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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 2712.PDF
LETTERS Civil aviation policy poor SIR — The' recent, quite as- toundingly successful refi nancing of Dan Air, during which the various City institu tions were almost obscene in their rush to give support, prompts an intelligent observer to ask why, so soon after the collapse of Air Europe, do the criteria applied in such cases, now seem to have changed? The airline industry is a risk business which, unlike many, does not lend itself to normal financing criteria, particularly when Dan Air's assets consist mainly of ageing aircraft and slots at Gatwick and other air ports. Could it just be that, with an election not much more than six months away, the Government was keen to avoid yet another airline collapse, with the atten dant political fall-out and emba- rassment? During the last ten years, this Government's civil aviation pol icy has been even less consistent than its economic policy, and the British airline industry is now in a most sorry state. The list of casualties is almost end less: Laker, Highland Express, Capital, Novair, London Euro pean, British Island, Air Europe and now TEA (UK). British Caledonian would have ceased to exist had not British Airways (BA) acquired it, and Dan Air might have been another name to add to this sad collection. The issue of the London Traf fic Distribution Rules, recently scrapped, is a case in point. Having encouraged BAA under pressure from US authorities, to invest millions in a new and costly terminal at Stansted and in the North Terminal at Gatwick, those rules are scrapped at a stroke. That they were an unacceptable distortion of the marketplace cannot be argued, but the result is more congestion at Heathrow, an under-used North Terminal at Gatwick, an almost deserted ter minal at Stansted and, now, fur ther interference by the Govern ment which, no doubt under pressure from a smarting BAA, seems intent in further rule bending (its own rules, that is) in order to try to encourage reluctant airlines to use Stansted now that Heathrow is an open option. Manchester, for exam ple, is not afforded this same treatment is yet another example of muddled thinking and knee- jerk reaction from the civil ser vants and ministers involved. The results of the Govern ment-inspired exodus from Gatwick by many long-haul op erators that many of the previ ously successful short-haul services at that airport, the ma jority operated by Dan Air, must be called into financial question, as- many passengers will be interlining. Given this obvious downturn in traffic, one must question the arguments no doubt advanced by Dan Air's management prior to the recent refinancing. It is thus surprising that the City did not similarly ask some pertinent questions. As we approach a deregulated European airline in dustry, much of the independent British airline industry is ruined. Apart from Dan Air, only two large independent scheduled UK airlines remain — Air UK and the Airlines of Britain Group headed by British Midland. Vir gin Atlantic is now only a long- haul operator; Brymon and Birmingham European are tied in with BA; Monarch Airlines operates holiday schedules and charters exclusively and Bri tannia operates only one sched uled route. We have already seen the ef fects of a form of deregulation at Heathrow where the airport re sembles Chicago at peak times, with British carriers fighting alongside the Americans and it will be a sad reflection on Gov ernment, if in a few years on the choice of service from, say, Glasgow to Manchester, will be with KLM, Lufthansa or SAS, efficient as these airlines are. The Dan Air rescue was most certainly needed, and, thank goodness it succeeded. It would be better if Government policy avoided the need for crisis man agement of this nature, but with such short-term political think ing, I doubt that this situation is likely — irrespective of who comes to power in 1992. H A BOYER Lynchmere Lane Haslemere, Surrey, UK Heathrow Terminal 3 arrivals hall has space for a duty-free shop Arrivals duty-free please SIR — Why does Heathrow lag behind Nairobi? British airways inagurated a new business class lounge at Heathrow's Terminal 1 in early September. Among the adver tised attractions is a duty-free shop. What a pity that the Heathrow authorities have yet again, as with Terminal 4 in the 1980s and the recently reno vated Terminal 3, missed the opportunity to include an Arri vals duty-free shop. The siting of this latest lounge and shop close to immigration is such that, with a little fore thought and a smidgeon of goodwill from the BAA and HM Customs, the shop could have served both departing and arriv ing passengers. As mentioned in past issues of Flight Intemtional and elsewhere, the airports at Reykjavik, Sin gapore, Buenos Aires and others have over many years proved the viability and desirability of duty free purchases on arrival. Now Nairobi can be added to these enlightened airports, offering the usual goodies (at about two- thirds of Heathrow's prices!) just before the descend to the bag gage claim area and customs. With all the constant changes to Heathrow's four terminals, there can be no excuse in the 1990s to lag behind. There are rumours that intra-EC duty-free concessions will be discontinued in 1993. If so, there will be additional commercial reasons to make purchases available to those passengers arriving from outside the EC. And at least those travellers would enjoy the benefit of extra comfort and safety on board. ELIZABETH COX FORMER STEWARDESS 23 Thamespoint Teddington Middx TW11 9PP, UK (Ed: British Customs and Excise say that UK law specifies that duty-free goods must be for export. There will he no change to this rule until the European Commu nity Single Market law on the subject is determined, theoretically coming into effect on 1 January, 1993. That law may or may not allow arrivals duty-free from points outside the EC.) WHAT'S ON IATA 28-29 October, 47th Annual General Meeting, Kenyatta Intl Confer ence Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. Contaet: Anne Avdeborn, Intl Air Transport Association, Geneva; tel: +41 (22) 799 29 62. November, Worldwide Fore casting & Economics Seminar and Airline Marketing in the New Europe. Contact: Anita Macleod, Conference & Exhibition Services, IATA, Geneva; tel: +41 (22) 799 27 52. Aviation Safety Programs 21-25 Oc tober, Helicopter Accident Investi gation; 21 October-1 November, System Safety Course; University of Southern California, Institute of Safety and Systems Management, Los Ange les; tel: +1 (213) 740 3995; fax: +1 (213) 740 8789. Short Courses 4-8 November,^ Airport Planning; 11-15 November, Airport Traffic Operations Analysis; 9-13 De cember, Air Transport Economics. Contact: R H Gillard, Department of Transport Technology, Loughborough University of Technology, Loughbor ough, Leics LE11 3TU; tel: +44 (509) 223425; fax: +44 (0509) 267613. -II, FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 October, 1991
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