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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0341.PDF
5 February 1954 CIVIL AVIATION . . . 165 WE CALL ON LUFTAG THERE is an air of austerity about No. 1, Claudiustrasse. All around are patches of devastation characteristic of post-war Cologne, and the building itself has the neglected appearance reminiscent of one of those large Victorian houses partly restored by English local governments for the dispensa tion of orange juice, cod liver oil and advice on housing. It is in fact a former university converted into offices, several of which are occupied by Luftag—to quote the abbreviated name of the company formed 12 months ago to prepare for the revival of Germany's national airline. The full title is found engraved on a metal plate outside the building: Aktiengesellschaft fur Luftverkehrsbedarf, which can be trans lated as Joint Stock Company for Air-traffic Supply. The second plate—"Deutsche Luft hansa in liquidation"—is in a sense mislead ing: it refers to the pre-war airline, whose name is eventually almost certain to be adopted by its successor. First impressions are dispelled, however, on entering Luftag's offices—brightly lit, centrally heated, equipped with new furniture and decorated by coloured pictures of Comets and Convairs. The P.R.O., Herr Hallensleben, provided a courteous welcome and introduced us to Dipl. Ing. Hoeltje, technical director of Germany's embryo airline. The other top executives are the pre-war president of Lufthansa, Dr. Kurt Weigelt, and Herr H. M. Bongers, traffic director. Ing. Hoeltje outlined for us the development of Luftag to date. It stems directly from the Bureau Bongers, formed in 1951 to prepare "the first rough sketches." Luftag itself was incorporated on January 6th, 1953, to buy equipment and build up the nucleus of an airline, in preparation for the day when German sovereignty is restored. All efforts are at present directed towards reaching a state of readiness by July 1st—but here we must emphasize that this target date is purely arbitrary. Nobody—in or out of Germany —can predict with certainty when the Bonn Convention will be ratified. Until that occurs no German is allowed to fly powered aircraft and the Federal Government has no power to grant, with hold or exchange traffic-rights. Luftag is a private company with capital of 25m marks (about £2m), of which the Federal Republic has provided about 75 per cent. Capital is to be doubled during 1954; we were unable to discover the amount to be added by the Government. There is a strong body of opinion favouring an increase in the proportion of private shareholding, but until the airline gets into its stride banking and industrial interests will be naturally reluctant to sink capital in an unproductive corporation. It is at least certain that Lufthansa will be a monopoly backed by both public and private money. Dr. Seebohm, Federal Transport Minister, has said that the German airline will have to face enough competition without setting up any domestic rivals. A year ago it was the declared intention of the Government to equip the airline with an initial fleet of 24 aircraft, this total to be divided equally between the regional and the long-haul divisions. Last July it was reported that German attempts to secure a large American loan for this purpose had failed. We cannot vouch for the truth of this report, but there is no disputing the tact that shortly afterwards the proposed fleet was cut by two-thirds. After some hesitation, and high-pressure sales-drives oy a number of manufacturers, orders were finally placed for four uonvair 340s and a similar number of Super Constellations. We asked Ing. Hoeltje why Luftag chose the Convair in preference to the Viscount, which, with its four turboprops, seemed a much more suitable choice. At a time when most curopean airlines are contemplating with some anxiety the costly out inevitable process of acquiring new and more competitive equipment, we reasoned, it seemed unnecessarily timid to start irom scratch with piston engines. Delivery dates, he replied, were uie prime consideration: the four Convairs would be ready for aeiivery between May and July, whereas Viscount 700s would not nave been available until more than a year later. Another con sideration was that Lufthansa's commercial inexperience would tseit place the company at a disadvantage in competing with the other European airlines; so it was deemed wise to choose the most thoroughly proven equip ment available. There was also the possibility that the small German fleet might initially be employed on very short stage-lengths, whereas the Viscount 700 was better suited to the longer routes of B.E.A. At this point the Luftag executive emphasized that orders so far placed were of a preliminary nature only and that the airline was not tied to any particular type. The "stretched" Viscount 800, and latest modifica tions to the Dart turboprop, were develop ments which made the British turboprop air liner an even better proposition—on both short and long routes. We gathered that Luftag expects little difficulty in recruiting suitable personnel. Already there is something more than a skeleton staff—a total of 200 employees, of whom engineering and operational staff com prise about 35 per cent; administration, traffic, communications, legal and clerical depart ments account for the remainder. Initial training of pilots is already in progress. Four former Lufthansa captains are studying for their commercial licences with A.S.T. at Hamble and a Link Trainer has been installed in Luftag's Cologne offices to ensure that a further intake of these veterans (30 pre-war German airline pilots have been recruited, all in their forties) will be capable of picking up the threads. The next move will be to take on about 20 former Luftwaffe transport pilots. All future German airline crews will be trained from the ab initio stage and it is intended to set up a school for this purpose. The airline will be able to draw on German industry for a sufficient number of engineering personnel. An additional source of skilled labour is the large body of German technicians directly employed on aircraft by the occupying air forces or by the foreign airlines. Ing. Hoeltje is anxious to negotiate the largest possible number of interline agreements for joint servicing and pooling of spares and he is already arranging to send out German mechanics for technical courses of two or three weeks' duration in the work shops of other airlines. He was, incidentally, due to arrive in London last week to consult Mr. Beverley Shenstone, B.E.A.'s chief engineer, on this very subject. Hamburg has been chosen as the future base of Lufthansa. Under construction there are two large hangars which should be capable of accommodating any type of aircraft ordered in the foreseeable future ("including the Comet 3 and Vickers 1000," said Ing. Hoeltje). The dimensions are: uninterrupted span, 360ft; height, 47ft; width, 165ft. Half the apron area has been laid, the foundations are down and some girders have been erected; as on most German industrial projects, work is going on day and night and the buildings are expected to be ready by the end of next month. So far as future operations, are concerned, all Luftag's planning hinges on one question as yet unanswered—when will the Bonn Convention be ratified? The same question is asked by the score of airline operators now exercising fifth- and sixth-freedom traffic rights at German airport, and, it is estimated, taking well over £12m annually in German currency. These "guest" airlines, who will retain their present traffic rights until the Federal Republic has negotiated bilateral agreements with their respective governments,include Air France,B.E.A., B.O.A.C, K.L.M., P.A.W.A., Sabena, S.A.S., Swissair, T.C.A., T.W.A., and Qantas. Lufthansa carried over 30 per cent of pre-war European air traffic, and was among the leaders in long-haul operations, but the process of regaining this status will be a gradual one. The small fleet ordered for the new Lufthansa will initially be used only on a few key routes. Regional services with Convairs will be inaugurated first, possibly between Hamburg and the capitals of Britain, France, Italy and Switzerland. When the four Super Constellations become available in the summer of 1955, it is intended to extend German services to the competitive but profitable North Atlantic route. Luftag's executives feel it would be a mistake to disperse their small number of aircraft over a large network, and the emphasis will at first be on frequency of service rather than variety of destination. R. B.
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