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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2159.PDF
178 FLIGHT International, 30 July 1964 AIR COMMERCE . . . profit if its competitive environment and regulatory authority allow revenue pooling and high revenue rates and load factors. We believe that if BEA's operating efficiency were higher the corporation would be reducing fares instead of raising them, and that it might not be necessary for Mr Milward to have to hint, on the same page of BEA Magazine, that maintaining a profitable position this year "is not going to be easy." Our purpose is to see that profits come from high efficiency, not from high fares; and we respectfully disagree that this is harmful to the best interests of British civil aviation. As we said, our article was prompted not by our concern for BEA's efficiency, but by what we believed to be the myth that BOAC is inefficient. Sir Giles Guthrie, chairman of BOAC, writes in the current BOAC Review:— "Flight International magazine had some interesting things to say about us on June 11. An article entitled 'Airline Efficiency' comparing 15 leading airlines in the three years 1960-1962 on the basis of capacity sold, capacity sold per employee, flying hours per employee, revenue flights per employee, total cost level, engineering cost level, average hourly costs and aircraft utilization. The results place BOAC exactly halfway up the list at the head of the 'average' airlines. Our aim now is to work our way to the top." CANALISING HEATHROW TRAFFIC LAST week's announcement of this season's proposal for a fast link between central London and Heathrow did, at least, have the virtue of striking a new note in this now well-established game. Nobody has suggested going to the airport along a drained canal before. Initial details were given on page 127 last week. To recap briefly, Airway Transport Ltd, the company formed to promote the £7m scheme, propose a service of air-cushion-riding, automatically- controlled motor coaches, or Hovercars, riding a light, dual, side- railed concrete track laid along the drained bed of the Paddington branch of the Grand Union Canal to Southall. From Southall a two-mile flyover carrying the track would extend into the airport area. At the airport the side-splayed wheels which would propel the coaches by bearing on the track siderails, but which would take only about one-fifth of the vehicle weight, would hinge into the normal vertical position, the driver would take over manual control and the vehicles could be driven on the airport roads as normal vehicles, on to the apron and straight to the aircraft. The journey would take 21min against the 45min at present scheduled by airline buses, and initial economic assessments have been based on a single fare of 5s. With the automatic control, a maximum frequency of one 60-seat Hovercar every 40sec in each direction could be run, although a more likely peak rate service would be about one a minute. Some 4,000 passengers an hour could be transported in each direction, and the service would be run night and day. Sixty-five Hovercars at about £20,000 each would be ordered initially. Weather would not be a limiting factor and the limiting factor on speed, holding it at about 80 m.p.h. maximum, was the limited turning radii (even with re-engineering of the canal bed in one or two places) of the arbitrary route. To go faster would impose unacceptable centrifugal forces. Mr J. H. Russell, an engineer and a director of Airway Transport, said that the Paddington terminus would be built on land already owned by the British Waterways Board, which was enthusiastic that the idea should be thoroughly investigated. The canal, as it now existed, lost money heavily. He envisaged a building handling passengers for all airlines; after documentation, passengers would descend to embarkation bays beneath the terminus and several vehicles would be loading at any one time. To the objection that airlines already have invested heavily in town terminals some distance from Paddington, Mr Russell replied that they all appeared anxious about approaching saturation of the existing means of reaching the airport. The proportion of airline passengers using the airline buses had dropped in recent years, because of road delays. He felt that the airlines would be willing to move to a completely new terminal if this was tied with a fast airport link, capable of handling the future traffic. There should be no difficulty for airlines in letting their present properties. As a longer term attraction, it was pointed out, the Paddington terminus could also be linked, largely along other drained canals, with Stansted Airport, when that was expanded. Airline response to Airway Transport's proposals, circulated some weeks ago, had been very encouraging, Mr Russell said. The MoA was strongly interested in the scheme and the company had begun discussions with the MoT. He expected a decision, one way or the other, to be made by the middle of 1965 and the link could be operating within two to three years of the go-ahead. FELLOWSHIP SEEKS A FELLOW WORK on the F-28 Fellowship short-range jet is proceeding according to plan at Fokker and in a German group of Hamburger Flugzeugbau und Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke. This recently signed agreement provides that for a certain period at least, none of the participants will become involved in any way with any other project that might be competitive with the Fellowship. Fokker are designing and making the main fuselage and the German group the rear fuselage, engine installation and tail surfaces. Until recently, Sud-Aviation had responsibility for the wing but, because the French Government announced that it will not decide whether to support the Sud venture until September, Sud-Aviation has with- drawn from the project. Sud had invested considerable funds and completed a good deal of work. The nature of the partnership is that members invest funds and accept the commercial risk. Now Fokker are deciding on another company or group to take over Sud's share. They have already talked to all the major manufacturers in Europe, but are not prepared yet to say who will take over design and production of the F-28 wing. The choice seems to lie between British and German companies. Fokker state that sizeable design and production capacity is required. Only if a new partner is not found during August will the overall programme fall behind schedule. Fokker could take over the wing themselves, but would prefer to have two partners and believe that the project should be a European co-operative venture. Rolls-Royce are already designated to supply the 8,5001b thrust Spey Junior, which is identical with the normal Spey but derated and without turbine- blade cooling. As for sales, Fokker have set a break-even point of 125 aircraft and are aiming at a price, complete with radio, of $2.1m, which compares with around $2.5m for a BAC One-Eleven and over $3m for a DC-9. Neither of these two aircraft is considered a direct competitor, since they are somewhat larger and already being stretched even further. Equally the Mystere 30, which was not the principal reason for Sud's withdrawal from the F-28 programme— French national "go it alone" feelings are thought to have been an equally important cause—is considered to be uneconomically small in its original size and to have been aimed at the specific requirements of Ansett-ANA's short sectors and small passenger loads. Fokker say that the only stretch likely to be applied to the F-28 win be in range and not in passenger capacity. Principal direct competitor is felt to be the Boeing 737, although this project is far from firmly launched, and Fokker believe final go-ahead on such an American contender is not due for some months. Fokker feel that if Boeing win' the SST competition, the Seattle firm will have a capacity for only four or five 737s per month, so that they would take ten years to fill the estimated US domestic market for 400 737s. This would leave some scope still for the F-28. Nevertheless, Fokker do not include potential American sales in their market estimates, because the 737 is likely to absorb the majority of the business there if it does go ahead. Fokker's US associate, Republic, is undertaking American sales research and support, but will not take part in design or production. AER LINGUS FLIGHT RECORDERS THE BAC One-Elevens ordered by Aer Lingus are to be fitted with flight recorders made by Plessey and S. Davall & Sons. Plessey will supply the signal conditioners, analogue-to-digital converters and certain transducers, while Davall will provide the wire recording decks. The system will meet the MoA crash recording requirements and has a capacity for up to 70 channels and 24 samples per second. Duration will be 200hr, switching on by airspeed senser. Flight identification will be inserted from the control panel in the cockpit. The tape deck meets MoA accident survival characteristics and is not ejectable. BEA recently also placed a £500,000 order for similar Plessey/Davall recorders.
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