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Aviation History
1974
1974 - 0002.PDF
FLIGHT International, 3 January 1974 British fuel allocations This month British airlines are having to limit fuel consumption to 90 per cent of that for January last year. This represents some 22 to 23 per cent less than what they required. Airlines have told the Government that they need 230,000 tons of kero sene during January, but supplies are being limited to 175,000 tons, a short-fall of 55,000 tons. Mr Michael Heseltine, Minister of Aerospace, told Flight that the allocation of fuel to foreign airlines would be subject to the proviso that British carriers should not be discriminated against at over seas airports. Although the industry is reticent about committing itself in public, Flight has been told that there are indications that in some instances foreign carriers are getting preferen tial treatment frotm their own Govern ments. The Minister said that because of the need to conserve kerosene for possible domestic use, should the industrial situation require it, the allocation was smaller than it might have been. He was unable to give any indication as to the size and extent of future cuts. It appears that charter airlines will again be treated slightly more favour ably than scheduled carriers. Clearly, the Department of Trade and Industry continues to subscribe to the view that scheduled airlines can save fuel by reducing flights and increasing load factors whereas charter carriers cannot. Most charter operators are confident that they will be able to fulfil their commitments. British Air ways is operating 80 per cent of the 6,000-odd flights that had originally been scheduled. Some routes from regional airports to the continent have been cut and there has been some combining of destinations. British Caledonian Airways, which last month had its fuel cut by more than 20 per cent, as opposed to an industry average of 17 per cent, says that it expects to operate "the bulk" of its schedules. • In the United States, industry sources are now openly discussing the possibility of an additional 25,000 redundancies. Despite the fact that American carriers are being allowed 90 per cent of the fuel they consumed in 1972—instead of a little over 80 per cent — aircraft continue to be withdrawn from service. Continental Air Lines has with drawn its four Boeing 747s and Eastern Air Lines is reported to be putting up for sale as many as six TriStars. Holidays and the fuel crisis "Tourism and the energy crisis" is the title of a seminar being held on January 9 at the Dorchester Hotel, London. It is organised by the Asso ciation of National Tourist Office Representatives in Great Britain and Tourism International. Details from E. A. Iatridis, National Tourist Organisation of Greece, 195-197 Regent Street, London W1R 8DL. Gen Fourquet to Aerospatiale General Michel Fourquet, former chief of the French armed forces, has been appointed president of the conseil de surveillance which is now to oversee the management of Aero spatiale. As noted in Flight on December 20, the shareholders' meeting held on December 28 accepted the new management structure of conseil de surveillance and directoire and ap pointed Gen Fourquet, the Banque Nationale de Paris and Credit Lyon- nais as shareholders' representatives on the conseil. Nine other members, drawn from the ministries of finance, transport and armed forces and from the trade unions were to be named last weekend. The first meeting of the new conseil, being held today in Paris, is expected to confirm the members of the directoire headed by Aero spatiale's new operating chief, Charles Cristofini. German thoughts on Europe How would the US aircraft industry cope if it had to satisfy seven or eight fully independent air forces on its home market territory? The European aerospace industry's problem is not its structure, but its market and pro grammes. With these thoughts, Dr Werner Knieper, chairman of the board of Zentralgesellschaft VFW - Fokker, The first of two General Dynamics YF-16 prototypes rolls out under power at Fort Worth on December 13 (see further photo graphs, page 21)
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