BAGDAD TO CAIRO

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19784, 7 March 1927, Page 8

BAGDAD TO CAIRO

FLIGHT OVER DESERT THE FIRST TRIP. It was in a mildly pioneering spirit that tho first passengers by the Bagdad Cairo air mail drove out to the aerodrome to take their places in the branebnow 'plane which had so lately arrived from England. Tho task of being 11 weighed in" was soon over, and tho five passengers took their seats in the 'plane, which with admirable punctuality moved off the ground and. rising rapidly, had soon left behind tho familiar outlines of the City of the Caliphs. Incidentally, one realised from tho air how extraordinarily featureless a country is Central Iraq, for it was almost impossible even a few miles from Bagdad to detect any familiar landmarks, or even determine the direction of travel. In what seemed a miraculously short space of time the Euphrates had been left behind and we were crossing the Harbiniyah Lake, that extraordinary desert depression which may one day play a big part in the draining and irrigation of the Middle Euphrates country. The ’plane kept along across the desert—real desert now—at a steady hundred miles an hour, the only interruption to the perfect peace and somnolence of the passengers being a wireless message from Rutbah (our first port of call), wanting to know how many breakfasts would be required. And, indeed, the message was none too soon from the cook’s point of view, for a very short time afterwards we were circling slowly above that strange desert post—an amazing place, offering the traveller good beds and food two hundred miles from any settled habitation, together with a post office and a wireless set that listens-in to London every night! Wo found an excellent breakfast awaiting us in the fort, and one was pleased to note that a certain Syrian nationalist leader who was among the passengers did not permit the fact that he was under sentence of death in his own country to interfere with a very hearty repast. A View of Jerusalem. As we rose again over Rutbah wo bade our adieus to the Iraq flag flying over the station, and soon were speeding westward on the longest stage of our trip—that to Gaza, on the Mediterranean. Unluckily a heavy west wind soon began to give us trouble, not only forcing the pilot to fly lower than he need otherwise have done, but bringing to the passengers memories of stormy days on another element which were far from pleasant. We were rewarded, however, for our tortures m the grip of the aerial equivalent of mal-dc-mcr by a magnificent view of Jerusalem as we passed low across its two tall towers set high upon hills. A dull drizzle obscured much further view of Palestine, and just before dusk we descended in a ploughed field, the pilot having become nervous regarding the sufficiency of his petrol supply to carry us on to Gaza. Fortunately our descent attracted considerable attention among the fellaheen of the neighbourhood, and a passing automobile enabled a rush to be made to a near-by village for a further supply of petrol. With this we once more ascended as dusk fell, and had soon covered the remaining odd twenty kilometres to Gaza aerodrome. Here tho Company has erected a rest house for travellers wMch, under its own management, provides comfortable accommodation for a night’s stay. The first thing in the morning we were off again, this time in magnificent sunshine, which made even the. desert of the forty years’ wandering seem a picturesque place. Keeping more or less to the coast of the Mediterranean — looking wonderfully blue as seen side by side with the yellow desert, —we swept inland somewhat to cross the Suez Canal near Ismailiyah (noting from the air the masts of the new airship station which is being erected here), and, skirting that wonderful prospect of green fertility set in the midst of desert which is Egypt, we saw clear before us the domes and minarets of Cairo, clean-cut in the early morning air. A few minutes later we were out in the streets amid the interminable tramway junctions of Heliopolis, gods who had come to earth once more. An Expensive Journey The new service as at presenz planned will run. fortnightly from either end. The machines in use are an De Havillands, with Bristol engines, and from the passenger’s point of view they are delightfully smooth and comfortable to ride in, and well fitted up in every way. The question of the commercial prospects of tho route is bound up with that of the Karacni route, and cannot definitely be decided until that extension is in working order. There are one or two features, however, which tend to make one a little pessimistic, speaking at any rare from the Iraqi point of view. In the first place, the initial prices are too high for the average man —on© say prohibitive tor the frequent traveller. Forty pounds sterling is a great deal to give for the privilege of getting from Bagdad to Cairo three or four days quicker than one would in an automobile particularly when it is remembered that the restrictions on luggage are considerable. That a certain amount of traffic between tho two cities might be attracted seems probable, particularly if—as was suggested to the writer by one of his fellow-pas-sengers, Mr Hakim, of Liverpool, wellknown in the Lancashire cotton trade, who has recently been visiting Iraq as the guest of King Feisul —return tickets at about a fare and a half could be made a practical measure. One is, of course, jiwarc of the tremendous expense of running a service of this kind, but on the other hand, it is betrrr to run It with reduced fares and gain tho passengers than run it with no passengers at all. w Secondly, thcro is the question of route.’lt has to be remembered that, for Bagdad and the Middle East generally, Egypt is not in the direct path to and from Europe, and there seems no real reason why a Bagdad who wishes to go to London should patronise an air service wheih will deposit him Egypt, when all the time ho might hr at Beirut, with only a short steamer passage or a trip by rail through Constantinople to divide him from the chief European cities. Should the French extend their Angora nir service to Bagdad-—and they are credited with wishing to do so—the Cairo route would have a very serious ompetitor, for a direct air service from Badad to Paris via Angora would obviously possess geographical advantages whlc« must bo reflected In time, But nt least one can say that tho staff of Imperial Airways are leaving no stone un turner* to make the new service a snceess, arirt one can only hope that it will prove as profitable an enterprise as It la a dar* ’ ing and brilliant one.