costs and ongoing payments to Vickers for the VC10 orders. Basil Smallpeice, concerned about the financial performance of BOAC, the additional competition from Cunard Eagle Airways and the inability to obtain additional Boeing 707 aircraft any other way, began talks in April 1962 to merge BOAC's North Atlantic operations with those of Cunard Eagle. Agreement was reached in early June 1962 on ownership percentages, and the newly formed company, BOAC-Cunard, began operations later that month. The new airline would operate all the transatlantic services of BOAC and Cunard Eagle from 1962 to 1966. Slattery served as chairman of the joint venture, in addition to his role as chairman of BOAC itself. The downturn in the aviation sector and fraught relations between Julian Amery, the new Minister of Aviation and BOAC concerning writing off debt (much of it incurred buying and troubleshooting new British aircraft) resulted in a further deterioration in relations between the airline and government. Amery commissioned an independent report into the financial performance of BOAC, undertaken by John Corbett. The ongoing disagreement about the funding arrangements for BOAC and the need for new Vickers VC10 aircraft would eventually be resolved in late 1963, when Slattery formally retired as chairman, though this was widely seen as a resignation; Slattery commented in 1964 that he had effectively been sacked. Giles Guthrie, a respected aviator, merchant banker and director of British European Airways took over from Slattery as chairman. He credited the Slattery and Smallpeice management team for BOAC's return to profitability in 1964. Slattery returned to The National Bank, retaking his seat on the board of directors after leaving BOAC. He was also involved in the negotiations that the British Government undertook during 1966 to diversify Short Brothers and the connected Harland and Wolff shipbuilding business, following downturns in both businesses. His next significant position was at the shipbuilder Hawthorn Leslie and Company, joining the board in 1964 and taking the role of chairman in 1966. The British shipbuilding industry at the time was in a period of significant upheaval, with changes in the shipping industry (particularly containerisation, which was being pioneered by Basil Smallpeice at Cunard) reducing demand for the traditional types of ship built in Britain. The Geddes Report broadly encouraged rationalisation of the British shipbuilding industry, and Hawthorn Leslie would merge their shipbuilding assets with those of Swan Hunter, John Readhead & Sons and the River Tyne