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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 2386.PDF
fUGHT International, 14 December 1967 979 AIR TRANSPORT The ATLB is Directed to Refuse . . . N o DOUBT the President of the Board of Trade, MrAnthony Crosland, would have liked to have killed allthe independent-airline applications for new North and South Atlantic routes. But his powers under the Civil Aviation Licensing Act limit him to killing only those which look tricky fom the traffic rights point of view. Section 2 (3) of the act says (ponderously) that "if, in the case of any application for an air service licence, the Minister so directs in writing on the ground that any air transport service proposed in the application would, in his opinion, involve the negotiation with the government of some other country or territory of rights which it would be inexpedient for the time being to seek, the Board [ATLB] shall forthwith refuse that application so far as it relates to that service." The president has, as briefly reported in a late news item (page 934) in last week's issue, directed the ATLB to refuse substantial parts of the applications by British United, British Eagle, Caledonian and Transglobe. The announcement, made on December 4 in a House of Commons written reply by Mr J. P. W. Mallalieu, Minister of State, BoT, referred also to the effects of possible changes in licensing policy. He said, in effect, that licensing procedures would continue as at present until the Government directs otherwise, but that British operators will, in making their plans, "no doubt bear in mind the possibility that the work of the Edwards Committee may lead to some changes in existing policies" (see next page). The detailed picture is rather complex, just as are the applications themselves (Flight, August 17, et seq). Very broadly, the President of the BoT has not been able to pre- empt the independent bids for United States terminals (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and others) although the routes thereto have been somewhat circumscribed. The Bermuda agreement between Britain and the United States specifies the designation of more than one carrier; the United States already has three airlines—Pan American, TWA and Seaboard—designated on the North Atlantic routes, and any BoT officials who were to argue that it would be "inexpedient" to negotiate the addition of one more British carrier on the routes would be regarded as a little feeble, to say the least. Likewise, because the Anglo-Canadian bilateral is of the Bermuda type, Montreal and Toronto have not been refused. Here, however, the Canadians have only one designated carrier, and the chances that Britain would be allowed by the Canadian Government to designate two might appear to be a little remote. To his credit, Mr Crosland has not directed that these points should be refused; he has, however, directed the refusal of applications for other Canadian points such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, thus perhaps saving the airlines, the ATLB, himself and the Canadians a lot of time and trouble later on. The directive is not as draconian in its effect as might at first have been supposed. The most depressing thing about it is the way in which it was issued. The airlines themselves first read about it in the newspapers; and only the minimum prior notification was given to the Air Transport Licensing Board. Either the BoT officials are extraordinarily arrogant, which seems unlikely, or this is another ad hoc political decision. A considerable number of senior executives in the airline industry have been working very hard preparing their cases for the ATLB hearings, and they could have been spared much wasted work if, as in the United States, there had been prior con- sultation and discussion. The ATLB were due to begin the hearings on January 9, but it is possible that one or more of the airlines concerned will ask for a postponement so that their applications can be reconsidered. Below is a simplified summary of the scheduled passenger service applications (excluding, for the most part, optional points), with starting dates, as these stood before the BoT decision: — BUA: London-Montreal/Toronto (1968); London-Montreal/ Toronto-Vancouver (1970); London-Belfast-New York (1969); extension of South American service to Lima (1968); and further extensions from Santiago or Lima to Auckland and Sydney, via Easter Island and Tahiti (1970). British Eagle: London-Montreal/Toronto (1970); London-Los Angeles/San Francisco (1970); London-New York (1969); and London-Bermuda/Bahamas/Jamaica (1969). Caledonian: London/Birmingham/Manchester/Prestwick-New York; -Toronto/Montreal; and -Los Angeles/San Francisco (all 1969). Transglobe: London/Manchestar/Prestwick-Los Angeles or San Francisco; and -Vancouver (both 1969). British United Airways can take some comfort from the fact that London-Montreal/Toronto remains in their applications, and that London-Belfast-New York is not affected. They might well, however, feel rather dismayed at the butchery of their South Atlantic extension applications. These were regarded by the airline as the first major development of the South American route (taken over from BOAC, who wanted a subsidy for it, in 1964). Also apparently frustrated are BUA's ambitions for the 1970s of extending across the South Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, perhaps later with SSTs. Auckland is completely out; so is Tahiti. Lima is out if it is on the same journey as Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Recife, Dakar, Casablanca, Las Palmas, Lisbon and Madrid. Easter Island is totally out unless a service is also provided to and from Santiago/Lima. To BUA it must appear that the maximum damage that can be done has been A lengthening of the nose, extension of the rear baggage comportment and an increase m maximum landing weight fam 11,0001b to 11,4001b characterise the new Series ®0 DHC. Twin Otter, which *'" be available from April next year. The baggage com- portment changes increase the available capacity by 70 per tcent
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