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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 1493.PDF
RIGHT International, 3/ May 1973 AIR TRANSPORT continued from page 838 services to the Channel Islands from Bournemouth have also been taken over and integrated into the "Link-City" system. Certain of the former Skyways services from Ashford have been transferred to Gatwick, and HS.748 engineering work is now centralised at the former Skyways base at Ashford. The airline does not envisage replacing the 748 fleet in the immediate future, but will transfer some One-Eleven capacity to the scheduled-service network when traffic justifies such a move. The services to Amster dam from Liverpool and Teesside will probably be the first schedules to be operated by jets. Some summer services to Norway have already been operated by the BAC One-Elevens, but this was a result of a lack of capacity which has now been relieved fol lowing the delivery of the seventh HS.748. Dan-Air Sky ways interlines with several airlines and has made arrangements with Air Anglia for services from Norway to Teesside and Newcastle to connect with Air Anglia's flights to Norwich and Aberdeen. This last-named facility is aimed particularly at the oil industry in these areas. The airline is satisfied with the HS.748 as a scheduled- service aircraft, and considers that its combination of size and operating costs justifies its retention for some con siderable time. Its field performance in particular has been found useful. The service fronw'London Gatwick to Berne, which was started in June last year, would have been impossible to operate economically with jets because of the length of runway at the Swiss capital. The use of smaller aircraft on the "Link City" network has been considered—at one stage a series of experimental flights were made over the system using a Jetstream, but the appeal of increased frequencies is outweighed, in Dan- Air's opinion, by the higher seat-mile costs and increased handling charges that such an operation would entail. The growth of Dan-Air has been gradual, but it has also been substantial. While the airline may have given the impression of actively shunning the type of publicity that other airlines seem to revel in, it is difficult to feel that the carrier is not now of a size that will actively attract interest from outside the airline and travel industry. Dan-Air may not have purchased new equipment as yet, but on the other hand it has not been in a situation like Dan-Air's structure. The Davies & Newman group's aviation interests now account for 96.6 per cent of the group's turnover and 68.6 per cent of the £1-034 million operating profr. made in 1972 sjy Davies & Newman Holdings Dan-Air Services— Davies & Newman Travel ^_ Dan-Air Engineering Dan-Air Skyways Airways Leasing — Company (Aircraft leasing) __ Romanic Trading (Aircraft leasing) Dan-Air —Intercontinental (Sales agent) — Airways Catering Gatwick Handling ——(Airport handling agent 50% owned by Davies & Newman) Dan-Air Bonded Stores Kristiansand / Stavanger vickf \Newcastle,^jf yCarlisleiVV—J\ s "Tees-side Amsterdam ' Services all the year round • Summer services only Jersey Ostend Berne Beauvais/Paris (Coach- Air) "Clermont Ferrand and Montpellier Dan-Air Skyways now serves six countries. BAC One-Elevens are due to supplement the HS.748s now used, with the Amsterdam services from Newcastle and Liverpool being the first candidates for jet services some other British independent airlines where its stability and practices have been subject to discussion and specula tion in the full view of the general public—only a short time after all the orchestrated new-jets fanfare has died away. The airline sees, however, no reason why it should not buy aircraft direct from the manufacturer in the future if the market requires such a move. It has received, and continues to receive, a great deal of attention from aircraft manufacturing companies. Market forces in the charter field in particular, says the airline, may sometimes make the purchase of new equipment unpractical. The contracts taken over by Dan-Air after the demise of British Eagle necessitated the addition of new capacity to the fleet at comparatively short notice. While it was possible to acquire the two BAC One-Eleven 400s from American Airlines relatively rapidly, it might not have been possible to purchase and bring into service new air craft bought from a manufacturer within a similar period of time. It might be worth noting that the Boeing 727-100, which was bought because Dan-Air believes that it is "the logical and ideal successor to the Comet fleet," is no longer being built, having been superseded in production by the larger 727-200. Dan-Air feels that much of the success that it has enjoyed . using its existing fleet has resulted from the availability of the resources of Dan-Air Engineering at Lasham. The Comet has now been operating on relatively short sectors for some six years and the airline considers that much of the credit for the success of the aircraft in Dan-Air service comes from its. ability to convert and modify the aircraft, as they were bought, from a long-haul role to a high-density inclusive-tour short/medium-haul configuration. Similarly, the Boeing 727s were converted from a low-density layout scheduled service to one suited to a high-density charter operation, with the only work not done by Dan-Air being the modifications heeded to comply with British airworthi ness requirements. %'•: How does the airline see its future? Typically, perhaps, for the airline the answer to Flight's question was couched in terms of economics rather than specific goals. Dan-Air, says Mr Newman, will expand, but it will do so soundly, on "good business principles." C.H-S.
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