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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1958.PDF
554 FLIGHT International, 5 October (947 AIR TRANSPORT.. . CALEDONIAN'S CASE AN unusual action has been taken by Caledonian Airways in publishing the objections, filed with the ATLB, to the other applications for North Atlantic services by British airlines. Pointing in each case to the effort and money which Caledonian has put into the development of traffic between the UK and USA, the airline also gives these reasons for the belief that priority should be given to its own applications:— Of British Eagle's London-New York application, Caledonian says, among other things, that this ignores the needs of travel- lers in the north of England and Scotland and of tourism in those areas (Caledonian's proposed services are all to be operated via Prestwick). A similar point is made in objecting to British United's application for approval of services via Northern Ireland; unlike Caledonian, BUA also "lacks an identification in the US/UK market" and the proposed service via Belfast "cannot guarantee non-stop transatlantic operations." Similar objections are made to BUA's London - Montreal - Toronto proposal. In all cases Caledonian claims that approval for other operators' services would cause "material diversion" from its own transatlantic charter services performed under an existing "E" licence. DARK DAYS FOR BEA A WARNING that BEA may have a difficult time over the next few years was given by the airline's chairman, Sir Anthony Milward, writing in the BEA Magazine last week. The airline was, he said, facing a loss in the current year. "I believe," he added, "that the loss into which we (and many other similar firms) have been plunged is primarily due to the effects of the freeze on our customers' pockets and to the heavily reduced overseas travel allowance now in operation." Traffic in July was about 3 per cent down compared with July 1966; intra-European traffic figures for all carriers for the month showed only a 3 per cent increase, while load factors were 4 per cent down on 1966. "I fear," said Sir Anthony, "European transport will not have a good year, and certainly the British carriers will fare worst of all." Future difficulties would be aggravated by the fact that BEA would be taking delivery of its Trident 2 and One-Eleven fleets, and under its present financial structure would be incurring extra liabilities Self-latching overhead lockers are now being fitted to all BOAC's VCIOs and Boeing 707s. The airline describes the fitting as "another first"; at least one other carrier, Swissair, has a somewhat similar arrangement in its DC-9s. Open racks have been becoming steadily /ess valuable in recent years and can be used safely only for hats and other similar /terns which are non-lethal in cases of turbulence, heavy landings, or otherwise survivable crashes and correspondingly increased interest payments before these aircraft developed their full earning powers. Sir Anthony asks: "So what do we do? The only thing we can do is to increase our efficiency, first making every endeavour to bring in more revenue. . . . Second, we have to cut our costs, and in a great operation such as ours this isn't easy. . . ." The Thousand Mark British United Airways has notched up its one-thousandth trooping flight to Aden. The airline has now carried over 200,000 servicemen and families to and from Aden, using Britannias and VCIOs. Trident for Air Ceylon Approval has been given to Air Ceylon for the purchase of an HS Trident. Favourable long- term finance has been arranged and the initial down payment will not be made until the end of the first year in service. The airline will have the advantage of comparatively nearby over- haul facilities—in Pakistan, where PIA operates Tridents. British Midland Shareholding In the financial information entry for British Midland Airways in last week's issue (page 535) we omitted the essential part of a shareholder's name, which should have read D. W. T. Sullivan (as in the airline's main entry, page 530) and not "D. W. Thomas." The airline now has five Viscounts. FAA Extends Positive Control The "floor" of area-positive control in the USA is to be lowered from 24,000ft to 18,000ft from November 9, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced. All flights in this airspace will be IFR, and the FAA will provide a separation service. Carriage of a trans- ponder will be mandatory. A proposal to permit ".controlled VFR" flights is still under consideration. Mexicana in Trouble Because of a "critical cash shortage" and the inability to meet obligations out of income, Mexicana de Aviation is to seek a deferment of payments. This is permissible in Mexican law, though it requires court approval and that of the main creditors. There is, at present, no ques- tion of the airline going out of business. Formed in 1922, Mexicana is owned 34 per cent by Pan American and 10 per cent by the Government. Air West The airline formed as a result of the proposed merger of West Coast, Pacific and Bonanza is to be called Air West. The three local-service airlines have, between them, a fleet of about 60 aircraft, including DC-9s and Boeing 727s, with 737s and FH-228s on order. It has been estimated that, if the merger is approved, as expected, by the CAB and the shareholders, Air West will need about 60 more jets in the next six years to serve the very big area covered and the new routes which may be awarded. Discussing Statistics A one-day conference is being held on November 2 by the Aslib Transport Group on the statistics of transport, their availability, compilation and use. Mr A. H Watson, director of statistics, Ministry of Transport, will chan the meeting, which is being held at the SMMT, Halkin Street London SW1. More information can be obtained from th< programme secretary, Mr K. C. Walker, Lyon Playfan Library, Imperial College of Science and Technology, l°l Queens Gate, London SW7 (01-589 5111, ext 549/546). First for Aer Iingus Last month the Weston-based D* Dragon, EI-BI Iolar, bought by Aer Lingus from Capt Dart! Kennedy, was flown by him to Dublin Airport, CollinstowO Representative of the first aircraft to be owned by the airliw in 1936, the Dragon will be painted in the original Ac Lingus colours and put on permanent display at the airpor The arrival of the Dragon at Collinstown was announced ove the airport p.a. system as "flight Number One from Westofl and delivery was accepted by Mr M. J. Dargan, the airline general manager.
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