Britain: Comfortable but Costly

Some 15 different airlines now fly the transatlantic run between New York and London, and all of them fly American-made planes: mostly Boeing’s 707, with a few Douglas DC-8s. This has been a bit embarrassing for the British, and this week they begin to do something about it. Into passenger service across the Atlantic goes the new Super VC 10, made by British Aircraft Corp. and flown by British Overseas Airways Corp. Making the most of innovation and looking ahead to supersonic jets, BOAC is beckoning jaded transatlantic travelers to board “the most advanced aircraft you can fly in for the next six years.”

The Super VC 10 has some radical innovations for a plane its size. It mounts its four engines aft on twin pods attached to the fuselage, much like the smaller two-engine French Caravelle and three-engine Boeing medium-range 727. This design leaves its swept-back wingspan uncluttered, permits slower landing speeds, shorter takeoffs and more dependable lift. For the passengers, there is more comfort: more leg room, improved air conditioning and a considerably quieter ride.

Nonetheless, BOAC has mixed feelings about its new plane. The Super VC 10 carries 180 passengers v. the Boeing 707’s 189, will be more expensive to purchase ($11.2 million each), operate and maintain. BOAC was ready to buy eight 707s to add to its present 20, in fact, but the British government persuaded the line to buy 17 Super VC 10s instead as an aid to the ailing British aircraft industry; as a sweetener, the government cancelled BOAC debts totaling $308 million. So far, British Aircraft has had trouble selling the planes outside of Britain (total sales to date: 20, plus 15 of a slightly smaller VC 10). It is hoping that it will win out in the competition with Boeing and Douglas to supply new planes to Middle East Airlines.

British Aircraft must sell 100 VC 10s just to break even on the plane—but few lines seem willing to forgo the profitable 707s for a newer plane with mixed advantages. The problem makes even bleaker the prospects for the British aviation industry, which has been in a steady decline in recent years. British Aircraft’s earnings fell last year from $5.5 million to $2.8 million and the company withheld dividends, as Chairman Lord Portal euphemistically explained, “to provide against possible under-recoveries on development.”

The company is the British partner on the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic plane, which has been hit by heavy development costs and frequent controversy. In the short-range jet field, it got a head start with its sleek BAC OneEleven, of which it has sold 77, including 55 to U.S. lines. But the competition is overtaking the BAC One-Eleven. Douglas has sold 116 comparable DC-9s, including two last week to Australia’s Ansett Airways. While Boeing has sold only 21 of its 737s, all were to West Germany’s Lufthansa—an order that British Aircraft counted heavily on getting.