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Aviation History
1975
1975 - 0589.PDF
FLIGHT International, 27 March 1975 523 charters that they aire one-way. Martinair tries to reach a compromise with a shipper which will allow a return load to be carried even if this means accepting a different date. The airline's cargo sales and operations departments share the same office at Schiiphol and a single "big board" carries the expected deployment of the fleet throughout the year. On this occasion no such compromise had been possible. The charterer, however, had been willing to pay for the return flight and had "sub-let" the aircraft at a discount, on the grounds that even low-yield cargo was better than none at all. Hong Kang is a destination where there is always a return cargo available, but competition has depressed rates on Far Eastern routes and Martinair stopped regular services late last year. Not being an International Air Transport Association member, Martinair is free to set its own rates, which will be influenced by supply and demand, period, volume, positioning costs and the avail ability of a return cargo on Martinair's own books. "The only marketing method is talk, talk, talk," says one Martinair cargo sales executive. The most important aspect of freight sales, says another, is "the personal con tact between airline and customer." A monthly newsletter, Martinabrfreight, goes to all customers. Despite the lack of constants an rates, Martinair's freight sales department aims to quote for any shipment within two hours of a request. The latest addition to Kohoutek's systems is an on-board main-deck loader, developed in collaboration with McDonnell Douglas, Which gives the aircraft a unique independence of high-level ground-based cargo loaders. It was being put to use for the second time at Kigali, the Opposite page, Maninair's DC-IO can use airports such as Kigali which are suitable for its DC-8s; operating base is at Schiphol, below. Above, the on-board loader platform is winched out of the cargo hold on an integral gantry, with which it shares a standard LD3 module. The top frame, seen extended at right, is stowed inside the main-deck cargo door and the uprights are attached; the platform is raised by integral pneumatically driven pulleys first occasion having been an airlift of 130 cattle to Algiers. Martinair claims that the loader can be rigged by two men in half an hour, and at Kigali the time taken was not much longer than that. A rectangular top frame is deployed from the -main freight door and a platform incorporating pneumatically powered pulleys and rollers is run out from the forward belly hold on a gantry with which it shares a single LD3 module. Two uprights, also stored in the hold, guide the platform, which is connected by a hose to an air point in the belly, supplied from the APU. The loader can lift up to 13,0001b and the largest pallet accommodated is 125inX104in. The section of the loader mounted by the main door reduces available width; Martinaiir uses two 88inX88in pallets in that part of the cabin. Total installed weight is about 5,3001b. A shortage of pallet trucks and tractors conspired to delay the tumround. As the boxes of styrofoam were removed from the aircraft the pallets were emptied and ferried across the airfield for the tin ore to be loaded. As the loaded pallets returned they were rolled on to the lift—with some difficulty, as the Kigali pallet trucks were some four inches lower than the platform, producing an inconvenient step—raised and propelled into the cabin. It transpired that the Kigali apron was not entirely level and this irregularity manifested itself in a slight slope of the cabin floor towards the door. The difficulty was compounded by the fact that some of the pallets weighed over 10,0001b. Moreover, the freight handlers assumed that the 88inX104in pallets were square. It was necessary to propel some of the pallets off the platform, turn them manually through 90° and engage them with the cargo
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