IMPERIAL AIRWAYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20833, 27 September 1929, Page 9

IMPERIAL AIRWAYS

LONDON TO KARACHI SERVICE. CONTINUATION TO AUSTRALIA. (British Official Wireless.) (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) RUGBY, September 25. At a. meeting of the Imperial Airways Company, which carries on the cross-Channel air services. Sir Eric Gocldes, who presided, mentioned that their aircraft dufing the financial year had flown 1,000,032 miles, and had cal led 34,757 paying passengers and 873 tons of. mails, freight, and excess luggage. Dealing with the new England to India aeroplane service, for which the Imperial Airways Company is responsible, the chairman said tha the traffic to which they looked to produce their most profitable source of revenue was mails. Passenger traffic was in its infancy on this route. They hoped to reduce the schedule time from London to Karachi from seven and a-quarter days to five days. It was the aim of the company to continue the service all the way to Australia,, and in this connection it had been negotiating with the Government of India for the, operation of a service between Karachi, Delhi, and Calcutta. Sir Eric Geddes said that since the last meeting the company had negotiated to its concluding stages an agreement with the British, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Sudan, and Rhodesian Governments for the operation of a service between -Egypt and South Africa. This now awaited final ratification. To this eventure they would have associated with them the Cobham-Blackbpfn Air L\nes Company, and they would have the experience of Sir Alan Cobham, who would join the board of the subsidiary company. It was planned that the northern half of this line' from Egypt to Lake Victoria Nyanza would be commenced, all being well, about this time next year, and the southern half, as far as Capetown, was planned to commence about six months later;