Originally Posted by
Seat62K
Does anyone know why non-stop services to Los Angeles were withdrawn by BOAC? (Also, am I right in assuming that they were not re-introduced until the DC10-30s were leased from Air New Zealand?)
My hunch (only) wuld be that BOAC didn't have the aircraft to do it. The 707-436s must have been pushed, either through reducing their commercial load or by making fuel stops, while once the 707-320B came on line for Pan Am and TWA they had an aircraft with proper range for the job. BOAC had gone for the Rolls Royce engine instead of P&W, and when the 707-320B/C range was introduced Rolls didn't have a comparable engine. BOAC later moved onto this variant, but only buying odd units rather than a fleet, and for some years only operated them in freighter service, another variant that the Rolls-powered aircraft didn't offer.
The LA market in those days to Europe was much thinner than now, and mostly originated from the US end (the film/media business in particular), and this would be commercially well tied up by the two US carriers, in particular TWA who long focused on the film industry market in Los Angeles, which some have attributed to Howard Hughes' contacts. With two US carriers strong on the route BOAC probably found it commercially wasn't worthwhile.