AIRLINES: London for only $236

• Share

"This puts transatlantic air travel in the pocket of the workingman," proclaimed Freddie Laker, the scrappy founder of Britain's Laker Airways, when in 1971 he first proposed Skytrain "shuttle" flights between New York and London at rock-bottom prices. Six years of governmental turbulence have held up the takeoff, but last week President Carter approved Laker's plan. Since the British government assented in February, Laker's three red, white and black DC-10s are now cleared to begin flying passengers Sept. 26 at the lowest fares ever quoted: $236 round trip, v. $631 for a 14-to 21-day summer excursion fare and up to $379 for a charter ticket on competing lines.

But talk about no frills! There will be no reservations: seats will be sold at the airport on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning six hours before the departure of each flight (one flight per day offseason, eleven weekly during the summer). A passenger who arrives after a flight is sold out will have to wait up to 24 hours for the next one. No free food will be served; passengers will have to bring their own snacks or buy meals on board (about $3 for a steak dinner). At the New York end, Laker's planes will use Kennedy Airport—but in Britain they will operate out of Stansted Airport, 45 miles from London—and an inconvenient place to be stuck overnight.

Rival Shuttle. Laker is confident of making a profit; to do so, he will have to fill an average two-thirds of the 345 seats on each flight during the summer rush. Pan Am and TWA, which hope to attract some of Laker's customers, are sure to offer some rival shuttle of their own, or at least cut-rate stand-by seating on regularly scheduled flights. Some other transatlantic lines may do so too —but not Laker's state-owned competitor, British Airways. British authorities do not plan to grant British Airways a Skytrain-type license.

The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board has approved Laker's Skytrain for a one-year experimental period only and can cancel the flights on 15-days' notice should the British government prevent U.S. carriers from starting competing bargain services. Whether that happens probably depends on what progress U.S. and British negotiators make in concluding a new agreement to regulate the number of flights and seats offered on the North Atlantic route. The Bermuda Agreement between the two countries expires midnight Tuesday. The British demand that in a new pact their lines receive half the revenues produced by flights between the U.S. and Britain, v. about 30% at present. The U.S. argues that nearly three-quarters of that traffic is generated on its shores and that the British are trying primarily to make up for British Airways' heavy losses. The Bermuda Agreement could be extended while negotiations continue—but if it is not, U.S. and British lines would have to suspend all regularly scheduled flights between the two countries. At week's end, U.S. carriers were making contingency plans to land London-bound passengers in Amsterdam or Paris. Even then, Laker Airways would not be grounded; it could continue its busy charter service.