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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 0490.PDF
282 FLIGHT International, I March 1973 AIR TRANSPORT Mr Douglas Grey, commercial director of BEA—British Airways, is to retire at the end of May. Mr Michael Dargan is to retire as chief executive of Aer Lingus and Aerlinte Eireann in March 1974. He will remain a part-time board member of Aer Lingus. BAB appointment Mr Howard Phelps, group personnel director of British Airways, has been appointed to the board. This reflects the possible staff problems to be faced by the emergent and rationalised airline, although the stated policy of British Airways is efficiency through growth, not through redundancy. The International Register of Civil Aircraft (1973 edition), jointly produced by the British Civil Aviation Authority, the Bureau Veritas of France and the Registro Aeronautico Italiano, is now available. Copies of the Register and its supplements may be obtained from: The Civil Aviation Authority, Printing and Publication Services, Greville House, 37 Gratton Road, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 2BN. Price £18-50 (including postage and packing). A survey of aircraft drinking water, carried out since 1968 by the quarantine office at Tokyo airport, shows that 45 per cent of the aircraft investigated during the survey, which examined international arrivals on a random basis, carried drinking water that was classified as "unfit for consumption," due to excess concentrations of chemical substances. In addition, it was discovered that 31 per cent of the 317 aircraft examined carried water whose bacteria content exceeded the permissible limit of 100 bacteria per millilitre of drinking water. More statistics please By A.J. LUCKING T HE BRITISH CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY has Stated its belief that, subject to no damage being done to the industry by the release of information, sound and comprehensive basic data and analysis should be made available to the public. It has already demonstrated its interpretation of what is and what is not damaging by publishing the detailed cost data submitted to it by the domestic airlines when they applied for fare increases last autumn. Travelling citizens were interested to learn, for 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 300 Annual passengers per empl All-Nippc / Al ayee 1 Lir US / local / service carriers^^ »«»**—" bkkaido lin H V jeflyaX "^^BEA PSA/ e > X^*"* V - -density mutes Plus 18 per cent (1969) correction for c s freight&mail ton-m es 1960 62 64 66 68 70 72 example, that BCAL's costs on the three British domestic trunk routes in 1971-72 were between 1 • 54 pence and 1 • 56 pence per seat-mile, whereas BEA's were between 2-40 pence and 2-42 pence. The corporation's 1972-73 costs for London to Edinburgh and Glasgow services were predicted to fall to 2-38 pence, an ironic point when an 8 per cent fare increase was being sought. It is not known generally what the CAA's Monthly Statistics will contain and, if there are deficiencies in the early editions, doubtless the authority will consider changes or additions later. Several statistical sources have been withering away recently: BEA's annual report has deterior ated sharply in recent years (without a murmur from Parliament). This year the figures for pilot duty and flying hours, both of which have been declining for years, were omitted and the detailed "aircraft type costs" were emascu lated to virtual worthlessness. Because "the airlines said they did not need them," statistics on regularity were dropped from the Department of Trade and Industry pub lications some years ago. Travellers hoping to fly from London to Edinburgh and Frankfurt by the earliest services in recent years have wondered whether the non-publication of regularity statistics has had anything to do with their late arrivals by subsequent flights—or via TWA. Regularity is one of the four public-interest statistics that should be reported, published and subjected to most detailed scrutiny by the regulatory authority. At present one can obtain the regularity figures only by making a special request to the Department of Trade and Industry. In Australia, failure to operate a flight on the timetable is a breach of the regulations. The temptation to cancel a lightly loaded flight is considerable. On the other hand, if an airline has insufficient operational aircraft to fly its schedules it should find some more, or risk forfeiting some route licences. The second important statistic is the number of over sales—passengers for whom there is no seat available, even though they have a firm booking. It is accepted, however, that overbooking—giving reservations to more people than the number of seats available—is an almost inevit able consequence of present-day conditions. In the United States the "oversold" passenger is entitled to financial compensation. The third measure of service adequacy is the route load factor. If it exceeds 60 per cent a substantial number of would-be travellers are going to be refused bookings at the timings they need. The airline corollary, that 40 per cent of the seats are empty, omits to mention that nearly all these are on services in the middle of the day, or night, or in the wrong direction. The London-Paris route, with One method of establishing the productivity of airlines—though, perhaps, inadequately—is to compare annual passengers carried with the number of airline employees
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