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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1818.PDF
FLIGHT International, 18 June 1964 ]001 At the Toulouse Rlagnac factory of Potez work is now well ahead with production of the 840. This light airliner is offered in two versions: the 841 powered by four SSO s.h.p. Canadian Pratt & Whitney PT6As and the 842 powered by four 600 s.h.p. Turbomeca Astazou 10 turboprops. Dimensions, weights and perfor- mances are about the same for the 841 and the 842. To improve the design's prospects as a feeder liner, an "L" version of each type, lengthened by about 3ft and with maximum take-off weight of just over 20,0001b, is also available China has frequently declared her disdain of Soviet political policies and has striven for complete independence (she will be out of the Soviet Union's debt by the end of next year) the trade rapprochement implied in the latest order for aircraft obviously throws a different light on the prospects for further western industry sales. , If all is well with the 11-62, that aircraft must be a serious challen- ger to the VClO's prospects for satisfying CAAC's long-range fleet requirements. Meanwhile in the smaller, short-range class, where a further order for Viscounts or YS-lls has been rumoured, it would not be surprising to find the Tu-124 highly favoured. BACK TO ST MARY'S THE three vintage Dragon Rapides which served so well on the BEA route between Land's End and the Scilly Isles for very many years until they were replaced by Sikorsky S-61N|helicopters last month are not to be lost to St Mary's. Sold for £1,000 each immediately on their withdrawal to British Westpoint of Exeter, the three aircraft—still in BEA colours but with the new owners' name substituted—began operating between Exeter and St Mary's two weeks ago, when Westpoint took over Mayflower Air Services from Scillonian Air Services, who bought Mayflower last year. Westpoint have acquired Mayflower's licences and office staff but not its aircraft and will, for the present, operate the Scilly Isles service under the Mayflower name. At Exeter some of the several Rapide flights daily will connect with Westpoint's Heathrow - Exeter - Newquay DC-3 service, which is flown twice daily in each direction and thus for the first time there will be connecting services between Heathrow and St Mary's. They will also operate the ex-Mayflower feeder service between Exeter and Plymouth, connecting with the London service. Westpoint, which began operations four years ago with one DC-3 and now has three in addition to the Rapides, is hoping for permission to use RAF Chivenor and thus serve North Devon. There are now three companies flying scheduled services to the Scillies—Scillonian fly there direct from Gatwick, with Aero Commanders—where for so many years there was only one. Al- though the holiday trade in the Isles has increased in recent years there is a very real limit to how much more it can grow, and this is the shortage of water and hotels. With the substantial increase in •Capacity which BEA's expensive S-61N investment has brought, |t is difficult to see the traffic offering keeping three operators happy. CIFIC WESTERN LOOKS EAST „,- the start of last year, PWA looked poorly. Revenues were dropping, even on the newly expanded network of scheduled services. DEW-line operations, which had previously played a big part in PWA activities, had come to an end and there seemed to be little scope for making up lost ground on charter flying. And instead of profits, the airline had reported a substantial loss in 1962. To restore the company's fortunes the management approached the problem from four angles. In the first place the disappointing North Prairie scheduled services were dropped. Although this lost the company some $im over the year in revenue, it put an end to the cash drain which this operation had imposed. The next step was to reorganize the charter division. With a newly acquired DC-6B (recently joined by a second '6B and a '7Q, PWA was able to enter the long-haul international charter market effectively for the first time. The third step was to thicken up the scheduled net- work, this involving both the high-frequency DC-3 operation which links Vancouver and Vancouver Island as well as the scattered Northern Division which stretches from Calgary and Edmonton in the south right up to the Arctic. The most significant feature of this programme was the introduction of a thrice-daily DC-4 walk-on service between Calgary and Edmonton. This service, which also has the distinction of being the first competitive regional air service in Canada, proved highly successful and carried 23,000 passengers. Finally, by renegotiating the terms of their DC-6B debt the company was able to relieve the burden of annual repayments. As a result of these policies the company, despite a protracted labour dispute, was able to report a welcome rise in revenues from S5.9m to $6.3m and a fractional decline in costs to $6m, thus restoring PWA to profitability. With the double prospect of har- monious labour relations and of an extensive transatlantic charter operation, 1964 promises further improvement. AIR-INDIA'S 707-320B CREW-TRAINING is now well under way with the seventh Boeing 707 bought by Air-India and delivered via New York and London last month. The first six were Conway-engined, but this aircraft, now named Makalu, is a 707-320B powered by P & W JT3D-3Bs. A second 32OB is already on order for delivery next March, and Air-India expect to buy a new 707 every year "until the arrival of the SST." The new 320B will allow Air-India to extend from August 1 its east bound services out of London from seven to eight per week, the additional flight leaving London on Sunday afternoons and extending the traditional London - Sydney route to Nandi, in Fiji. Westbound from London there is the daily Maharaja service to New York and return. The 707s are also used to fly the Bombay - Delhi - Moscow and Bombay - Aden - Nai/obi services. With a red and white external colour scheme, the 320B also sports a new internal decor, based on groups of figures in the style of Indian traditional sculpture. Fan engines and full-span leading- edge devices of the 32OB give considerable improvement not only in range and cruising speed, but also in take-off and landing performance.
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