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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0081.PDF
On January 3 Swissair received their second DC-8-62, HR-IDF, seen here. It is due to go into service on the North Atlantic from mid-February. The airline's first DC-8-62, HB-/DE, has already started to operate some Switzerland-New York and Zurich-Montreal-Chicago flights and will come into full service on the North Atlantic at the end of January. Another -62 and a -62F are due to join Swissair's fleet during 1968 BOAC PROMOTE CONCORDE THE promotion of the Concorde by BOAC in the USA began with a bang recently through a three-page advertisement in Time magazine. The first page reflects on BOAC's pioneering of flying-boat, Comet and VC10 services on the North Atlantic"; the second two pages carry a double-spread colour impression of the Concorde in flight, accompanied by the words: "This should come as no surprise." The picture is no less dramatic than that promoting the "triumphantly swift . . ." VC10, and with the new campaign BOAC will avoid criticism that they are neglecting Concorde promotion. But one criticism that BOAC will not avoid is coming from the caption; Americans are wondering how it is that the Concorde's sonic boom will not come as a surprise. CO-OPERATION IN ACTION THE basis of the long-term co-operation between Swissair and SAS was the "main agreement" concluded in 1958. Essentially this covered the maintenance and overhaul of aircraft, technical co-operation and the division of work between the two partners. A prerequisite to such a division of work was, at that time, the standardisation of DC-8s and Caravelles. Even before the conclusion of the agreement there was a large consensus of opinion which led to the selection of identical equipment, i.e. DC-6s, DC-7s, and Convair 440s. The first period, 1959-1962, was marked by the simultaneous introduction, in May 1960, of Swissair's DC-8s and SE-210s. In this Swissair profited from SAS's early orders and options with Sud-Aviation, so that four Caravelles were put into service barely a year after SAS. When the need for a medium-range jet became evident, Swissair and SAS had originally decided in favour of the Convair 880. Already, however, at an early stage, opinions differed about the introduction into service of this aircraft. Major differences in requirements, alterations in FAA rules concerning the take-off stage, the need for larger capacity and related factors made it desirable to switch from the 880 to the 990 Coronado. Difficulties that later plagued the Convair Division of General Dynamics led to delivery delays and, temporarily, to a considerable downgrading in Performance. In this period the co-operation between the two airlines had to stand its first test. Following protracted and often tough negotiations, the division of work in the second stage was agreed-—with the DC-8 and SE-210 T-checks, as well as the airframe and com- ponents overhaul of the Caravelles, done by Swissair. In spite of this, there was still a strong imbalance in favour of SAS. For this reason, the overhaul of the R-3350 piston engines of SAS's DC-7C fleet was incorporated into the deal. Activity in •his second stage slowed down in October 1965. As SAS returned the two 950s it had on lease at an earlier date than foreseen, Swissair's share of work for the partner decreased considerably. About this time negotiations were in progress for the purchase of an up-to-date short-range jet, which Swissair had found in the DC-9. SAS had, for the time being, chosen tost ay put with its fleet of Caravelles. When KLM, which has, since 1963, been overhauling Swissair's DC-8 fan engines, resolved to buy DC-9s, the Dutch carrier entrusted Swissair with the overhaul of its DC-9 power- plants. This decision linked KLM with the co-operation arrangement between Swissair and SAS. Early in 1966, when SAS decided to acquire DC-9s, the problem of cockpit standardisation arose. With the assistance of the Douglas Aircraft Co a favourable solution was found, enabling a transition from the short-body DC-9-15 to the long-body DC-9-30. The five DC-9-30s which Swissair has tem- porarily leased to SAS already have a standardised cockpit and will, step-by-step, be returned to Swissair at the rate of the DC-9-40 deliveries to SAS. The DC-9-30s will replace Swissair's DC-9-15s, which are to be returned to Douglas. The purchase of DC-9s by SAS and Swissair's decision to order DC-8-62s with SAS specifications had a great bearing on the technical co-operation. On the basis of a multitude of analyses about possible ways of work sharing—none fully satis- factory to both partners—it looked as if the arrangement might end towards the end of 1968. Finally, however, an agreement was achieved; this afforded Swissair the guaranteed continua- tion of DC-8 airframe overhaul by SAS. Moreover, the arrange- ment allows Swissair to keep up the engine exchange with KLM and to complement it with the DC-9 engines of SAS. Present planning envisages a very high degree of manpower utilisation in Swissair's engine-overhaul shops. In the 1970s the company will be overhauling the engines of some 80 DC-9s; all three carriers will benefit appropriately from economies in man-hours and spare parts consumption. As Swissair has, in the meantime, become the overhaul centre for Coronados operated in Europe and the Middle East (LIA, Spantax, Internord), the manpower utilisation of its maintenance base was considerably improved. It can be said that the technical co-operation between SAS and Swissair has paid off handsomely despite various difficulties that have arisen. The inclusion of KLM in the technical co-operation will no doubt prove a boon in view of later tasks—one may think of the Boeing 747 and supersonic aircraft •—for all three carriers concerned. New IAL Shareholders Caledonian Airways and Ghana Airways have become member shareholders of International Aeradio. This now brings the total number of shareholders to 33, all but one of them airlines—including CAA of China. Belfast-New York Irish International will, from next June, operate four round-trip services between Belfast and New York via Shannon. Altogether 35 return trips between Ireland and North America will be flown weekly this summer, with as many as six on peak traffic days. In 1967 Irish International's Atlantic services carried about 200,000 passengers—an increase of 24 per cent on the total in 1966.
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