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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0146.PDF
84 FLIGHT International, 21 ]anuotr AIR TRANSPORT.. British Eagle 1964 BRITISH EAGLE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES publishedlast week its financial and traffic results for 1964. An operating surplus of £853,700 was earned after writing off £300,000- £350,000 in losses on UK domestic trunk service development. A net profit of £101,500—representing about 2 per cent of the total assets (£4.9m) deployed—was left after allowing for depreciation and other charges. This is the second private British airline to publish details of its annual results and the figures are probably the most useful so far made public—pace Air Holdings (British United Airways), whose consolidated results necessarily cover a much wider range of activities. At the risk of tedium for those who know, it should be said that all US airlines, as a matter of requirement, publish detailed traffic and financial results monthly, quarterly and yearly through the CAB and the Air Transport Association of America. But British Eagle's decision is a good continuation of the start made by Air Holdings on this side of the Atlantic. Neither the traffic nor the financial figures for British Eagle give a detailed breakdown of losses and gains on different sectors of its operations. Losses on the domestic routes have been very heavy and it is unlikely that international scheduled services have shown much better than marginal profits. The profits have probably been made on inclusive-tour, charter and trooping operations. As a guide, the proportions of British Eagle's efforts in 1965 will be approximately 35-40 per cent on trooping, 20-25 per cent on charters, 10 per cent on inclusive tours and 30 per cent on scheduled services. BRITISH EAGLE FINANCIAL RESULTS, 1964 Revenue Operating surplus Estimated nee profitAssets deployed Subscribed capital £ 8.588.000 853,700 101,5004,900,000 1.000.000 STATISTICS, ALL SERVICES •assengers carried liles flownseat-miles flown 'assenger-mtles flown3 assenger load factor Capacity ton-miles Load ton-milesWeight load factor Staff (December 31) 1964 540,000 9,250,387 1,082.4m 801.6m 74% 134,706.000 92,186,000 68% 1,766 Percentage chance over 1963 +254 + 134+300 +280(76%) +212+204 (70%)+ 107 During the press conference at which these results (summarized in the two tables above) were announced, Mr Harold Bamberg, the airline's chairman and managing director, stressed many times the vital importance to British Eagle—and to the private airline industry in general—of an unequivocal statement by the Government on its policy for the nationalized and private sectors of this industry. Plans for the purchase and introduction of six BAC One-Elevens on domestic and international services have been completed by British Eagle, but finalization must obviously depend on a statement of policy (for which, we might add, the British private airlines have been waiting, on and off, during most of the past 20 years). Pressed for his ideas about a satisfactory statement of policy from the Minister Mr Bamberg said, speaking off the cuff, that the first requirement was obviously an assurance of approval for competitive effort by the private airlines. It would be necessary for the Minister to support this by confirmation in the form of proposals for the implementation of such a policy. Primary needs would be for long- term licences—at least ten years—for scheduled services and inclusive tours so that there could be real prospects of development and stability. It would also be necessary for the Minister to spell out, once again, the spheres of corporation and independent influence. Full competitive freedom for the independents could, in any case, be real only if they had the rights to unlimited frequencies on domestic services. Mr Bamberg made no bones about the fact that traffic on British Eagle's domestic services had so far been poor. The average passenger load factor on these services in 1964 had, he said, been 31 per cent, with (for the main trunks) London - Glasgow showing the best results and London - Edinburgh the worst. He considered that three daily services a week on the routes was the minimum frequency for potential profitability. He added that a domestic traffic-growth rate of 20-30 per cent a year more than justified parallel operations by a second carrier. Flight, in its issue of December 3, 1964 (page 948), tabulated British Eagle's traffic results on domestic services between their start on November 1, 1963, and October 31, 1964. Passenger load factors were: London - Glasgow, 24 per cent; London - Belfast, 26 per cent; London - Edinburgh, 13 per cent; and London - Liverpool—operated by British Eagle (Liverpool), previously Starways—57 per cent. The average was 31 per cent. Among British Eagle's .plans is one for a new engineering base in No 2 maintenance area at London Heathrow. A site has been held for some time, but final plans await access and facility decisions by the Ministry of Aviation. Eagle has also asked to be allowed to build a passenger terminal on the airport's north side, but permission for this has so far been refused because the proposal does not fit in with the Ministry's plans for Heathrow. If refusal is maintained, a request for permission to build a terminal in the maintenance area will be made. Group charters are to be started by Eagle this year over the North Atlantic (London/Manchester/Prestwick - New York) with Britan- nias, beginning at the end of May and continuing until September. If Eagle's appeal against the ATLB refusal of Bermuda and Carib- bean inclusive-tour rights is successful, and if the decision is reached soon, a start on these operations might be made in September. Fleet in 1965 will consist of 12 Britannias (two of the present 14 are on lease from BOAC) and nine Viscounts. The two DC-4s will be sold. Mr Alan S. Boyd has been redesignated by the White House as chairman of the US Civil Aeronautics Board for another year. Syrian to Have Super Caravelles bought by Syrian Arab Airways. Two Super Caravelles are to be Redifon is to supply Iran with new VHF and HF communications equipment for the airfields at Abadan and Shiraz. A similar contract for Mehrabad (Teheran) and Isfahan airports is now being completed. Two More One-Elevens may be ordered by Mohawk Airlines, with an option on three. This was said at Weybridge last Friday by Mr Robert E. Peach, the airline's president. Mohawk now has five One-Elevens on order and two on option. Heralds for Brazil's Sadia A contract has been signed by Sadia SA Transportes Aereos, the Brazilian domestic airline, for five Handley Page Herald 200s. Two aircraft will be delivered immedi- ately; the remaining three will follow when foreign exchange is allotted. Sadia has been operating Heralds already under a lease agreement. In-flight Movies for Pan American The next airline to enter the passenger entertainment business will be Pan American. This spring the carrier will begin a $3.87m programme of fitting 72 of its aircraft with the Sony/United Data Control multi-channel visual- audio entertainment system similar to that already adopted by American Airlines. Pan Am expect the system to be using colour in about a year.
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