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Aviation History
1975
1975 - 0064.PDF
RIGHT Internotiona/, 9lanuary 1975 28 AIR TRANSPORT A300B4 FLIES THE first A300B4 took to the air on December 26, flown by M Bernard Ziegler, Airbus Industrie's director of flight test operations. The first flight lasted 2hr 45min and the air craft had completed another five flights as we went to press. The new version is due to be certificated in around three months after completing some 220hr of flying. After certification the A300B4 will have an in-service take-off weight of at least 150,000kg, says Airbus Industrie, as opposed to the 137,000kg of the B2. Range will be 2,100 n.m., compared with 1,400 n.m. The B4 is fitted with a "wet" centre-section and has a refined and improved wing leading edge. • In its first four weeks of operation Trans European Air ways' single A300B1, on lease to Air Algerie, averaged lOhr 45min flying per day without a single delay of more than 5min. SWISSAIR AND TWA AGREEMENT SWISSAIR and TWA have agreed a new 1975 summer schedule for services between their two countries after a round of "protracted and realistic" talks. The agreement is subject to approval by the American Civil Aeronautics Board and the Swiss Federal Air Office but seems likely to be approved without major alterations. The American Government has been putting pressure on the Swiss to cut the number of flights that its airline operates into the United States on the ground that Swissair has a dispropor tionate share of the traffic between the two countries. Swissair's president, Mr Armin Baltensweiler, warned the US in November (see Flight for November 21, 1974, page 705) that his airline would strongly resist what it considers to be unjustified American pressure. In this it seems to have been largely successful. Swissair will have to make some capacity cuts but these will be, says the carrier, "of acceptable proportions." Last summer TWA operated a daily 707 flight from New York to Switzerland as well as two freighter 707 flights each week. Swissair operated 13 weekly 747 services into New York and a daily DC-10-30 flight into Chicago via Boston or Montreal. Its 747s are used exclusively on the New York run. DORNIER POINTS THE WAY FOR EUROPE IF EUROPE is ever to regain a real foothold in the manufac ture of commercial aircraft it must concentrate its efforts consistently on new markets and new forms of air transport. There is no future in trying to break into the market for conventional passenger aircraft, which is so thoroughly dominated by the industry of the United States. This was the view of Claudius Dormer, head of the Dornier Com pany, expressed in the 15th Otto Lilienthal Memorial Lec ture. He believes there are three possible ways in which Europe, using the special skills and experience already gained, could well hold its own, provided there is a genuine will to co-operate. First, the nations of Europe must work together on an advanced model of Concorde and should not, as with the Comet, abandon to others all the valuable pioneering already carried out. The second approach would be to build on Europe's equally valuable pioneering work in V/Stol. And thirdly, since it is quite possible that im proved communications will cause business travel to stag nate while increasingly interdependent economies will demand high-speed freight transport, Dornier proposed development of a large, all-freight "flying ship." It could operate between the world's major seaports, using their facilities and their access to surface transport. One possible design for a flying ship (designated Do P380), which would have a pay load of 350-400 tons made up of fifty or more 8ft X 8ft intermodal containers, would have a span and a length of about 328ft, 100m, and be powered by ten turbofans with a total thrust of 726,0001b, 330 tonnes. Later versions could use nuclear power. Range would be over 4,300 miles, 7,000km, with 320 tonnes of freight or over 6,200 miles, 10,000km, with 200 tonnes. The main freight hold would not need to be pressurised, pro vided a pressure cabin were furnished for the crew and special freight. Overall design should stress simplicity and reliability and make much use of prefabricated components. Production and assembly would have to be well thought out because of the size of components and would have to make use of the geographically and climatically most suitable locations. Development costs would be high, though not beyond European resources, and could be recovered if the flying ships were both produced and operated by a single concern. At a gross weight of 1,000 tons, the Do P380 project would be twice as productive or better than the Boeing 747 freighter, small freight ship or a theoretical large air ship, but still not as productive as the large container ship. That would come at a gross weight of 5,000 to 10,000 tons, "which we might better leave to our sons to develop." But the 1,000-ton flying freight ship is a manageable step in the right direction and feasible with current financial and technical resources. Dornier's Do X "flying ship" of 1929 was a similar step in size. Mr Dornier notes that Europe may get left behind if current American projects for Spanloaders and giant air freighters are actively developed. US SECRETARY OF TRANSPORT RESIGNS MR Claude Brinegar has resigned his post as US Secretary of Transportation as from February 1. He was appointed by Mr Nixon and his departure is seen as part of President Ford's policy of placing his own nominees in executive posi tions in the new administration [reports Warren Goodman from New York]. The departure of Mr Brinegar was first suggested in Flight for September 26, 1974, and will prob ably not be lamented by the US air transport industry. At present, nobody has been strongly tipped to take over the post although the name of Mr John Robson, a Chicago lawyer who was once general counsel to the Department, has been mentioned. Mr Robson is a close friend of Mr Donald Rumsfeld, the President's chief assistant (see also page 27). BRITISH AIRWAYS BRING IN THE CASH . . . FOREIGN-EXCHANGE earnings by British Airways last year reached a record total of about £144 million, an aver age of some £2,600 per employee. Figures for the first nine months of the year show a net balance of payments con tribution of £115 million. Total foreign-exchange earnings by British Airways in 1973 reached £141 million. During the course of 1974 overseas expenditure, rose by 31 per cent. . . . AS TOURISTS SPEND MORE IN BRITAIN IN the first six months of 1974 overseas visitors to the United Kingdom spent around £310 million, up by 21 per cent on the total for the first six months of 1973. Expendi ture by British tourists abroad was around £255 million, the same as in the first half of 1973. The number of foreign visitors increased by four per cent to 2-19 million, of which 941,000 travelled by air. The number of tourists travelling to Britain by air declined however by 663,000 to £769,000, and the number of air- inclusive-tour visitors fell by 28,000 to 274,000. ABERDEEN CHANGES HANDS THE British Airports Authority has taken over Aberdeen Dyce from the Civil Aviation Authority. This now leaves the way clear for a new terminal complex which should be ready by 1977. In the meantime the BAA is to spend some £180,000 on improving existing passenger-handling facilities and will extend the passenger terminal, which is at present only just able to handle traffic despite having doubled in size last year. Aberdeen is the second-fastest growing commercial air port in Britain and derives the bulk of its traffic from oil- related aviation. This year should see a total of about 460,000 passengers (of which over 60,000 will use helicop ters) pass through the airport, an increase over the 1974 figure of around 15 per cent. Scheduled services are pro vided by British Airways and Air Anglia, and British Air ways Helicopters and Bristow Helicopters both base air craft at Dyce.
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