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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0380.PDF
FLIGHT International, 13 February 1964 237 TAA v. ATI PERHAPS the most interesting feature of the report and accounts of each of Australia's principal domestic carriers is the opportunity these provide for a comparison between the Australian National Airlines Commission and Ansett Transport Industries. It is necessary, however, to take no more than a cursory glance to realize that any such comparison must make allowance for the disparate nature of the two enterprises; whereas the Commission's interests are concentrated on the operation of Trans-Australia Airlines, ATI's interests are widely spread, with non-airline activities accounting for one-third of group revenues and as much as half of group assets. In terms of total revenue, ATI's £A33.6m is as much as 80 per cent greater than the Commission's £A18.7m. Excluding ATI's revenue from non-airline activities (principally road transport and hotels), it can be seen that the airline group (of which Ansett-ANA constitutes easily the largest unit) contributes £A21.3m. By a combination of expansion by take-over, the latest example being Mac.Robertson Miller Airlines, and of steady competitive recovery from the poor position that ANA had reached by the time of the Ansett take-over, it appears that ATI is tending to draw away from TAA as far as air transportation is concerned. Although this might have its rewards it also has its obvious risks, despite the protection offered by legislation which is contrived to preserve a broad degree of equality between TAA and Ansett-ANA. This probably explains ATI's current pre-occupation with further diversification, the most dramatic illustration being the recent large-scale entry into tele- vision broadcasting. Another possible explanation is the prospect of better earnings outside the airline field. A superficial comparison between TAA and ATI does suggest that the public-owned operator is currently enjoying the better profit record; while employing only half the assets, TAA's pre-tax profits of £Alm are not far short of ATI's £A1.3m. Unfortunately, ATI give no break-down of profits by divisions, and it is not therefore possible to compare TAA with the various Ansett airlines. Nevertheless, it would surprise nobody if Australia were to offer more pleasing prospects to investors than are likely in aviation elsewhere. Differences between the two enterprises are nowhere more strikingly contrasted than on the respective balance-sheets. On the basis of net assets, ATI emerges twice the size of TAA (£A32m v. 16m). Taking the net value of aircraft fleet, the gap is of course much reduced (£A15m v. 10m). The reason why ATI's revenues are relatively low in relation to assets is evident from the nature of ATI's non-airline assets; by far the largest of these is real estate which, by its very nature, is not depreciating but appreciating. Also, it is obvious that to achieve a given annual revenue an asset such as a hotel requires much more capital than a jet airliner. For these reasons, the balance sheets of the two enterprises cannot bear too close a comparison. The broad distinction between specialized TAA and diversified ATI that emerges from the accounts is further borne out by the few comparable traffic and operating statistics. The front line fleets are identical, being 3 Electra, 11 Viscount, 2 DC-6 and 10 F-27, plus 2 727s on order in each case. The volume of traffic is not dissimilar; ATI 1 £m passengers, TAA ljm passengers. But here the similarity ends. Taking total fleets, for instance, ATI have as many as 91 aircraft as against TAA's 61, most of the difference being represen- ted by the large number of DC-3s still being operated under various Ansett colours. Also illustrative of ATI's greater spread is the size of the unduplicated networks which reaches 52,000 in the case of ATI as against 42,000 in the case of TAA. But perhaps the most telling index is the number of points served: ATI 251, TAA 139. With such basic differences as these, any measurement of the performance of TAA against that of the Ansett airlines must be almost as guarded as any comparison between TAA and the whole ATI group. CONTINENTAL RAIL-AIR CARGO FOR two years British United Air Ferries have offered a daily rail-air express freight service from Southend to Basle making use of scheduled services to Calais and the passenger trains from there to Basle. To supplement this facility, which because it cost nearly four times the rail-sea rate has attracted only small and urgent consignments, BUAF are to introduce a twice-weekly service connecting with the daily TEEM freight express train from Dunkirk where the rate will never quite reach three times surface transport, and which for the higher weight consignments will be less than twice as much. Freight arriving at Calais Airport from Southend, Lydd and Coventry will be loaded into special pick-a- back containers and taken by road to the marshalling yard at Dunkirk. This new service will no doubt be of particular interest to shippers in the Coventry area, who until now have not had a moderately priced altei native to surface transport. The motor industry especially may find it a great help for supporting European sales with spare parts. VOR ECONOMICS THE Federal Aviation Agency has sharply reduced the operating costs of VOR beacons by reducing the amount of routine main- tenance found acceptable after six-month studies had indicated no decrease in reliability. The conclusions were based on a study of 342 VORs—112 operating under a reduced maintenance schedule, 32 operating with minimum maintenance, and 198 operating under a full "preventive maintenance" schedule. Originally planned as a year-long study which began last May, performance comparisons for the first six months indicated that reduced maintenance has little effect on VOR reliability and availability. Although corrective maintenance goes up under reduced preventive maintenance schedules, this is offset by increased equipment availability because of fewer shut- downs for preventive maintenance work. Average serviceability during the period was 99.88 per cent for VORs operating with a reduced and minimum maintenance, and 99.9 per cent for those operating under a full maintenance schedule. The first Boeing 727 for Lufthansa recently made its first flight from Renton Field near Seattle. Boeing expect to deliver six 727s to Lufthansa by mid-June and the remaining six of the order by summer 1965
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