to take full advantage of its growing fleet of long-range Boeing 707-320Cs. Transglobe Airways sought to operate scheduled passenger/cargo services from its Gatwick base to points on the US and Canadian west coasts. Caledonian objected to the other independent airlines' applications. BOAC opposed all the independents' applications. Before the route licensing hearings began, the BOT directed the ATLB to prejudge the four contenders' applications in order to concentrate only on those that stood a reasonable chance of success under existing bilateral arrangements. As far as British Eagle was concerned, the applications seeking licences for scheduled/non-scheduled services to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal and Jamaica with Chicago as an intermediate stop were not heard. These were withdrawn prior to the hearings' commencement on 16 January 1968. BUA withdrew its own applications but objected to British Eagle's and Caledonian's. Transglobe withdrew its applications as well. British Eagle and Caledonian objected to each other's applications. The ATLB heard British Eagle's applications, Caledonian's counter applications and BOAC's objections in early 1968. Following the conclusion of the transatlantic scheduled licensing hearings in mid-1968, the ATLB rejected British Eagle's and Caledonian's applications. It felt that the independents generally lacked the financial strength to acquire the then latest widebodied and supersonic transport (SST) aircraft for their proposed services and that these airlines had insufficient economies of scale to enable them to compete with BOAC and the American carriers on a level playing field. It also felt that it would take the independents too long to make these services profitable. In British Eagle's case, the ATLB was impressed with the airline's well-equipped and competent engineering organisation but questioned its ability to finance the envisaged expansion because it considered the company seriously undercapitalised for its existing operations. Bureaucratic obstacles Meanwhile, British Eagle's unhappiness at the Government's refusal to exempt it from paying duty on its new Boeing 707-365Cs led to a decision to postpone from February to December 1967 delivery of the first aircraft, swapping the second aircraft's delivery position for the first and arranging to take delivery of the second in mid-1968. The airline estimated that this delay had cost it US$1m in lost North Atlantic revenue. It also pointed out that this would have been enough to pay for the duty. The unresolved dispute between British Eagle and the BOT over the payment of import duty on two new 707-365Cs held up the first aircraft's delivery