AIR TRANSPORT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 10

AIR TRANSPORT.

PROGRESS SINCE THE WAR. Sir Eric Geddes, who is mating a hurried visit to Australia, arrived at Premantle by the Chitrai on January 30. He said that his visit was connected with his position as chairman of the Dunlop Rubber Company, but he declined to make any announcement on that matter. .Sir Eric Geddes ># ,who is chairman of directors of Imperial Airways, Limited, spoke of the progress of flying towards the goal of economic independence. Heavier-than-air machines, he said, had made remarkable progress since the war, at the conclusion of which the amount of freight that could be carried for each horse-power generated was from 21b to 31b. The latest aeroplanes had advanced to the point when more than 51b could bo carried. When the degree of efficiency of 71b had been reached the aeroplane could be said to have won economic independence, and services over a minimum of 350-mile stages could be operated without grants or subsidies. The lighter-than-air machine hud yet to be proved, and it would be a bold man who would say that experimenters with airships as a commercial proposition would succeed or fail.

“The dependability of the modern aeroplane is astounding when the short period of its existence is considered," said Sir Eric Geddes. “ Chances of a crash in four-engined aeroplanes are reduced to an exceedingly small minimum. The machines could fly with two engines. It was a thousand to one chance that two' would fail on the same trip, and, even then, the aeroplanes would be airworthy, and the chances of the third engine failing were_ very small. Imperial Airways were building several large four-engined aeroplanes, and some of them would be capable of accommodating 40 passengers. They would be used on that portion of the new London to India service, which would commence in April, that would carry the greatest traffic. Small aeroplanes would fly where the traffic was thinner. It was hoped to extend the air service to Singapore, and, of course, ultimately to Australia. The value of air transport was the saving in time. Aeroplanes would not compete against railway systems which were developed, such those in England, but on long ‘ hops ’ railway companies would find that air services were serious competitors. It was the saving in time that appealed to business men of to-day, and they would pay for the advantage.” .

" Our statisticians have computed,” added Sir Eric Geddes, “ that, on a long route, an aeroplane service can deliver a return letter in the time that it takes a railway or Steamer company to deliver an outward-bound letter/ Between Cairo and Basra Imperial Airways are now traversing, in one day, desert country that previously took two months to cross.” As an example of the position that civil aviation had reached in England, Sir Eric Geddes said that before embarking on the Chitrai for Australia he chartered a hydroplane, and, with a party of 14, spent a fortnight air-yacht-ing in Scotland, %