AIR TRANSPORT

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4641, 18 May 1938, Page 6

AIR TRANSPORT

EFFECT ON RAIL. AUSTRALIAN COMPARISONS. Sydney, May 7. Civil aviation in Australia is becoming an increasingly keen competitor with the railways, not merely for passengers, but also for freight. In both the railways have, and will continue to have for many years, the advantage of spacious accommodation. •The airlines must restrict the number of passengers and amount of freight, but they offer the greater attraction of speed in transit.

Aerial freight rates from Sydney to other capitals compare favourably with rates on the railways. For instance, the rate from Sydney to Adelaide is 9d a pound, and 6d a pound to any intermediate points. Goods weighing 201 b would thus cost 15s to send by air to Adelaide. The passenger freight (as distinct from show goods freight) cost from Sydney to Adelaide of the same goods would be 16s 9d. By air, the trip takes 4% hours; by rail, slightly more than 36 hours.

On the Sydney-Brisbane service, the freight rate is 9d a pound. A 20lb package can be flown to Brisbane in 2% hours for 15s, against just under 19 hours for 7s 9d passenger rate by train. The freight rate to other capitals is 6d a pound to Melbourne and Is 9d to Perth. Thus, a 201 b package can be flown from Sydney to Melbourne for 10s in 2% hours, compared with 10s 9d at passenger freight rates by train in 15 hours. On the trip to Perth, the 201 b from Sydney, via Melbourne and Adelaide, would cost 35s and take 30 hours in transit. Passenger freight cost by train is 32s lid, and the time taken 4 days 12 hours 10 minutes.

Passenger rates are approximately the same when the cost of sleeperberths are added to the cost of train travel. The airlines have an advantage' of vastly decreasing the time of travel and also of reducing incidental expenses en route. The inroads on train business have been so great that the railways departments of New South Wales and Victoria at least have considered, and may adopt, projects of running their own aeroplane services.