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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2229.PDF
240 FLIGHT International, 13 August 1964 AIR COMMERCE... Cork Airport—open for two and a half years—received its first jet on July 31 when a BOAC Comet on charter to Aer Lingus brought a load of French students from Paris. During the summer traffic peak, the Irish airline is also chartering BOAC Britannias to perform some 28 flights between Cork, Dublin and London and Comets to make seven fights to London and nine to Paris Both sides agree, however, that airline engineering is rather dif- ferent from, let us say, apple-picking or making buttons, where public safety is not at stake. What BOAC have been "buying" in their wage negotiations with the unions is not therefore an incentive scheme but certain manage- ment rights to introduce method study, work measurement, and to achieve the elimination of trade-union demarcation barriers. The effect of all this on the independents is hard to assess; they have always taken an independent line in the National Joint Council for Civil Aviation, but when the wage-increase bell tolls for the corporations it tolls for all Britain's airlines. One disturbing consequence of engineering wage increases of the order proposed is that they may well radically upset the whole structure of differential wage relationships throughout each airline, resulting in overall wage-bill increases in the next year or so of perhaps 20 or 30 per cent. But the trade unions concerned, repre- senting the elite of Britain's engineering workers, are men of suf- ficient responsibility and pride in their jobs to realize that wage increases of this magnitude must come out of increased efficiency and cannot come out of increased fares. CITIZEN LUCKING STRIKES AGAIN AS part of a campaign to secure better domestic air services, that well-known self-appointed champion of air passengers' rights— Citizen A. J. Lucking—has launched a unique and enigmatic application to the Air Transport Licensing Board to vary the tariff provisions of the BKS licence dealing with services between Leeds/ Bradford and London. This appears to be the first occasion on which a private citizen has asked to vary an air service licence. From the published particulars it is difficult to tell the real purpose of the procedure, but we understand from Mr Lucking that in effect he challenges the right of BKS to charge or receive fares other than the full fares set out in the licence in accordance with Section 2(5) (a) of the Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act 1960. Certain words which the ATLB attempts to incorporate indirectly in the licence refer to IATA tariff resolutions and Mr Lucking asserts that the Act does not allow this in a domestic licence and hence the words should be deleted. The references to IATA resolutions are generally believed to justify the practice whereby the sector carrier generally receives proportionately less than the full sector fare for passengers with international through bookings because the international through fare is less than the sum of the individual full sector fares. When the through fare is an 1TX fare (inclusive tours on scheduled services) the UK domestic carrier receives a particularly low proportion of the full sector fare shown in the licence. According to Citizen Lucking this is not only unlawful but is a discriminatory practice which has two broad effects which he would like to see ameliorated: 1, ordinary domestic passengers'fares are unneces- sarily high to cover the revenue loss caused by international passengers; 2, business travellers are needlessly displaced at peak times (especially in the summer) by holiday travellers paying, in effect, reduced fares. If Mr Lucking is correct, the Board's decision could ultimately affect all UK domestic licences. Hence strong opposition may be expected not only from BKS but from other airlines—notably the major partner, BEA. BEA AND SCOTLAND SPEAKING at Renfrew Airport on July 30, Mr Anthony Milward, BEA chairman, said the corporation would keep its Scottish Highlands and Islands air services going for as long as it could be afforded. Though the services have been losing up to £300,000 a year the airline is anxious to keep them going as a social service. Referring to the improved Scottish air services master plan drawn up some 18 months ago by BEA and the Scottish Council for Industry and Development, Mr Milward said the plan had been "pigeonholed" in the Ministry of Aviation and nothing would happen to it now until after the election; he would like to see the plan put into action. The principal proposals contained in the scheme, which would require a ££ million grant for new equipment, are: a service from Wick linked with south-bound services, a service for Dundee, and direct flights from Glasgow to the Con- tinent. Scottish hopes for a round-the-towns bus-stop service were dashed when Mr Milward said: "I don't think the public really wants a service such as that, and anyway it would cost too much." STAND-BY FOR COMPETITION GETTING on for a year now, BEA have been challenged by British Eagle on the United Kingdom domestic trunk routes Though the competition has been intense, and regular travellers have noted the introduction of attractive new features oh the services of both airlines, there has been no hint of competition on fares. Last February, in fact, the two airlines collaborated in asking the ATLB to approve fare increases of up to five per cent on domestic routes to cover the Ministry's proposed new technical service charge. These increases were approved by the ATLB. Now, however, has come the first real sign of the competition that matters, with a pair of rival stand-by fare revision proposals to the ATLB. In the same issue of the ATLB's notices of licence applications, BEA—who presumably have found that the stand-by scheme is not attracting new passengers—are asking for a higher scale of charges to come into force when the licence to operate the scheme comes up for revision on November 1. British Eagle, on the other hand, are seeking a lower-priced scale than that in force at the moment. BEA have also asked that their higher-priced proposals should appiy to British Eagle as well. A typical comparison of the proposal is (in the case of London- Belfast, Edinburgh, or Glasgow): £4 17s tourist single Monday to Friday between November 1 and March 31 by BEA, and £3 16s over the same period by British Eagle.
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