Cruise Lines FEARED Airlines. Now they LOVE them. Find out why?

In 1957 Airplanes eclipsed Ocean Liners as the preferred way to travel! What happened next led to the cruising boom!

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When pressurised aircraft like the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-6 were introduced in the late 40s, aircraft were able to link Europe and America in a matter of hours. But flights linking Australia, America, Asia and Africa required numerous fuelling stops, making the flying experience less than ideal.

The Boeing 707 changed all this with better range & speed compared to the piston-driven airliners. Their improved economies led to cheaper tickets; luring more passengers away from ocean liners.

The 707 made its debut on the Atlantic in 1958; tipping the balance in favour of aircraft.

The question on many travellers’ minds was:

Why spend days travelling by ship when I can cross the Atlantic in a matter of hours by air?

It also didn’t take long for jet services to start across the world. Qantas was the first non-US airline to operate the 707 – with its first flight taking to the sky in 1959. Vickers VC10s and Douglas DC8s also joined airlines around the world, increasing the number of jet services available.

In the years following, shipping lines struggled to compete with the jet. Many lines did not adapt to the new operating environment, and started the gradual withdrawal of their ocean liners. At the same time, containerisation of freight shipping saw liners lose their secondary income source – cargo – and quickened their collapse.

When the Boeing 747 took to the sky in 1970, it further revolutionised air travel. Its wide body design and huge capacity further reduced the price of a ticket, making air travel far more accessible to the masses.

Yet ocean liners – while greatly impacted – were not completely obsolete. Several shipping lines were able to adapt to the jet age, introducing a new style of dual-purpose liner.

Examples of these ships include the Homes Line’s Oceanic, Holland America’s Rotterdam and Cunard’s QE2. Other lines such as P&O were able to adapt existing liners Canberra and Oriana to operate as cruise ships.

And cruising was starting to make waves. Passenger ships were no longer just a means to get from place to place. Now the ship was the destination. And as the popularity of cruising grew there was a new alliance formed between the former foes.

Airliners make cruising accessible. While the old ocean liners used to operate direct line voyages between cities, cruise ships often do round-trip voyages from one central hub.

To facilitate this style of travel, Cruise lines rely on airlines to bring passengers to the various cruise ports – a relationship that has allowed for massive growth in cruise hubs such as Miami, Seattle, Vancouver and Genova, as well as provide the economies of scale needed to operate huge fleets of modern cruise ships year-round.

Today there is one ocean liner left in service – Queen Mary 2. Unlike liners of old, QM2 does not compete with aircraft for passengers – but maintains a mode of transport that appeals to people wishing to reconnect with the slower pace of the past.

As a final thought... in 2010 when an Icelandic Volcano grounded transatlantic flights, leaving QM2 as the only way to cross the Atlantic – for a few weeks.

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Image Support:
• Colin Hargreaves and Henderson & Cremer (with thanks as always)
• Boeing 707-138B, Qantas Jett Clipper Ella, N707JT - Altair78 CC BY SA 2.0 - https://bit.ly/3CMjq24
• Pan Am Jumbo Jet at John F. Kennedy Airport 05/1973 – US National Archives CC.0 https://bit.ly/3ESy4qA
• Air Zimbabwe Boeing 707 at Harare – Docklands Tony – CC BY SA 2.0 - https://bit.ly/3ucTXvy
• TWA Sunken Lounge - Quintin Soloviev CC BY SA 4.0 - https://bit.ly/39F6TkF
• Pan American Boeing 707 Miami 1968 – ClipperArctic CC BY SA 2.0 - https://bit.ly/2XLvkKC
• Qantas Boeing 707 – Carlos Ponte CC.0 - https://bit.ly/3udiq3T
• London Heathrow Airport in 1965. Nearest the camera are two BOAC aircraft – a Vickers VC10 (with the high tail) and a Boeing 707. Then two PanAm 707s. (Between them I think there’s an Air India 707) The aircraft vaguely seen in the distance, on the far right, is a BEA Argosy (with twin booms). On the left in the background are two Air Canada DC-8's - Adrian Pingstone - CC.0 - https://bit.ly/3zJDAYC
• Air Canada DC8 in 1980 – Alex Caban – CC.0 - https://bit.ly/2Zm3yoA
• British Airways Concorde G-BOAF Filton, Bristol, England - Arpingstone – CC.0 https://bit.ly/3lV6wI
New Thumbnail Ship: CC.0 - https://bit.ly/3nEhuD2

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Music: YouTube Audio

#OceanLiner #Airplane #Boeing707 #VC10 #DouglasDC8 #Boeing747 #QE2 #QM2 #CruiseShip #Airplane #Avgeek

Видео Cruise Lines FEARED Airlines. Now they LOVE them. Find out why? канала Chris Frame