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Evening Star, Issue 19126, 18 December 1925, Page 5

The British Government has approved in principle- the institution of a civil air service between Egypt and India. The scheme is of immense interest as the largest effort that has as yet been made in aeroplane development, says ‘ The Times.’ It is the first opportunity that British air transport has ever had of establishing a remunerative lino over an area where the existing means of ground transport arc not highly developed. The route of about 2,500 miles, which will probably be the same as that followed by Squadron-leader MacLaron in his flight to India, will be the first to bo exploited of a length sufficient to enable the marked superiority of air transport in point of speed over other methods of travel to be conclusively demonstrated. If it can be shown within a reasonably short, period to be financially remunerative to the operating company a great stimulus will be given to the furthw development ef air routes over sea areas, such as Africa, where the system of ground transport is badly developed. For the bulk of long-distance travel the airship will still remain potentially the most suitable vehicle. But that does not mean that there are any grounds for the common error of supposing that aeroplane and airship services arc in any way competitive. They are, on the contrary, complementary, and the one will feed the other, just as the mail steamers will link up at Suez with the Kandara-Karachi line of aeroplanes. The immediate effect of the institution of the service will be a saving of from five to seven days in the carriage of mails and passengers between England and India, and with the coming of night flying, which is now only an affair of time, the gain will be considerably greater.