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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 1971.PDF
•••n • amawp 3332S--I=::2ii!3iH|ffliaiH!ia ••••ni CALEDONIAN On November 30, 1870, a new British private-sector flag carrier was formed, with Government blessing, by a merger of Caledonian Airways and British United Airways. The new company, cast in the role of the "second-force airline" proposed the year before by the Edwards Committee, was not born without political dissension; but it is now established and setting about its primary task of enhancing Britain's position in world air transport. Below, J. M. RAMSDEIM interviews the company's directors; on page 159 DAVID WOOLLEY looks at the background to the current operation. THE THIRD BRITISH CARRIER, an expression which British Caledonian prefers to the Edwards Committee's "second force," reports a 1970-71 profit of £1-7 mil lion. But the airline is likely to have the fasten-seat-belts sign on for the next two or three years, during which it will be launching two particularly expensive ventures: North Atlantic scheduled services and a fleet of wide-body subsonic airliners. The airline's immediate preoccupation, and indeed that of the entire international airline industry, is the charter problem. Support for the advance-booking charter or ABC fare is growing rapidly everywhere, and British Caledonian —probably unique in the world as a 50/50 scheduled/ charter company—is all in favour of it. The affinity-group rules are now so bent, and discounting of scheduled fares so rife even among the most reputable lata members, that in BCAL's view the ABC fare, appli cable to scheduled services as well as to charters, will have to be introduced in one form or another. Although BCAL's executives respect the Civil Aviation Authority's initiatives, and are impressed by the way the airline industry has been consulted, they feel that some decisions must be made soon if chaos is to be avoided. There is little enough time as it is, they point out, if licence applications, trade literature and advance passenger lists are to be ready for next season. (A note about the CAA proposals appeared in Flight for July 20, page 76.) BCAL thinks that the British inclusive tour, once the best value for holiday money in the world, has been British Caledonian's chairman and managing director, Adam Thomson (seated), with his three deputy managing directors, (left to right) John de la Haye, M. A. Cuinane and Frank Hope debased in recent years. It regrets the disappearance of the little extra touches, and the trend toward seat-back catering and more-and-more cramped seat pitch. In the opinion of John de la Haye, one of the airline's deputy managing directors, tour and airline charter prices will have to go up by, at the very least, 10 per cent across the board next year. The recent failure of a British independent airline came as no surprise to BCAL. It does not feel that its politically "privileged" position had any influence on the cut-throat rat race which, exacerbated by too many operators and too many seats, has plagued the whole charter industry. One of the other problems of the tour-operating industry, lillilllSllilit & W[ •« 1 Nil r"^tit^i^^ykt^: vi
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