AIR MAILS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1938, Page 3

AIR MAILS

INDIA AND SINGAPORE

LONDON, January 15

All first-class mail between Great Britain, India, and Malaya will be carried by air as from February at the rate of lid a half-ounce. In effect, that, will mean the removal of the airmail surcharge and lite acceleration of all leter and postcard mails on that route by from seven to ten days in exchange lor a reduction by half of the weight that may be sent for IdL stales “The Times-” This marks the second stage in the project for carrying all first-class Empire mails by air. The third stage should be reached in the early Summer, when the Australia mails will be similarly promoted. ’I he first step in the new scheme was taken at the end of June. AL that time the "all-up” air-mail system was introduced on the African route- Dining Hie past six months the weekly mail loads carried on the run to South Africa by the liners of Imperial Airways have been about ten times as heavy as they were under the postal surcharge system. Not only has the half-ounce unit caused no diminution in the letter mail loads, j there has been an increase equal to about 5 per cent- Tliis big rise in air mail could not ho contemplated until extra carrying capacity had been provided hv the change-over from the old land aircraft to the new flying-boats. The llying-boat route between England and Singapore has now been surveyed and prepared: sufficient Empire Jlying-boats have now been delivered to operate the extra services that will be needed- Up to the present the weekly mail loads carried by Imperial Airways' from Great Britain to India, and Malaya have amounted to about 3600 pounds. Other first-class mail dispatched weekly from this country for similar destinations has ref,resented some 20,0001 b. By the evidence of Hie Africa mails it is to be assumed that the whole of that additional load will have ot be carried by the airliners from Februayr 23, and sweeping changes in the operational scheme of Imperial Airways will be required to meet the new situation. In place of the present two services a week between England and India, there will have to be four, and these will all have to be operated by Empire flying-boats in order to absorb the big mail loads. In addition, there will have to be a relief land-plane to assist in carrying the loads between Alexandria and the Persian Gulf. Of the four flying-boats which will leave Southampton Water for India every week two will go through to Singapore: the other two will hand over their loads to Atalanta liners at Karachi for carriage to Calcutta. The relief machine will work once a week from Alexandria to Bagdad and Basra. Later, when the new Ensign class of land aircraft, conies into use, one and possibly two of the weekly services to India will be operated by land-planes.