20,000 MILES BY AIR

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 April 1933, Page 3

20,000 MILES BY AIR

BUSINESS MAN'S TRIP.

LONDON, February 14.

A London business man, representing a number of enterprises with connections overseas, Mr F. A. Kettle, has just returned from a remarkable flying trip, during which he has paid aerial calls on clients in th© following territories; Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Soudan, Uganda, Kenya, T'anganyikai, Northern Rhtodesia, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa. The journeyings of this “flying ambassador of commerce” took him over approximately 20,000 miles, and the time occupied by air, with the cost entailed, are in the table attached contrasted with a- similar journey by such first-class surface, travel as would bo the equivalent of the highspeed de luxe accommodation obtainable when flying: —

By By air surface

Time occupied . . 60 days ISO clays Cost (approx.) .. £3OO £360 “It was a surprise to me,” says MrKettle, “to find that the total expense of surface transport, reckoning in each case travel by the fastest routes, would exceed that of a through booking by air. The explanation lies partly in the fact that, when making long tours by land and sea, moving from country to country, one finds one has so many bookings to arrange, by all sorts of different routes, to say nothing of delays while waiting for connections; whereas from a flying point of view I obtained from. Imperial Airways one through ticket covering my entire tour —air fares, hotels, motor-car connections, and practically everything. There is this point, also. To cover any big territory by surface travel, particularly in a country like Africa, you may have to make long detours and roundabout trips; whereas the airway goes straight from point to point. Your mileage, therefo’re, is lessened if you fly. There is, furthermore, this important point. When flying, you travel so quickly you have simply not the time to spend money on ail those incidentals which crop up in long journeys by boat and train.

“Actually, when I returned to London, I worked out my tour in the following way. By flying I had saved 120 days, and had on my air trip spent approximately £5O less than I should have done had I made a. similar tour by land and sea; while from my own viewpoint as a business man, 1 estimate the value of each of my working days at, say, £3. Therefore the 120 days I saved by air represented to me a value of approximately £360. Thus, reckoning' the saving on travel costs, I have written myself dovzn as being more than £4OO in pocket through having adopted the aerial form of travel. “Nor does this tell the whole story. Far from it. I found that to ‘drop in’ on clients from the air proved a most efficacious v.'ay of promoting business. A good many of them, according to arrangements we had made by cable, came out to meet me at stations where the air-liners were scheduled to halt; and, while the big ma-j chines were re-fuelling, we adjourned to the aerodrome hotel for a meal and a chat, over business. They said they thought this an excellent idea. We sa’?ed time, getting to the crux of our affairs promptly. Tfiiese air-sta-tion interviews also had the effect of side-tracking such formalities as are apt to prove irritating, sometimes, in the more hackneyed routine.

“Doing business by air introduces new am! helpful factor's into trade relations, and I have returned to London satisfied that I have accomplished far more, by flying, than I should have done had I been content with slower forms of transit. Air travel is up-to-date. It impresses those with whom one is dealing. They recognise that ‘time is money’ so far as you are concerned, and they themselves, in consequence, arc in a frame of mind which induces them not only to do business quickly, but also to take an optimistic view. It is a question of psychology. The speed and novelty of air travel, with all the possibilities it opens up, creates an atmosphere in which it becomes easier to do business.

“Certainly, from a. personal viewpoint. Hying is ideal. Across Africa, I found, it makes simply all the difference ’Jlctween comfort and discomfort. Flying in one of the big air liners, you escape heat, dust, fatigue; which means that when you reach your journey’s end you are fresh and vigorous, ready at once to plunge into the business on hand. The modern airway is also so reliable that there is a, golfer in Africa who says he limes his games, now, by the passage overhead of the service from England, punctual to the minute after flying thousands of miles. “On all counts, I can say in conclusion, the air tour scores. You bene-

fit in health and mental outlook from a. fascinating experience, and you

return with more business in your books than you could possibly hope for if you failed to invoke the assistance of this ‘open sesame’ of airborne trade.”