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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 0082.PDF
fFypcair Thursday 21 January 1971 Number 3228 Volume 99 Founded in 1909 First aeronautical weekly in the world Official organ of the Royal Aero Club Incorporating "The Aeroplane" © IPC Business Press Ltd 1971 INTERNATIONAL The separatists A merger between BOAC and BEA is the likely outcome of legislation now being drafted. An Airways Board, in the most recent words of the Minister, will "exer cise strategic con'rol over the public sector of the industry." It will be expected "to secure the gains and economies which should result by treating the resources and the route networks of BOAC and BEA as a single system." The question of a mer ger is not, he wisely observed, something that can be decided by outsiders; it must be examined from the inside. There is no question of either corporation losing its identity "without Par liament's being consulted." Political pointscorers might take this as a firm Government statement of its intention to merge BOAC and BEA. On past form Parliament will be trying to catch a plane that has already taken off, and it is likely that this bill will be treated by MPs as a BOAC-BEA de-identity kit. There will also be a row about the anticipated clause allowing nasty private interests to buy a share of the State airlines. The Edwards Committee recommended an Airways Board to own and control the public capital in the two airlines. It would "scrutinise, approve and monitor the capital programmes" and would concern itself with the major strategy of the airlines and the quality of their manage ment. At the same time, said Edwards, the board should "hold the reins lightly," and should preserve the identities of the two corporations. Is it in fact possible to take from an airline its responsibility for aircraft, routes and finance ibpa International Business Press Associates Publishing Director Maurice A. Smith. DFC Advertisement Manager David Holmes Editor J. M. Ramsden Assistant Editor Humphrey Wynn. BA Technical Editor Michael Wilson. BSc, CEng. FBIS. AFRAeS Assistant Editor (Operations] Hugh Field Assistant Editor (Air Transport) David Woolley Production Editor Barry C. Wheeler Editorial Stafl Charles M. Gilson Peter Mlddleton Ted Wilding-White Air Photography Tom Hamill Photographic Librarian Ann C. Tilbury and retain its identity? A formula can surely be found to preserve operating identities and esprit de corps—including that of specialist subsidiaries like British Air Services and Airtours—while at the same time removing what Edwards described as the "built- in bias towards the separatist arguments." There has certainly been much waste in the past, notwithstanding the rebukes of select committees. Although economies have been achieved—joint medical services, College of Air Training, joint pension scheme—the separatist arguments have usually prevailed. In the last two decades the country has had to finance two London terminals, duplicated overseas sales offices, two engi neering bases at Heathrow, and different reservations computers that were not planned to be on speaking terms. For more than 15 years the two airlines have been getting in each other's wake in Europe and the Mediterranean, resolving conflicts by pooling revenues. A special version of the Trident was developed to operate non-stop to Athens and Beirut, which is really BOAC VC10 territory. It is in the aircraft field that duplication has probably cost most. With hind sight Britain did not need a Vanguard as well as a Britannia, and the two big engines that went with them. The BOAC-sponsored Comet served both corporations well; BEA is now buying 707s, and both are studying the TriStar. There are many examples of mergers which, while achieving the economic benefits of large scale, have preserved the brand names that mean so much to the people who really matter—the consumers and the staff. If BOAC and BEA give their wholehearted support to the Airways Board, and accept some surrender of their independence, the more likely it is that operational iden tities can remain. Then will the best of both worlds be achieved— a built-in bias against the separa tist arguments and the preserva tion of commercially valuable brand names and the specialist skills that go with them—notably in the short-haul field which big airlines tend to neglect in favour of the higher-yield long hauls. Meanwhile the real British civil-aviation priority remains. This is not a BOAC-BEA merger, or even an Airways Board, but a route licensing authority to force the airlines to think less about themselves and more about the consumer on whom the entire future of civil aviation, operating and manufacturing, depends. IN THIS ISSUE World News Parliament Air Transport Light Commercial Private Flying Letters Stol fans from Dowty Defence Avionics America's Harriers Air safety Industry International Spaceflight Straight and Level 76 78 79 85 86 87 89 92 95 95a 101 109 110 112 Front cover: Hawker Siddeley Harrier in United States Marine Corps markings. An analysis of American plans for service introduction of the aeroplane, and a description of its nav-attack system, begin on page 95a
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