A fascinating report from the February 15, 1962 issue of The Aeroplane and Astronautics on the introduction into service of the Sud Aviation Caravelle with the US airline United.
Caravelle Jet Mainliner
DELIVERY was completed late last month of United Air Lines’ 20-aircraft fleet of Avon-engined Caravelle VI-Rs. Initial statistics show that the Caravelle had a total direct operating cost of 152.7 U.S. cents per revenue aircraft-mile. The cost per seat-mile of these 64-seaters worked out at 2.40 cents and, at a load factor a fraction under 60% in the first three months of operation, the cost per passenger-mile was 4.02 cents. Revenue utilization in the first three months of operation was 3 hr. 48 min. a day.
The first Caravelle (N1001U) of United’s $68-million order was accepted by the airline on June 12 last year and was named “Ville de Toulouse”. Caravelle Jet Mainliner service was inaugurated on July 14 between New York and Chicago and by mid-January this year the first aircraft had flown 1,000 hours.
<