The Half & Halfer

Sinking ever deeper into the red as more and more transatlantic passengers switched to planes, Britain's famed old Cunard line two years ago decided to take to the air itself. With blessing of the British government's Air Transport Licensing Board, Cunard bought up the small Bermuda-Nassau-England Eagle Airways, renamed it Cunard Eagle, ordered itself some expensive jets and pre pared to fly as well as sail the Atlantic. At that point, another agency of the British government objected. Air Minister Peter Thorneycroft vetoed the idea on the ground that the government-owned British Overseas Airways Corp. was already losing money ($36.4 million in 1961) on the route, and would suffer more from the added competition.

Last week the impasse between the two companies was broken when BOAC Chairman Sir Matthew Slattery and Cunard Chairman Sir John Brocklebank shook hands on a compromise settlement. They formed a new subsidiary, BOAC-Cunard, which will handle transatlantic flights for both. The company will be an odd new kind of corporate bird for England--70% government-owned (BOAC), 30% privately owned (Cunard). London's Daily Mail called it "the half and halfer--a curious affair." The Labor Party's aviation expert, Fred Lee, wanted to know whether, under the new arrangement, "the taxpayer is going to subsidize Cunard losses," a point that no one really knows the answer to yet.

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