AIR TRAFFIC RETURNS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 67, 16 September 1922, Page 19

AIR TRAFFIC RETURNS

INCREASE IN BRITISH MACHINES,

The returns of air traffic on the crosaChannel routes to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam during the' three,months April, May, and June, issued by the British Air Ministry, show that during the quarter 764 machines departed from the London "Terminal Aerodrome, Croydon, and, 768 machines arrived, the total number useing the aerodrome on Con^ tinental services being 1532.(states the "Daily Telegraph"). This is a considerable increase ,on the figures for the same period last year, when 506 machines departed and 495 arrived. The majority of machines were of British nationality, belonging to the Handley Page Transport Limited, the Instone Air Line, and Daimler Hire' Limited. The figures by nationality are:—British 915, French 228, Dutch 189. Last year British machines numbered only 246, out of a total of 1001, machines using the aerodrome. ' ■

_ The total number of passengers carried during the period was 312J3, a slight decline on the total of 3565 carried « year -ago. The proportion 1 carried ty British companies,-.however, greatly increased, 2402 travelling in British machines, against 1653 in the same period last year. British' traffic, therefore, amounted to 76.8 per cent, of the total, whereas last year it was only 46.4 per cent. ' The total, weight <of goods carried by aircraft to and from Croydon was 144 tons, a large increase on last year, when the figure was 56.9 tons. Half of this total was carried by French ■machines, but the British share of the traffic shows the largest proportionate increase, 53.6 tons having been transported by British machines, against 4.9 (tons a year ago. I .The efficiency of British air services, tfje report adds, continues to be of a high 1 standard. In April the efficiency of flights made and completed within four hours _by British machines on the London-Paris route was 92.3 per cent. For' May the figure was the game, and for June it rose to 95.2 per cent. The figures for French machines during the same period, on the same basis, were: April, 71.3 per cent.; May, 85.0 per cent.; and June, 79,1 per cent. Notwithstanding these figures, it has to be noted, however, as stated in the ,last half-yearly report on civil aviation, that a considerable increase in traffio is essential if air transport firms are to obtain a commercial basis of operation, the passenger accommodation occupied on British machines being only 37 per cent, in April, 30 per cent, in May, and 31; per cent, in June, and the useful cargo capacity used only 44 per cent, in April, 44 per cent, in May, and 40 per cent, in June. ■ ' v