Air transport, although now one of the world’s largest industries and a fundamental part of the web of commerce and communication, is still almost an infant in years. Some of us in the audience today will have been alive when the industry can have been said to have started, and the majority of us can certainly remember it as a tiny microcosm of the current worldwide system. But it is difficult to think of an industry which is not also a ‘business’ and it is open to question whether air transportation has ever been a ‘business’ in the true sense of the word. Its tools of production have very largely been subsidised (as far as their research and development costs are concerned), if one believes the manufacturers, very few of their programmes have shown satisfactory commercial output and as far as exports are concerned, most Governments have subsidised these at well below commercial rates of interest. When one adds to this a prediliction by the airlines themselves to sell their final product at less than its (unrealistically low) costs, then I believe my mystification on the financial justification for the industry is understandable. What are the real costs?

I am most grateful to the Air Transport Group for inviting me to contribute to this Symposium. I shall try to analyse the way in which the airports play their part in the Industry and assess the extent to which they understand the airlines’ financial problems and attempt to contribute to their solution. I shall endeavour to give my answer to a number of relevant questions and will expect you to make your own comments and arrive at your own conclusions.

Ever since I was a young boy I have been fascinated by aviation. While a mixture of pedagogical advice and lack of mechanical aptitude steered me away from a flying career I am delighted to say that it has been almost as satisfying providing credit to the industry over the past six years since I joined Bank of America in London. It is therefore with great pleasure that I will attempt (in the august environment of this society) to clear some of the mystery that shrouds the commercial banking world’s assessment of the underlying value of an airline. At the same time I am conscious that bank finance has only been one way of funding capital equipment costs, even though it has grown disproportionately as a source of funds in the past five years. I will then, as John Prothero Thomas (of Caledonian Airways) has already anticipated, attempt to tell you why the financial community has begun to retreat into its shell when asked to stretch even more to accommodate deficient cash flows in the industry.

The current debate on the level of air fares must at the moment look more than usually odd to people outside the industry, and indeed to many people within it. The prospectus for this seminar refers to current accusations that the travelling public is being ‘ripped off and to comparisons between Europe and the USA. Yet we have only to look at the classified advertisements in the evening newspaper to see that we can buy a week’s inclusive tour to Majorca in early December for £60. The airlines tell us not only that they are making losses in Europe, but that even in good years profitability is never more than modest. They point to the high level of costs in Europe relative to the USA — the price of fuel, airport charges, the indirectness of many European routeings, the costs of a multi-country operation and to the more favourable operating conditions in the US, particularly the route density, the long sector distances and the greater flexibility in the hiring, firing and use of labour. The present period of recession, with its combination of high inflation and weak demand is making life even more difficult. Yet users call for lower fares in Europe and the CAA and the Department of Trade are also identified with the cause. What is going on?

Though billed as an honorary consultant to the Air Transport Users Committee, I must underline that I speak for no one but myself, as irritated BEA advocates used to point out to the Air Transport Licensing Board in the old days.

The airline user is concerned with the real price of his ticket, or freight invoice, though he realises that this is related to the cost of producing the service. His complaints are first, that the fare structure is often unfair, and furthermore fails to maximise the revenue earning opportunity: and secondly, many airlines’ staff costs are far too high.

A private enquiry about the initial application of Dimensional Analysis to experimental measurements in aerodynamics has been made of the writer. The consequent literature search has revealed what is now to be described. If due credit is to be given correctly the matter needs checking particularly by those who had direct contact with the early aerodynamicists throughout the world: initiation of that check is the reason for this paper. Dimensional Analysis originally came from ideas of similarity which were considered by such masters as Kepler, Newton and Galileo. The idea of equality of dimensions in an equation was used by Fourier. Dimensional Analysis was, after Galileo, used by biologists in the last century but in the general area of physics the initial impetus came from Rayleigh. Rayleigh first advocated the value of Dimensional Analysis in 1885 and though he usually referred to it as a method of similitude he also, despite what has often been written to the contrary, used the description of ‘method of dimensions’.

The rapid frequency sweep technique is the result of a considerable amount of research into the development of a transient method for the rapid measurement of structural frequency response, digital data analysis procedures being used to derive the required dynamic characteristics. Theoretical analyses, together with the results of experimental studies and experience gained during structural testing are presented here which illustrate practical considerations and limitations of the method; these range from discussion of exciter attachment, effects of transducers and choice of instrumentation to signal processing methods and related criteria. A simple guide to practical structural testing is given in the final section which outlines procedures to be followed during testing and signal acquisition.