The Aviation World

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20402, 2 November 1929, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Aviation World

| l_ : n AIR TRANSPORT ECONOMY. IMPORTANT FACTS. la lie* Zealand tiers arc severs" a:r oini-paniss ecni-ernplaied, sad considering tho facilities offered to the traveller at the present moment, ihey si!l Sll a large gap la »;'< important qaesfcio&. Bat si is as well to Jake a leaf from EngJandTs book of losses, and approach. the matter from a sensible standpoint. _ _ K; / Under tie heading " Is British Aviafeoa P zibs- following artici© peered ns a leading Los-doc newspaper. "* Tfcexs •is a growing opinion ImS Imperial Airways is.cot progress that it should. It is being criticised L-ecausi. its earnings do cot soo-x r&?.l edvsrsoe- It is said that it lias paistiai office*, and that its running costs are higher than those of some o. the saasli Coc&senial companies. " Its company's posit: on as a nna3i monopoiv r centres that it should be pared to meet all criticism, and :he chairman- rosy tay something oa t-fiis subject at the next ■ meeting. ** Certain) v, the serannts are not usually v-r-y informative. If those to be issued shortly ioUcnr 1 aloar ' the J' 15 ® c . those published last year they vrilS not gsve the amount' of the sstay actuaJy under the Air Estimates. " Bat if the published profit- is considered in eetsjroetfon with the suhsusy provided under the Air Estunatcs, then 4h» 'les* Leforo crediting the tabaay sn th# rs-1 vear amounts to ?4 : ,n< £138.000 ip 1977. £ISS.OGO io 1926, and*£lS7.QCo- in 192-5. . " If there is no other explanation iOrtnthen these fibres show that Udtiifa aviation is not making much progress." * This cosnnanr, then, running a service between Lordon with ten million people. 2nd Paris and Brussels six and three millions ' respectively, cannot improve its position in the least dsnng foiir years operations. Perhaps the reason is aoecsnatelv depressed when one refers hacx to the word- " . . . it has palatial

office*. and that sis ranning costs are higher titan these of socio of tee smau Continental complies." Undoubted??. a concrete fact is that the first and ds ty of any compan_» is to establish pabi:c confidence, not by words and higb-soondsns phrases, hat through safely, consistency. and economy in the service of the people. Tics can be done in tsarv ways, but from a ficaaciai standpoint there is only one, and teat js: "Start small and sjmr biz." Keeping Down Overhead.

At first there is bound to be a Jo?', and for this very reason there should be little or no overhead on which to reckon, such as palatial offices, secretaries, clerks, and all such thai drain away capita! resources rrithonfc showing any reiura. The chief pilot can easily ran the whole organisation at £rsi as manager, and the only other staff needed is an efficient mechanic and a second who could tee to otfier business which happened to crop cp. On top of this it should not be forgotten that tSie oc!~ raonc-y-earners ■ere the pilo's. • A? regards arrangement for flights, the utilisation of any Looting office in the town on a 10 per cent. basis 5s as necessary as it is economical, saving a whole hosl of superfluous expenses. The idea of maintaining an efndent service from ih* «{-iri to ran to schedule time is certainly ambitious. considering New Zealand is as yet totally unprepared, as far as organisation goes, to assist with directional .wireless, accurate meteorological forecasts, and aerodrome service. Western Australian Airways set a fine example for inacgurating an air service when they purchased Government surplus Bristol Fighters and converted them to Tourers carry ins three passengers, for £IOOO each. Modern aircraft are twothirds this price with the same capacity and about half the running costs. For three years they ran them, mostly on an air-laii basis, at a profit ; until they were in a position to employ six with a better financial margin. At the time oi writing 4bey have D.H. Hercules, and. more important- still, they possess that, essential, " the confidence of ih<: public." It is 1" bo hoped that our proposed air lines wii! keep in mind the extent of spade-work to be done here, and that the task demands co-operaiion instead of competition. *