Santa Goes to War

Passengers flying between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Pacific Southwest Airlines last week were startled to hear the pilot announce that a strange object had appeared on the radar screen. After a moment, the pilot added that the object had landed on the wing. Just then Santa Claus burst forth from the cockpit and chortled down the aisle, dispensing good cheer to all. Santa was actually taking part in a fierce dogfight for mastery of the sky on the world's most heavily traveled aerial freeway. More than 1,800,000 passengers flew on the 347-mile corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1963, some quarter of a million more than on the second-place New York-Boston run, and the 1964 total will exceed 2,000,000. The route is so lucrative that four carriers-United, Western, TWA and Pacific Southwest-are cutting fares to win passengers and spending millions on promotion and new equipment.

Tiny but Aggressive. With bus-schedule regularity, a weekly total of 1,105 nonstop flights shuttle between Los Angeles and San Francisco. United has assigned its three newest Boeing 727 jets exclusively to the route. Pacific Southwest has ordered five 727s and Western four 720B jets to throw into the battle. Both United and TWA have lowered their one-way jet coach fares from $23.70 to only $14.50 to compete with Western's rock-bottom $11.43 flights on venerable DC-6Bs. Western promptly lodged a protest with the Civil

Aeronautics Board, which is now considering what to do about the fare-cutting fight. United also sells ten-trip commuter tickets for $137.75, and all but TWA woo commuter business by providing quick baggage checkin, preprinted tickets sold at the gate and easy-to-remember schedules.

In this maelstrom of effort, the line that is flying away with most of the business is Pacific Southwest, which is tiny compared with its major competitors but still ranks as the largest intrastate airline in the U.S. In its fleet of six Electras, P.S.A. in 1964 carried more than 1,500,000 passengers, 50.4% of all those flying the route v. Western's 27.8%, United's 18.1% and TWA's 3.7%. Under its aggressive president, ex-R.A.F. Pilot J. Floyd Andrews, 48, P.S.A. early took a firm lead on the route by pioneering low-cost commuter service, offering the most frequent flights and compiling a good record of on-time arrivals and departures.

Coloring Books. Now that the other lines have countered with competitive fares and schedules and newer equipment (P.S.A.'s jets will not be delivered until next spring), Pacific Southwest intends to depend even more on its friendly and informal approach. Its stewardesses distribute airplane coloring books and "first flight" certificates to children, pass out holiday greeting cards that poke gentle fun at passengers. P.S.A.'s reservation clerks are surrounded by signs that say: "Pleasant Service A-lways." The line even sponsors contests, sometimes awarding the free use of a whole Electra as a prize. And when its president was bumped from a fully booked flight by fare-paying passengers, P.S.A. proudly reported the incident in an advertisement that featured the scowling face of J. F. Andrews himself.

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