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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0247.PDF
141ftlGHT International, 28 January I96S BEA's NEW ARGOSY Here, in a series of special articles, "Flight" takes a look at the past performance of, and future prospects for, the Hawker Siddeley Argosy—the world's first pure freighter for short-haul routes. A fleet of five of the new and significantly improved Argosy 220s are about to enter BEA service to strengthen further that carrier's commanding position in the European freight market. Argosy Prospects IN a modest and unspectacular way the Hawker Siddeley Argosyhas earned a significant place in the civil air-freight world.Five of the latest Series 220 version are about to enter BEA service, replacing the three-year-old fleet of three Series 100s, and could form the nucleus of a bigger fleet for European operations in pool or leased to other airlines. Meanwhile the seven Series 100s that have been in America for four years continue to serve Capitol, and Zantop, earning money on USAF Logair and common- carriage work (prospects are good here for the resale of the ex-BEA 100s). A further five 220s are in final assembly at the Avro Whit- worth Division's Bitteswell Aerodrome and, as yet unsold, are available for early delivery. Though the Argosy project—victim of circumstances unforesee- able when it was started in 1956—has yet to realize Hawker Siddeley's hoped-for success in the civil market, the prospects can now be more clearly defined than at any time in the past. Designed to "trigger off the short-haul air freight break-through," the Argosy ironically fell victim in two ways to the long-haul passenger jet. First, these jets released written-down piston-engined aircraft, such as the DC-6, DC-7C and Super Constellation, for freighting; secondly, they provided a vast increase in belly-hold capacity on the short inter-city sectors of long-haul routes. Nevertheless, in BEA service the Argosy 100 has put the corpora- tion well ahead of all competitors on intra-European air freighting on every score—growth, tonnage, and ton-miles. Even more important, the airline's associated handling, distribution and space- selling organizations, free of mixed-traffic problems and restrictions, have evolved along ideal lines for minimum cost. BEA is better geared for European air freighting than is any other airline. Though written-down piston-engined long-haulers with big side- doors have made life hard for Hawker Siddeley salesmen, that particular influence has decreased since spares and maintenance costs began the upward swing characteristic of old transport aeroplanes. For the Argosy to make economic sense it must be made to work very hard on stage lengths of up to about 600 miles. Because the aircraft's price (around four times that of comparable secondhand equipment) and cruising speeds are below average because of the bluff shape, the break-even flying-hour utilization is always comparatively much higher. The double-end loading of the Argosy, and BEA's associated freight-handling system, are funda- mental to achieving such break-even utilizations and are not all bonus to the operator. Bearing in mind the Argosy's economic operating characteristics and its vast ton-mile appetite, who are the carriers still likely to buy the aircraft? Europe and America are the immediately obvious areas, but in both cases surface-transport systems are being developed to remain highly competitive for the vast majority of merchandise. In Europe, frontier formalities and natural barriers—such as the Channel, the Alps and the Baltic—favour air transport over many busy trade routes, yet there is not always break-even traffic for the Argosy; but the situation is changing in favour of the specialized freighter as intra-European trade continues to boom and BEA's Argosy system shows the way to modern methods. In America, apart from Logair—for which time, not cost, is the primary reason for freighting by air—the Argosy has possibilities for linking manufacturing areas with the main international and domestic distribution airports. There are many instances in which the Argosy's range is suitable—under 600 miles, but more than an overnight trucking drive; but the recent CAB proposal to allow only all-freight airlines to offer blocked-space low-rate terms to shippers has upset many carriers' plans and led to general uncer- tainty pending the final outcome. Earlier in this article it was stated that the Argosy's prospects can now be more clearly defined than at any time in the past. A number of factors make the climate more favourable for the aircraft and its economic concepts. First, air freight over short-haul routes has grown to significant proportions. Secondly, having now largely come through the financial ordeal of introducing long-haul jets and entered a period of hopefully prosperous stability, airlines are finding time to attend to other things, such as short-haul passenger jets and freight. Thirdly, there is still no prospect of any likely newcomer able to offer better ton-mile costs on the under-600-mile routes. The slightly bigger-payload Boeing 727C's costs at the moment look like being higher, especially on the short routes in question; and there may be e.g. problems connected with an all- freight version of this passenger tri-jet. Similarly, side-door develop- ments of the One-Eleven, DC-9, or Boeing 737 would appear to be little better off. So, for the first time in the history of selling the Argosy, the traffic exists and there is virtually no other aircraft capable of doing the job. What, if anything, is still holding things up? In America the combination versus all-freight controversy has put everyone's future plans into limbo. In Europe the traffic potential exists, but it is thinly spread; and, among a multitude of competing carriers, few can see clearly a guaranteed amount of traffic sufficient to keep a fleet of Argosies busy (BEA's three 100s are only now about to break even). European airlines showing most interest are Alitalia, Lufthansa and SAS, with Air France and
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