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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0006.PDF
FLIGHT emotional, 4 January 1968 Air Congo's recently delivered DC-8S0F, NI802, which has been leased from Capitol International, the US supplemental carrier. The airline's other DC-8-S0 is ex-N8276H of PanagrafBraniff. NI802 was photographed at Le Bourget Airport, Paris, where it was overhauled by Union de Transports Aeriens AIR TRANSPORT... SELLING ISLANDERS IN AMERICA AT the end of December Britten-Norman received an export order worth $3,161,000 (£1.3 million) from the Jonas Aircraft Company of New York City, for 52 Islanders. Jonas Aircraft is the Western Hemisphere territorial distributor for Britten- Norman and has ordered these aircraft for delivery to cus- tomers in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, the West Indies and the Bahamas. Five more Islanders, part of an earlier order, are being delivered now to the USA. By the end of the year Britten-Norman will have built 102 Islanders, of which 90 per cent have been sold to overseas markets. Only six aircraft of the 1968 production schedule remain unsold. Mr Alex Muller, head of the aviation division of Jonas Air- craft, said, at the National Air Taxi Association Convention in Dallas in mid-December, how pleased he was to be able to order 52 aircraft for delivery before the end of 1968. It was more than he had expected, but it was fewer than he needed. He added: "The market for the Islander easily exceeds the number available in 1968. We hope that, should additional aircraft be produced in 1968, a fair share can be allocated to our market." (Britten-Norman already have production plans which allow for an increase during 1968 to over ten aircraft a month.) Mr Muller continued: "We saw at once that a large potential in feeder/commuter markets existed for this aircraft." Other markets they see include the mining and oil industries, where a cheap flying workhorse is badly needed. Jonas set about demonstrating the Islander by loaning it to operators to try over their own routes. This enabled them to evaluate it for themselves against their own particular route and operational problems. In doing this Jonas also provided themselves with feedback on operators' problems and enabled the distributor to see how potential customers' operations were run. The loan offer was made to all US third-level operators and although it has so far been taken up by only a small percentage, it has already resulted in Jonas having orders for almost the whole of the 52 aircraft allocated to them for 1968. During the demonstra- tions it soon emerged that no problems or questions arose concerning the Islander's suitability, performance, design, operating cost, or ability. Jonas also set about building up confidence in the manu- facturers, who were relatively unknown to US operators. Evidence was produced that Britten-Norman had kept, and would keep, delivery dates, and that a first-rate spares and after-sales service would be provided. To demonstrate their confidence in the aircraft Jonas are asking customers for lower deposits than they have to pay themselves, thus increas- ing their own cash investment in the sales programme. Publicity in the Americas has been carefully planned. The only sales to be announced by Jonas will be when aircraft are actually delivered to customers. The sales organisation will be a network of carefully chosen area distributors—two in Canada, five in the US, one in Mexico, one in the Caribbean and one in each of the South American countries. This organisation is already 90 per cent complete. The area dis- tributors are being chosen for their ability to provide first-rate after-sales service in terms of spares holding and maintenance. That awareness of the Islander is growing steadily in the USA can be judged by the seriousness with which certain other manufacturers are now regarding the aircraft. The "little aeroplane" from the Isle of Wight is really being talked about over there. As Britten-Norman say: "The time to start worry- ing is when they stop talking about it." The FAA C of A for the Islander was handed over by the Brussels office of the Administration on December 19. The FAA-approved STOL performance benefits by an even lower stalling speed than is recognised by the ARB at present. DOMESTIC POOLING IN JAPAN? THE joint operation of domestic trunk services with Japan Air Lines has been proposed by All Nippon Airways, who have been suffering heavy losses—estimated at $3.3 million (£1.2 million pre-devaluation) for the financial year 1966-67. Accord- ing to Interavia, ANA proposes that the airlines' 20 Boeing 727s (seven from ANA and 13 from JAL) should be pooled on the Tokyo-Sapporo and Tokyo-Osaka-Fukuoka routes and the profits shared on an appropriate 7:13 ratio. Such a joint operation might be advantageous to JAL, whose traffic is increasing so rapidly (a 69 per cent load factor in October) that more aircraft would otherwise need to be ordered now. No Public Inquiry for Caravelle Accident The Board of Trade have decided that a public inquiry will not be necessary for the Iberia Caravelle accident on November 4. The report of the accident investigation will be published. Jamaica Take-over Air Jamaica has taken over the manage- ment and operations of Jamaica Air Service, the domestic feeder line on which DH Herons are used to link Kingston and Montego Bay with Port Antonio and Ocho Rios. First 737 Delivered Lufthansa has taken delivery of their first Boeing 737-100 at Seattle, where it is remaining for about a month for crew training. Lufthansa, the first carrier to order 737s, will put them into service in the spring. British Split Charters Five independent airlines—British Eagle, British United, Caledonian, Lloyd International and Transglobe—have been given permission by the ATLB to operate split charters. Two groups, each of not fewer than 60 (USA) or 40 (Canada) passengers, will be allowed to share the capacity of aircraft on charters covering a distance of more than 2,250 miles. BOAC opposed the applications and are expected to appeal. CAB Approvals Presidential approvals have been given for the granting by the CAB of five-year foreign carrier permits to Condor Flugdienst of West Germany and Martin's Air Charter of the Netherlands, for charter operations from Germany and 16 European countries to the USA, and from the Netherlands to the USA respectively. Condor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa; Martinair is owned 25 per cent by KLM.
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