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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 2663.PDF
This DC-9-/0, YV-C-AAA for Linea Aeropostal Venezolana, was photographed last month at Van Nuys, California, before leaving on its delivery flight to Venezuela Last week Mr William Rodgers, Minister of State, Board of Trade, referring obliquely to the outburst by Mr Clive Jenkins, the union chief, on television in threatening to stop Eagle employees from taking a cut in wages to save the airline, said: "I have nothing but admiration for [the employees]. I do not share any criticisms which have been made of the attitude they have adopted." He also said that the BoT "greatly regret British Eagle going out of business." Earlier, speaking at Bournemouth, Mr Reginald Maudling, Conservative Deputy Leader, attacked Mr Jenkins more directly. He said: "I can only describe his threat as a disgrace to all that is decent, humane and progressive in the trade union movement. He was faced by Eagle employees who were obviously sincere in their loyalty ... He gave a display of bitterness and bully- ing and bad language the like of which I never want to see on TV again." But the way in which Eagle suddenly ceased trading was strongly criticised last week by the National Joint Council for the Civil Aviation Industry, on which both unions and employers sit. After a meeting, the council passed a resolution deploring the "lack of consultation and breaching of agree- ments" by British Eagle, and regretting that the 2,300 employees were not told of the state of the airline's affairs. The union side of the council called for an inquiry to be set up by the President of the Board of Trade. Employers promised that special efforts would be made to fit British Eagle staff into vacancies as they occur. Although Eagle was for some time not a member of the NJC. it had recently rejoined. BUA/LAKER TIE-UP TWO developments which appear to have deeper implications were announced by British United Airways last week. The first was that BUA is buying Laker Airways' VC10 (a BUA spokesman confirmed to Flight that the airline was buying not leasing). The second was the signing of a contract whereby BUA will provide Laker with catering and traffic-handling services at Gatwick London. The VC10 is the original prototype which was refurbished by BAC and delivered to Laker last February and is at present on lease to Middle East Airlines. It will be handed over to BUA on April 1, at the conclusion of the leasing contract, bringing the airline's VC10 fleet strength to four. One problem which the BUA management may have to face is the integra- tion of this aircraft with the other three; these are also Standard VClOs, but the ex-prototype aircraft is understood to be sufficiently different from them to cause difficulties, particularly with regard to fitting it into maintenance schedules. Mr F. A. Laker resigned as managing director of BUA in November 1965 and early in 1966 formed his own airline, Laker Airways, as a contract carrier specialising in inclusive- tour business. Pending the delivery of three BAC One-Elevens for operation from April 1, 1967, the airline bought two Britannia 102s from BO AC so that operations could start in the early summer of 1966. BUA starts to service Laker flights with catering this month and from January the passengers will be handled by the BUA traffic department. Only Two Cancellation by Alitalia of its order for a Boeing 747F freighter means that only two of this variant are now on order, both for Pan American. One of Alitalia's four 747s will, however, be convertible. Hansa for US Commuter The first US commuter airline to operate the HFB Hansa, Golden West Airlines, of Van Nuys, Cal, plans to put the 12-passenger jet into service early next month on a Santa Barbara - Burbank - Palm Springs service. ANA Order More YS-llAs All Nippon Airways have ordered five NAMC YS-llA-200s, the all-passenger version, to meet traffic increases, and Japan Domestic Airways is negotiating for one -200 for a new route to be opened next year. The ANA order will bring the carrier's YS-11 fleet to 17. Stretched DC-8s for AFA Two 250-seat DC-8-63s are to be ordered by American Flyers Airlines, of Fort Worth, Texas, for delivery in 1970. Meanwhile, AFA will lease two -63s from Flying Tiger early next year for charter expansion into Europe and to Hawaii. The carrier's present fleet consists of two Boeing 727-100Cs and five Lockheed Electras. Fares Agreed Among the first European fares to be agreed within IATA are those to Greece; night excursion fares to the area are to be reduced by 12| per cent (or, in the case of Rhodes, by 15 per cent). The high cost of tours to the area, determined on the basis of the IATA fares, has been worrying tour operators, but some alleviation will now be possible. STOL YS-11? Experimental operation of the McDonnell Douglas 188 (Breguet 941) on Eastern's Boston-NewYork- Washington network has encouraged NAMCO to consider the potential of a four-engined specialised STOL version of the YS-11. Sources at NAMCO say that the Japanese company will proceed with its development if the market potential in the USA proves large enough. New NY Terminal for PAA A new £21 million terminal is to be built at J. F. Kennedy, New York, by Pan American in preparation for the Boeing 747s and SSTs. To be completed early in 1971, it will incorporate the present terminal at Kennedy and will accommodate all the airline's arrivals and departures under one roof, with six gate positions for 747s and/or Concordes and ten positions for present-sized jets. There will be lounge space for 4.000 persons and the terminal will be designed to handle up to 3,000 passengers an hour. BMA Fleet Disposals Following the sale of DC-3 G-ANTD in September to Cameroon Air Transport, British Midland Airways last month sold two Canadair Argonauts (G-ALHS and -ALHY) to Chartwell Aviation. The DC-3 was the first of eight to be bought and the last to be operated in passenger service by the airline. Because of the tribulations when introducing then new equipment, it was affectionately known as Tear Drop—a soubriquet later applied to other DC-3s as they came and went. The airline's two Viscount 800s are on short-term lease to Ghana Airways (G-APNE) and Nigeria Airways (G-AVJB), both with BMA flight crews and engineers.
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