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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2185.PDF
986 Wt A'R c V AIR UNION AND THE CONCORDE THE statement last week by the West German Transport Minister, Herr Hans Seebohm, that Lufthansa have decided not to order Concordes must have come as a major disappointment in two quarters. For Air Union the split on equipment policy now extends to all range brackets; and for BAC-Sud, to whom previously it must have appeared that at least Air Union would be a fairly guaranteed market for the Concorde, two of the most likely candidates for the Concorde have opted for a non-existent com peting design. With Alitalia and now Lufthansa favouring the American SST on the score of range to reach New York from Rome and Frankfurt, only Sabena can now even the balance for the Concorde within Air Union. However, the BAC-Sud point of view (outlined on page 989 in a review of a lecture by Dr A. E. Russell) seems to be that the Concorde at its present weight is about as heavy as anyone can go without causing an unacceptable boom on the ground, and therefore either the range or the payload of the American SST can be larger than the Concorde's, but not both at the same time. lATA's PROFITABLE LATE NIGHTS AS this issue went to press it was announced that the latest round of IATA Atlantic fares talks between the 18 member-airlines involved on the routes had adjourned with a unanimously approved set of proposals. The talks began informally in Nassau on December 9 to try to pick up the threads from the two inconclusive Salzburg meetings in the autumn and to reach a solution so that the formal meeting in Miami would be more or less a rubber-stamping process. The talks began in an air of optimism, for since Salzburg in October Mr Alan S. Boyd, chairman of the US Civil Aeronautics Board, and his vice-chairman, Mr Robert T. Murphy, had con cluded a 12-day series of meetings with civil aviation officials of Canada and eight European countries in an effort to reach inter- government agreement on the general level and principles for establishing transatlantic fares. Mr Boyd had said: "It is believed that there exists a willingness to compromise in many aspects of the fare structure, provided an overall fare reduction is achieved." The two CAB officials stressed their desire that IATA members should resolve their remaining differences without government inter ference and "achieve an agreement consistent with the requirements of individual carriers and the needs of the travelling public." Another factor which must have influenced the atmosphere was the US Senate's passing of the measure to grant the CAB authority to suspend or fix rates proposed by any carrier serving the US. Although this would appear to give the CAB supreme power over Atlantic fares, it is obviously somewhat circumscribed by the exis tence of bilateral agreements with the other countries. The Salzburg proposals with the most support, but which did not find unanimous approval, were, in the case of London-New York (return fare 5 per cent less than double): first-class reduced from FLIGHT International, 19 December 1% O M M E R C E £170 to £143; economy class reduced from £94 to £91 in the sevei peak weeks, and to £75 for the rest of the year; present economy class winter excursion 21-day return fare of £125 reduced to £107 and the establishment of a minimum group charter rate. There was also strong pressure to abolish the group-rate scheme altogether Principal objectors to the proposals were Aer Lingus and El Al, whc felt that the reductions were not enough, especially if it was pro posed to abolish the group-rate scheme. TCA also objected on the grounds that the reductions were not enough. After several days of wrangling by the delegates at Nassau, which on at least one occasion continued until dawn, the following pro posals emerged in the case of London-New York (typical of all the main routes): first-class reduced from £170 to £134; economy-class reduced from £94 to £75 during all but the 10J summer peak weeks, when the fare will be reduced to £91; present economy-class winter 14-day excursion return of £125 to be reduced to £107 and extended to other periods of the year, including part of the summer, and made more attractive by an extension of the validity period to 21 days but with a minimum limit of 14 days on the length of stay at the destina tion. When this issue closed for press, no statement had been made about any alteration to the minimum group rate other than that there would be one. With the present approximate minimum rate the ethnic-group arrangement would quite often be undercut by the new economy fare. If it goes into operation, and there seems no reason to doubt that governments will give their approval, the proposed cut in economy fares represents a very substantial reduction which should mean —and the airlines must certainly be banking on this—a dramatic rise in transatlantic bookings. Compared with the previous summer off-peak the new economy rate is a reduction of 20 per cent, and where the economy-class excursion fare is introduced for the first time the reduction will be about 43 per cent. In the face of the extraordinarily good value represented by some of the new economy fares, it is not surprising that the conference moved to improve the amenities on first-class services. In addition to the fare reduction it was proposed to re-introduce such induce ments as beauty kits and lounge areas. F.2 8 NE;A;R TO GO-AH;EAD FOKKER have now received a firm indication from the Nether lands Government on financial guarantees for the F.28, and nego tiation of the financial details are now going on. The final Govern ment proposals will still have to be approved by the Netherlands lower house before the funding becomes official, but Fokker are very optimistic on the outcome and are going ahead on design wor • According to the Interavia Air Letter the Government will pay about 50 per cent of the initial development costs and will probably provide some £7m to be repayed in the form of royalties on events*1 sales. It is also reported that Sud Aviation and Weser Flugzeugbau. Lined-up and ready to go, a Handley Page Herald series 200 about to take off on a sales tour to the Caribbean and South America. A note on poSe gives further details
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