Third level and Regional Airlines

With Sir Peter Masefield in the chair, the Royal Aeronautical Society's discussion of Third Level and Regional Airlines was opened with a Keynote Address by N. D. Norman, in which he sought to define these two types of operations by referring to the traffic progression which transforms a “commuter” airline into one which finds its aircraft too small and not capable of flying longer sectors. There appears to be three main causes for increase of traffic: the reduction of surface travel; the rising cost of surface transport; and the emergence of new industries (eg oil in the North Sea).