Flying High with Lower Fares

HI. WE'RE TRANS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES. FLY US TO MARBELLA.

FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES OF OVERSEAS NATIONAL AIRWAYS.

UP, UP AND AWAY WITH WORLD AIRWAYS.

ADVERTISING men will undoubtedly concoct somewhat more original slogans, but Trans International, Overseas National and World are names that could soon become vacation bywords. They are the three biggest of the eleven U.S. supplemental air carriers that operate both at home and abroad on a nonscheduled basis. Now that the Civil Aeronautics Board has given the go-ahead for charter lines to reach beyond "affinity" groups and compete against regularly scheduled carriers for business from individual travelers (TIME, Oct. 9), the nonskeds are planning a big campaign to promote mass, low-cost air travel.

There may be something of a delay before the plan takes off. The scheduled carriers are preparing to ask the courts to rescind the CAB'S decision. The ruling, they say, violates the law forbidding charter lines to sell tickets to individuals. In addition, the U.S. must negotiate with foreign governments for landing rights covering the new class of service, called Travel Group Charters (TGC). Negotiations with some nations should be relatively smooth and simple. But some governments, including France, Switzerland and The Netherlands, are wary of subjecting their national airlines to further low-priced competition, particularly on the North Atlantic route.

Nevertheless, TGC, or something like it, is not likely to be grounded for very long. Low-cost charter flights on both scheduled and nonscheduled lines have been available to just about anybody in Europe for nearly a decade, enabling millions of middle-and low-income people who could not otherwise afford air travel to jet off to vacation spots at amazingly low package rates. Typical enticements: Londoners can buy a threeday, all-expense trip to Moscow this winter for $71 or spend four days on the Costa Brava in Spain for $34; Danes can fly to Rome for a week on $92, including hotel and two meals daily, or to the Canary Islands on a similar plan for $100.

Protect & Promote. In the U.S., charter bargains have theoretically been restricted to groups of lodge brothers or other affinity organizations. That rule led to the proliferation of groups aptly described by San Francisco Tour Operator Jack Aufricht as "bowling clubs that charter 40 airplanes a year and have one bowling game." Over the past decade, charter flights have increased from 10% to 22% of all air traffic across the Atlantic. The scheduled lines have fought back by offering a bewildering variety of excursion packages, and some have resorted to illegal discounting of blocks of tickets to travel agents. Now the CAB is trying to clear up the mess by simply abolishing the affinity rule. Says CAB Chairman Secor Browne: "Low-cost charter availability is taking on the character of a right, which governments are increasingly being expected to protect and promote."

Officers of charter lines are talking about offering low-cost flights between many cities in the U.S., and to such overseas spots as South America, Africa and Micronesia. For either domestic or foreign trips, charter groups will be assembled by travel agents, who will be able to add a commission of 10% or so to the fare. Total cost of a round-trip ticket to any Western European city should be less than $200 from New York and no more than $300 from Los Angeles, with a 25 % deposit required 90 days before departure. Refunds will be made only in extreme circumstances like sickness, though it is probable that the no-cancellation policy will eventually loosen up.

The scheduled carriers are belatedly entering the charter business themselves --and in a big way. TWA increased its charter bookings by 90% during the first eight months of 1972 to $19 million. Pan Am is also pushing hard for charter sales. Chiefs of some foreign carriers, including Mordechai Ben Ari of Israel's El Al and Michael Dargan of Irish International Airlines, want to offer a new lower-cost, no-frill class of scheduled service.

Says Secor Browne: "The CAB'S new order in effect says that the airlines have lured back about all of the travel that they lost during the recession and that their real untapped source of growth is the masses." President Nixon has made no effort to block Browne's drive for lower-cost travel. On the contrary, he is believed to be considering the CAB chief for a higher appointment.

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