AIR TRAVEL OVER ATLANTIC

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27402, 15 July 1954, Page 15

AIR TRAVEL OVER ATLANTIC

Luxury Liners Lose Passengers (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 13. The French Government is expected to shelve plans for a super-luxury liner on the Atlantic run because the number of air travellers is continually increasing, the shipping correspondent of the “Daily Mail” said today. France was to have built a 60,000ton liner at a cost . of about £30,000,000, but now is considering instead a ship designed to attract the tourist passenger who prefers cheap fares to luxurious staterooms and cabins. Board of Trade figures released yesterday showed the deep inroads airlines are now making, and as such are also likely to influence British ship designers. The Cunard Line, believed to be planning a successor to the 20-year-old Queen Mary, may now decide on a liner only of about 50,000 tons, compared with the Queen Mary’s 81,000, but with much the same passenger capacity, the “Daily Mail” said. This type of liner would provide simple comfort rather than luxury. The Board of Trade figures revealed a 2 per cent, drop in arrivals and departures by sea to Britain in the first quarter of this year, compared with a 13 per cent, increase in air arrivals and departures.