Optimum Conditions for the Operation of Airline Aircraft

Extract

In A. H. Stratford's interesting note in the August Journal, he assumes that an airline is presented with an aircraft of given performance, and must decide what is the best range for it to fly. Surely the practical case is the exact opposite: that an operator wishes to carry passengers or freight between two given points, and must choose between perhaps three or four available types of aircraft. Moreover, it is up to the operator to tell the manufacturers which feature he wants improved (e.g. fuel consumption, take-off distance, and so on), when he is ready to order replacements.

Secondly, Mr. Stratford wishes to replace the usual concept of direct operating cost per payload ton mile by that of per cent, profit, as a measure of the efficiency of operation over a certain route. While this may be a more realistic approach to the problem of a private airline company, operating over a single route, its merit is not so obvious for the large national or subsidised airlines, which are often required to fly unprofitable routes.