the structure of the company, an operational plan based on the use of seven Britannias is most ambitious, notwithstanding the enthusiasm of the company's management and staff and the past contribution they have made to the development of British civil aviation. We accept that there is a level of activity below which it is impossible to sustain the central organization, with its many and varied specialist skills, which is essential for successful airline operation; but it is within our know ledge that some of our independent airlines have achieved viability with a fleet capacity much less than that now planned by British Eagle. Moreover, we doubt whether a 124-seater aircraft is the most suitable with which to commence services as a second oper ator." (In fact, British Eagle's Britannias will have 101-seat mixed- class cabins compared with BEA's 132-seater one-class Vanguards.) In all probability the Board had already made its decision when British Eagle announced (on September 16) that on November 4 they would begin operating the domestic trunk routes for which they already hold limited frequency licences. If the British Eagle organization is successful with this operation—which was launched as a demonstration of faith in the belief that it would at least get something out of the applications to make the service a more comfortable exercise—then it will again prove itself a very able airline management and will incidentally disprove its own viability argument. The City of Liverpool's factual evidence on the inadequacy of services to London—notably, perhaps, the service-by-service load factor—clearly impressed the Board. If similar evidence had been produced for the other routes (particularly London - Manchester, on which BEA still hold the monopoly), then the result might have been slightly different. Since BEA first issued their domestic winter timetable they have twice amended the timings so that a service coincides with, or is scheduled very close to, every flight of British Eagle. "This sort of thing," says Mr Harold Bamberg, chairman of British Eagle, "is the sort of unnecessary duplication we wanted to avoid when we asked the Board to limit BEA's capacity." This last request the Board had rejected, saying "there is little or no evidence that BEA would engage in either of these practices" [swamping and sand wiching of a competitor's services]. As far as domestic services are concerned, this year's fireworks are clearly going to start on November 4, and the air-travelling public may well find a good deal more interest being taken in their requirements. With a carefully prepared case for their appeal emphasizing the services with the biggest public demand, British Eagle should stand a good chance of getting a little more flexibility from the licences which they are now about to demonstrate willingness to operate. The rivals meet: side-by-side on the apron at Karachi on October 17 during their overseas sales tours—the Boeing 727 and the Hawker Siddeley Trident. The Trident was on its way back to Europe after being demonstrated to Japanese airlines; the 727 is due to be shown in Europe by the time this issue appears \
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