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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0221.PDF
GHT Internationa!, 15 February I96S TRANSPORT... IATA PROTESTS decision by the British Airports Authority to increase I m April 1 the landing fees at Heathrow Airport, London ee Flight for February 1, page 149), has led to a strong pro- st from the International Air Transport Association. In therst place the association does not accept the main reason Even f°r tne increase—tne devaluation of sterling—because tosts at the airport are incurred in the UK and "billed in terling." It is, IATA says, a price increase on a service based o domestic labour, local expenditures and production factors hich should not be affected substantially by devaluation. The irlines' view, the statement continues, seems to be confirmed iy the fact that no other BAA airport is to increase charges. Referring to the BAA argument that its action is in line ?itfa that taken by the international airlines in adjusting terling fares, IATA says that the airlines* action is in accord- nce with Government-approved rules for world-wide airline elations. It was an essential and emergency procedure pre- ipitated by the devaluation of one of the two currencies used n establishing international fare levels on a world-wide basis. loreover, the majority of international airline operating costs re incurred outside the sterling area and the sterling fares djustments will assist in maintaining the revenues to cover hem. In opposing any increases in landing charges at Heathrow, ATA cites the "very substantial" profits being made by the IAA. "While the airlines," the statement continues, "are enerally sympathetic to measures taken to secure favourable •aiance of payments, they do not believe that national conomic objectives related to a foreign exchange position hould be allowed to motivate an improvement in an already irofitable operation such as that of Heathrow Airport" In its protest, IATA also draws attention to the lack of irior consultation with airport users before the BAA announced he increased charges. This important principle, IATA says, ras reaffirmed at a recent international conference at iovernment level related to airport charges. In fact, Flight nderstands that BAA consulted with the main British users arly in January. 10 INDEPENDENTS TO MALTA refusal of the Air Transport Licensing Board to grant ;nces to British United Airways, British Eagle and Channel ways for scheduled services to Malta has been upheld by Board of Trade. The BoT appeals commissioner, Sir Ralph lone, recommended that appeals by the three independent irlines should be dismissed, and his recommendation was ccepted by the BoT. Both British United and British Eagle had asked for London- lalta services, with British United specifying Gatwick Airport s the London terminal, and British Eagle specifying Heathrow r Gatwick. Channel Airways asked for the route Manchester nd/or Castle Donington and/or Stansted to Malta. BEA, Ejecting to all the applications, had asked for its London- jMtlta licence to be amended to read Glasgow and/or Man- t^ster and/or London to Malta, and this variation had been ranted by the ATLB. A main argument in all the appeals was that the ATLB 'd made wrong assumptions about the future development of me to Malta. BUA submitted that the ATLB had beenron g to assume that future traffic trends on the route were "certain, and that it had over-estimated the effect of currency •stnctions in causing a temporary boom (Malta having a arikirUrrency)- BUA ^ s"bmittcd that too much weight Z f 8ivon t0 B.EA'S vulnerability as a result of existing tares, and that it was wrong to assume that there would \?PPrfciable diversion from BEA's services. jntish Eagle and Channel Airways submitted that the ATLB .Paw insufficient regard to the expansion of the Malta «t industry. Channel Airways also pointed to the 500-bed f:. acc0FPinodation which would be made available by one subsidiary companies, and said that 40-45 per cent of th' ITfi<1 passen8er capacity would be taken up with visitors as f 101^- Much of the remainder would come from new 01 Promotion. There would therefore be less diversion 215 of traffic from BEA if Channel Airways' application, rather than those of the other two airlines, were granted. BEA submitted to the appeals commissioner that the licensing of a second operator on the route could only lead to both airlines suffering loss, and in due course to a demand for higher fares. In his report Sir Ralph Hone said that he considered BEA to have built up a substantial case against the licensing of a second operator. He paid regard to the Government view stated in 1965 that the duplication of scheduled international services was likely to harm an established carrier and to bring no gain to British civil aviation as a whole. "Though clearly no hard and fast rule can be applied (nor have the Board [ATLB] sought to establish one) it is obvious that caution must be exercised, and second operators should only be licensed if certain conditions exist The Board considered that these conditions were not fulfilled in this instance and I accept their view on that issue." The commissioner considered the ATLB to have been correct in its conclusion that traffic potential on the route was too uncertain to warrant the assertion that BEA's traffic would not suffer from the licensing of a second carrier; and correct in concluding also that in fact the economic viability of the route would be seriously damaged, as it was necessary to main- tain high load factors to counteract the low fare levels. It was true, the commissioner pointed out that IATA had approved higher fares on the route; BEA had stated that these were effective from April 1, 1967, but the airline had not imple- mented them. He felt obliged to agree with the ATLB, how- ever, that the appeals could only be decided on the facts as they existed at present. He added that if the fares situation had changed by the time the BoT came to decide the case, they might wish to refer it back to the ATLB. This the BoT did not do, and in fact the BEA fares will not be increased until April 1 this year. PNYA'S YEAR THE continuing resurgence of LaGuardia Airport, following the major improvements and extensions, is demonstrated by the 1967 figures just issued by the Port of New York Authority for its four airports. In spite of the fact that LaGuardia was less affected by the 43-day airline strike in 1966, which reduced the growth of traffic for Kennedy in that year, an increase of nearly 30 per cent in passenger movements was recorded at LaGuardia in 1967 by comparison with 1966. That total air- craft movements increased by only 11 per cent is an indication of the effect of the larger-capacity aircraft now using the airport NEW YORK AIRPORTS TRAFFIC, 1967 Airport J. F. Kennedy LaGuardia ... Newark Teterboro ... Total Aircraft move- ments 419,456 289,543 230,380 279,246 1,218,625 /o increase on 1966 10.2 II.1 9.0 1.7 8.1 Passenger* 19,988,570 8,136.256 6,070,309 34.195,135 /oincrease on 1966 17.0 29.7 . 18.0 20.0 Cargo (short tons) 550,530 25,167 129,460 705,157 °/oincrease on 1966 15.4 17.2 6.9 13.8 The grand total of passengers for all of the three transport airports, at more than 34 million in 1967, was nearly double the number handled only five years ago. The figures for mail are not included in the table above; these showed an overall increase of 30 per cent, with LaGuardia's increase topping 92 per cent. Viscount for Invicta The first of two Viscounts for Invicta Airways of Manston, Kent, has now been delivered from Liverpool where it has been fitted out and restyled by British Eagle. Siidflug Sells DC-8s The two DC-8-32s being taken over by Sudflug, the West German charter carrier, from Swissair, have been bought by Frederick B. Ayer of New York at a total cost of $7.5 million (£3.1 million). They will be made available for lease or purchase. At present, 19 of Ayers' 48 aircraft, including six jets, are on lease to airlines. Sudflug is now a wholly owned Lufthansa subsidiary.
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