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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1050.PDF
1026 FLIGHT International, 22 June 1967 LAN-Chile now operates into New York Kennedy twice a week with this Boeing 707-3308, CC-CEA, which was previously Lufthansa's D-ABUC AIR TRANSPORT. . . MR JAY IN THE BOX IT can hardly be said that Mr Douglas Jay, President of the Board of Trade, was in the hot seat when questioned (the first Cabinet Minister to be so) by the Select Committee on Nationalised Industries on June 14. Nevertheless, the questions —thanks partly to the answers given by the chairmen of the two airline corporations at earlier sessions (see Flight for June 15, page 974 and May 11, pages 732-733)—were to the point. One, which obviously could not be asked directly, but which was handled obliquely in the form of a request for comment, was whether the BoT was the best department to look effectively after civil aviation since it made one of a three-cornered group with Mintech and the Ministry of Trans- port. Mr Jay swerved round that one with the answer that it was hard to say what would be the best allocation of res- ponsibilities. This pseudo-question followed naturally after one about the extent of co-ordination between plans for different forms of transport. Had the effects on domestic airline traffic been con- sidered when the decision was made to electrify the London- Manchester/Liverpool lines? Was the future effect of the Channel Tunnel being worked upon? Were transport trends, in so far as they affected air transport, the responsibility of the BoT? The answer to this last one was: "Yes, it is our job to be in touch with the Ministry of Transport and we are in touch with them on questions of this kind, particularly the Channel Tunnel." Should not the results of traffic trend studies be made public so that all the airlines likely to be affected would be forewarned? Much of the questioning at this meeting was related to the amount of supervision or "interference" which was justifiable in the Board's dealings with the corporations. The chairman, Mr Ian Mikardo, rather neatly separated the supervision into two types—strategic (presumably permissible) and tactical (pre- sumably impermissible). Mr Jay said that the policy was to leave the corporations to get one with their business in the widest possible fields, but the fact that they were spending public money meant that advice was sometimes necessary. A banker would not hesitate to ask questions and advise when a client was using the bank's money. On this question of responsibility, Mr Jay, in his written memorandum to the Committee, had this to say: "The Board of Trade is in no way responsible for the day-to-day manage- ment and operations of either corporation and, therefore, I am not in a position to inform the House on these matters, save at secondhand and on the advice of the corporations. A closer understanding of this limitation would, perhaps, be desirable." It seemed to some members of the Committee that the res- ponsibilities of the corporations (and of BEA in particular) were not sufficiently clear-cut. Was there not an element of unreality in a situation where a profit target was given, yet fixed interest rates had to be paid and non-commercial actions forced upon the airline? Was the BoT thinking about the proposal that BEA should have a financial structure similar to that of BO AC, with a proportion of equity capital? Yes, the BoT was thinking about it. If the target was not reached what sanctions could be applied? The BoT would propose a rigorous examination. On problems relating to the control of the capital invest- ment of the airline corporations the written memorandum said: "Until the Air Corporations Act 1966 there was no statutory power directly to control the capital investment of the cor- porations, although in practice control was exercised in the process of authorising funds. The change made in the 1966 Act formally applied to the air corporations the provision already applicable to most other nationalised industries. It is desirable to set out clearly the way in which this control will be exercised in future, and the Board of Trade is in process of discussing it with the corporations. By far the most impor- tant aspect of capital investment is the purchase of aircraft. The issues involved in the choice of a new aircraft type tend to be complex and difficult and the Government has to weigh the immediate interest of the air corporation with the broader economic, financial and industrial consequences to the country. This process may be time-consuming, and one of the objectives of establishing agreed procedures is to reduce this." Caledonian in Canada Mr Robert Norris has been appointed vice-president sales, Canada, for Caledonian Airways. He has been in charge of Caledonian's Canadian office since its open- ing in January 1965. SST Consultant Dr George M. Knauf has been appointed special aero-medical consultant to the Boeing SST project. He is manager of biotechnology for the group's Space Division, a position which he will continue to hold. Computer Manager Mr Peter Wyatt has been appointed manager of British Eagle's computer and information-handling department at Heathrow Airport. He was previously market- ing research manager for English Electric Computers. Gatwick Appointment Mr Kenneth Anderson has joined Aviation Traders at Gatwick as assistant to the company's resident director, Mr W. Richardson. Mr Anderson is a char- tered engineer and has been with British Aviation Insurance for the past 18 years. Welsh Committee Appointments Following the retirement of Mr R. G. Robinson and Mr W. T. Mainwaring-Hughes from the Welsh Advisory Committee for Civil Aviation, the Board of Trade and the Office for Wales have appointed Mr K. J. Griffin and Mr J. Allison as members. Mr Griffin is area secretary, Electrical Trades Union, and Mr Allison is, among other things, chairman and manager of a quarrying company..
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