Part 23: - Coming of Jet Age
1963 - Coming of Jet Age
Q1 1963
It is time.
Also, time in Rome.
ConAir started reacting to our advances in the east, driving me to start squeezing fares on our new connection to Japan.
Air’Murica heads down under, hooking them into every region except Africa. They also bid for time in Osaka.
Business as usual.
Q2 1963
Australian side-bids clear, 5 slots each.
I’d like everyone to extend their best wishes to new our teammate, Douglas.
He moving overseas, hoping to make it big in the city.
Godspeed, Douglas.
A quick snap at some Asian slots. We’ll find them all good homes.
Like Osaka, one of Japan’s best cities. We only end up with 3 of these after 9 months of negotiation, but they’ll find good use in due time.
The hangover from what it took to buy more Tu104s rages on.
Oh that’s some nice red on the map. Their routes to Sydney and Karachi aren’t doing so hot. Both are in direct competition with ConAir.
Meanwhile, their attention turns to Mexico.
Gonna gouge the hell out of this.
Rise in revenue but a brief downturn from a bad hotel season, and ConAir sneaks back ahead of us in Asia. We can fight them in their home zone, but we’ll have to keep the pressure on to make it stick.
Q3 1963
A political shift in Egypt leaves Africa’s hub of choice turning Pro-Russia, and presumably anti-America. They remain neutral to us.
The newly independent government of Malaysia remains friendly with Iran. No telling what it’ll mean for Singapore-based ConAir.
Next year’s forecast calls for SPORTS!
And planes. The B727-100 aims for the role of a midrange economy jet. It takes everything the Caravelle tried for back in ‘59 and does it better. It’s bigger, cheaper, and flies farther with better fuel efficiency. Just a smidge worse on the mechanical front. This is the first jet one could really point to as a general upgrade to the old prop-planes on big local routes.
Maybe if they lay low a while they can have this year deleted from history.
More planes purchased and confirmed interest in starting service in South America.
Blue continues to look east, securing their hub in Australia and opening a link to Japan. They also bid over in Melbourne.
More time in our major hubs. Much needed in the case of Rome.
Welcome home, Jerry.
Congratulations, Douglas, on a successful inaugural flight.
A CHALLENGER APPROACHESLONTHR hauls 640 passengers per week against our 620, all at higher fares. At last, THROM knows a worthy adversary.
Everyone else is doing it, may as well get our share.
Another shot at sneaking off with a piece of the big apple. Two years before we’ll get another.
I use Jerry for a quick glance at the cost of Hubs.
After a year slogging around Miami, he deserves a chance to dry off. After this round with the egyptians, we’ll be close to all the time we’ll ever need there. They’re mostly to feed into connectors, as the region can’t support much local business. The Russians only run on flight on each of their routes here.
Back in action. ConAir’s renewed lead in Asia is quite slim, less than 10 passengers per week.
Q4 1963
Imitators.
Hibernators
Competitors.
Round 2: 525 vs 627. Advantage: THROM.
Closing on a high note.
1963 Year-End Review
Kenya joins the list of independent nations. Their government remains on good terms with Iran.
Well, that was certainly a year. We bit the jet-bullet and put money down on a big airliner, launching our first trans-oceanic flight. Douglas met with great success overseas. Business is also picking up in the old world, filling the seats of our competitors as more people take to air travel. Even Paris and Berlin managed to fill their old IL14s this last turn.
Though we peaked higher than ever before in our last quarter, a bad valley put us slightly behind last year’s performance, leaving $57,880K to throw to next year’s budget.
Budget Carryover:
pre:
Routes Planes Biz Flex Bank
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
0 0 9,787 16,016 0
Build our Plan, and Cut our Budget for 1964.