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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2028.PDF
830 FLIGHT International, 21 November 1%] AIR COM M ERCE . . . EL AL'S POINT OF VIEW "IN view of all kinds of largely misleading rumours concerning the position taken by El Al during the recently recessed 1ATA conference on North Atlantic fares; and also considering statements made to the Press by some other carries," the Israeli airline has joined the growing band of airlines who have issued press releases about Salzburg. "Ever since 1957," the statement says in part, "El Al has advo cated establishment of cheap non-affinity group fares on the North Atlantic for the benefit of large segments of the travelling public, the travel industry and the airlines themselves. El Al compromised in accepting affinity group fares across the Atlantic in general in 1961 and concentrated its efforts within IATA on securing a cheap non-affinity group fare at least between the United States and Canada and its own home country, Israel. This year-round $535 New York - Tel Aviv round-trip non-affinity group fare was adopted at the Chandler conference in the autumn of 1962 by all carriers, and has proved to be one of the most popular and successful resolutions recently adopted by IATA. "At Salzburg El Al proposed a further price reduction. Unfor tunately neither the amendments proposed by El Al, nor those proposed by others, could have been fully discussed before the recess of the conference. . . . El Al was prepared to compromise in favour of the retention of at least the year-round affinity group fare, which it considers extremely important to substantial segments of the travelling public. El Al further proposed the introduction of a cheap individual 'Visit The United States/Canada' special fare of $275 London - New York and return, valid during certain periods of the year, with a view to developing tourism from European and Middle Eastern countries to the United States and Canada, resulting in a fare of ?575-f6G0 Tel Aviv - New York - Tel Aviv; a fare we feel would substantially increase the potential of visitors to the United States. "El Al wanted the 21-day excursion fare proposed in Salzburg to be effective also during the winter months, at least between the United States and Canada and the Mediterranean area. There is a good chance of developing considerable winter traffic, due to the special climatic attraction of the Mediteiranean during the winter months. El Al agrees with and supports the proposal concerning substantial reduction of current North Atlantic first and economy class faies, and 21-day excursion fares. On the other hand, El Al does not consider these as sufficiently promotional, hence its insistence on the additional features detailed above in any fare structure to which it can agree. Alitalia's managing director, Sr Bruno Veiani, hands over a cheque for $300,000 to Mr Najeeb Halaby, FAA Administrator, as downpayment on three places in the queue for the US supersonic airliner. This is the first non-US airline order to be booked; JAL have followed with a similar order for five and KIM are said to be considering making a reservation "EI Al considers establishment of minimum charter rates on the Atlantic as an essential feature to any agreement." In conclusion, El Al "has no doubt whatsoever" that unanimous agreement on all these problems will be reached by IATA. FUTURE OF CAA AND EAA ACCORDING to unofficial reports from Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, CAA will continue after the break-up of the Central African Federation as an operator of international services on behalf of the three Central African territories, though feeder services will become the responsibility of the three Governments concerned. It is presumed that the Governments of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland will form their own national airlines when they become independent next year. The implications for CAA, whose consistent profitability was the subject of a note on page 790 last week, are obviously serious. especially perhaps because CAA sold their UK rights to BOAC in 1957 for a period of ten years for a sum of £lfm. Whether or not this deal will now be renegotiated remains to be seen. CAA's international regional services to Johannesburg, Durban and Laurenco Marques would appear to have a less obscure political future than the international routes to the "black" points of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanganyika and Nairobi in Kenya; but, as had been feared, the break-up of the Central African Federation means the break-up of CAA or at any rate its very severe contraction. The fragmentation of air transport services in Central Africa may well be unfortunate for the economics of these services and indeed against the economic interests of the territories concerned, because a common air transport organization could have been a force for good both from the economic and political points of view. The future of EAA seems even bleaker. The break-up of the quadripartite pool with CAA, BOAC, and SAA has, accoiding to the airline's general manager, Capt P. A. Travers, been "extremely serious" and is likely to cause "considerable financial loss." Figures of £500,000 and £750,000 have been mentioned in the Nairobi Press. Any further blows, Capt Travers says, would threaten the airline's survival. The forthcoming independence of Kenya on December 12 could lead to considerable pressures being applied by other countries for new traffic rights in Nairobi which would aggravate EAA's losses even further. Never before published is EAA's share of the quadripartite pool. According to Capt Travers EAA received 22 per cent of £20m. Now the share with BOAC would be a share of a pool of considerably less than £8m. According to the East African Standard "EAA enjoyed considerable advantages [in the quadripartite pool] on the ground that it should be encouraged as an airline operated by a British Colony." It had always been taken for granted that BOAC subsidized EAA. The extent of this subsidy is now possible to estimate very roughly from the pool share figure given by Capt Travers. Assuming that EAA's daily Comet flights to London operated in 1962 with a 60 per cent load factor they could have generated more than £4m revenue a year, or not very much less than the 22 per cent of £20m mentioned by Capt Travers. It is probable, however, that the Nairobi - London load factor averaged less than 60 per cent in 1962, when system load factor was less than 54 per cent. Neverthe less, from the sparse information now revealed it would not appear that EAA have exactly been "sponging" on BOAC and it is sad that this well-run airline has become the victim of nationalism- nationalism which the new Kenya Government is going to find expensive. TWA Concorde Order A down-payment of $750,000 has been made by TWA on four Concorde delivery positions: 22, 32, 34 and 38. TWA were the first airline to book deliveries of the Amer can SST when last month they paid the FAA a deposit of $600,000 on six aircraft. • Boeing 727 Tour Ends The fourth Boeing 727 completed the seven-week sales tour that began on September 17 "without a single mechanical delay," reports Boeing. The aircraft lodged 157hr in 101 flights of which 59 were demonstrations for 27 airline* Stops were made at 36 airports in 26 countries. The only majo maintenance, says Boeing, were one brake-change, five ;yre replaced and a replacement tailplane motor. The a.p.u. enabled tn 727 to operate without ground power services and "operate flawlessly," as did the P & W JT8D turbofans.
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