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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2835.PDF
The first of two Trident lEs (three Rolls-Royce Spey 25 turbofans) ordered by Kuwait Airways was airborne for three hours on its maiden fight on November 2. It was a first flight, too, for the more powerful Spey 25—a type also destined for later marks of the BAC One-Eleven AIR COMMERCE . . . prices at which they sell their "product" comparable with those achieved by BEA? They are illustrated in the graph immediately following page 52 of our Report and Accounts for 1963-4 [repro- duced on the previous page.—Ed] We are involved in what is still a highly seasonal business. Although we have developed with some success fare-structures which encourage off-peak travel, utilization of aircraft, staff and facilities generally are still adversely affected by the high peak: trough ratio. If your contributor is saying that BEA's costs are high, then we agree with him; if he is saying that we must strive to stop them rising and get them lower, then we agree with him too. But if he is saying that BEA's costs are so high that "BEA's current image of efficiency ... is no longer justified by the facts," then we part company with him. BUA's ONE-ELEVEN ROUTES... THE winter timetable of British United Airways gives the first details of the airline's One-Eleven and VC10 routes and schedules. One-Eleven services begin, as announced, to Genoa on January 15. The surprise, in view of Ghana Airways' replacement on February 1 of leased Swissair Convair 99OAs with VClOs, is that One-Elevens will be introduced on the London - Accra route on February 16, replacing Viscounts and taking 4hr less on the once-weekly stopping service via Lisbon, Las Palmas, Bathurst and Freetown. One-Elevens will inaugurate a weekly London - Malaga - Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands) service on January 31; an addi- tional London - Malaga service on February 7 saving an hour and a half over the Viscount time; and a weekly service to Gibraltar starting on January 25. The latter will be lfhr faster than BUA's present Viscount service and just over an hour quicker than BEA's Vanguards, as well as 15min faster than the BEA Comet 4B service operated on Sundays. Daily One-Eleven services to Rotterdam will begin on January 18, saving 15min over the Viscount schedules, and a new weekdays- only London - Amsterdam One-Eleven service begins on the same date. BUA's VClOs will effect a saving of exactly 4hr over Britannia schedules on the London - Entebbe/Kampala (Uganda) - Ndola (Zambia) - Lusaka (Zambia) - Salisbury route and will operate twice-weekly to Nairobi via Entebbe/Kampala plus an additional service to Entebbe. This will bring Nairobi within exactly 12hrof London. The spectacular time savings made possible by BUA's new jet schedules should have an immediate competitive impact— including, of course, the twice-weekly South American service which now has diplomatic clearance, and which is likely to beat Aerolineas Argentinas' Comets to Buenos Aires by some 5hr. ...AND VClOs TO SOUTH AMERICA THE first VC10 passenger service between the United Kingdom and South America left London Gatwick Airport last Thursday, November 5; British United Airways now operate two VC10 services a week to this southern continent, leaving at 2000hr every Monday and Thursday. Thursday services fly via Madrid, Las Palmas, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and San- tiago ; while Monday flights call at Lisbon in place of Madrid and by-pass Montevideo. A special VASP Viscount service provides a connection at Rio de Janeiro for BUA passengers travelling to and from Sao Paulo. The VC10 leaves Santiago, Chile, for the United Kingdom at 1500hr local time every Tuesday and Friday. Passengers on the first flight included the new United Kingdom Ambassador to the Argentine, Sir Michael Cresswell, and the chairman of BUA, Sir Myles Wyatt. The VClOs on the South American route are arranged to carry 16 first-class and 93 economy- class passengers, plus a capacity for some five tons of freight. WHY SIR MILES LEFT BOAC—PART 2 NOW that the new Labour Government are reportedly thinking in terms of an eventual division of the Ministry of Aviation's present responsibilities between the new Ministry of Technolog; and the present Ministry of Defence, extracts from the forthcomin> autobiography of Sir Miles Thomas in The Sunday Times, in whici he tells why he resigned from the chairmanship of BOAC, emphasize once again the dangers of divided Ministerial responsibility for British aviation. The basic reason, as recorded by Sir Miles in The Times two years ago (Flight, October 25, 1962, p.663) was his frustration at the Ministry's refusal to go ahead with "a Comet with a non-stop performance across the Atlantic" (this could have been either the Comet 5 project or the D.H.I 18, both powered by four Conways). Soon after Mr Harold Watkinson had taken over as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Sir Miles went to see him and they discussed BOAC's forward fleet programme, the corporation's then chairman promising to send without delay a letter giving the necessary details. In addition to the Comet 4s and Britannias Sir Miles also specified ten of the transatlantic Conway Comets. "On these last" (writes Sir Miles) "BOAC's top technicians had collaborated with their counterparts in de Havilland's during the winter of 1955-56, to such affect that we were all agog with excite- ment and convinced that at last we really had a chance with a world beater, although we were wise enough not to make our ideas and aspirations public." Sir Miles had also discussed his forward fleet programme with Mr Reginald Maudling, the then Minister of Supply, and his Permanent Secretary, and he sent the former a copy of the letter to Mr Watkinson setting forth BOAC's fleet requirements. After about ten days Sir Miles was asked to go and see Mr Watkinson who seemed ill at ease and (says Sir Miles) "told me very brusquely that he was not going to have copies of letters addressed to hin1 and sent to his colleagues. The incongruity of his objection and his use of the word 'colleagues' took me aback ... I probably further
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