COMMERCIAL AVIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 202, 26 August 1919, Page 4

COMMERCIAL AVIATION.

Although there does not seem much J c-hnnco at preaent of aeroplanes being extensively used in the Dominion for the carriage of mails and commercial purposes, owing primarily to the very high cost of operation, and secondly the lack of aerodromes and other facilities, yet the matter is engrossing so much public attention in other countries that we cannot afford to neglect it. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company has already made application for an alteration in its constitution to enable it to organise aircraft services nil over Canada, and it is expected that great benefits will accrue from such services to the inhabitants of the prairies and the towns in the middle of the Dominion. Many experts are now giving attention to various matters connected with commercial flying, and already they have' settled on the types of planes to' be employed. The large Handley - Page machines have been selected as the most suitable for land Hying, while for long ocean voyages it has been proposed to employ giant dirigibles of the rigid type as being both more useful and more comfortable. The Air Ministry has approved of the dirigible for ocean travelling, since it possesses an advantage over the high-powered aeroplane in that when it meets -with ibad weather it can avoid any serious risk of disaster by working round the disturbed area, by rising above it, or by lying-to till the air trouble has ended. The Air Ministry is already considering a service between London and Capetown, and this will connect with an Indian service, the Air Ministry having decided on a large junction at Cairo as one of the essentials of the scheme. The Hull Chamber of Commerce is endeavouring to establish an aerial service across the North Sea, nnd it, is considered that this will be comparatively easy, as the distance between Hull and the principal Scandinavian ports is only some 400 miles. It is proposed to use flying boats for this service, and it is calculated that one of these weighing 100,0001b will carry eight tons of merchandise, or between 30 and 40 people. It is also proposed to establish a regular passenger service between Doncaster and London, and to link up the popular health resorts of the North of England, North Wales, and Ireland ■by mean? of a regular aeroplane service with Liverpool. It is claimed that the capita) cost of establishing an air service is small compared with other forms of transit, and in this connection it is pointed out that whereas the Channel Tunnel scheme will cost nt least £3.000.000, the capital outlay for a service of Handloy-Page machines, giving an hourly service across the Channel from London to Paris, would only be £500,000, and an air service could be put into operation at once, whereas the Tunnel would take some years to construct. The estimated cost of a trip from London to Pavis has been put at fifteen guineas per passenger, but it is probable that this would be considerably reduced once the service had been established on a commercial footing. It can hardly be hoped that either the aeroplane or the airship will be able to compete with the railway train in well-worn railway routes, but it £, claimed that the journey by aircraft will

be speedier, more comfortable, and more beneficial, and to many people the saving in time will more than counterbalance the extra expense involved. Already a large amount of work has been done in the direction of making regulations for ensuring the safety of passengers, and an international code of distress signals has been agreed upon. Something yet remains to be done in the direction of international air laws and the rules of the road, but once these are decided upon it is probaWe that commercial aviation will be undertaken in earnest.