AIRLINE TO JAPAN.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17837, 9 October 1929, Page 13

AIRLINE TO JAPAN.

PLANNED ', IN BERLIN. NEGOTIATIONS UNDER WAY. (From a correspondent.) BERLIN, August 17. If the Graf Zeppelin completes the flight to Tokio without mishap, its achievement will be the prelude to opening a regular airship service between Berlin and the Far East. Negotiations preliminary to such an enterprise were begun as far back as the spring of 1924 by German aeronautic experts, who approached the Soviet Government with a proposal that it join the Germans in the organisation of weekly services in both directions. Since that time a.RussoGerman private commission has been devoting itself informally to investigating the economic and meteorological (Conditions confronting such fen undertaking. Its findings recently led to the active resumption of discussions under the chief engineer of the Schuette-Lanz Airship Building Company. The technicians have virtually agreed on the route which is now being flown by Dr. Eckener, covering 10,500 < kilometers (approximately 6500 miles), which, it is hoped, he can fly in 120 hours, compared with the thirteen days now required for rail travel via Siberia or nine weeks via the all-water route.

To Btart With Three Airships. It is proposed to equip the service with a fleet of three airships at first, all of which would be at least 50 per cent, larger than the Graf Zeppelin. Two dirigibles would make regular trips weekly in opposite directions, while the third airship would be held in reserve at Krossnojarsk. They would anchor only at Leningrad and Harbin, but would settle in giant airdromes at Berlin and Osaka, which plans have been selected tentatively as terminal points. 'The German aeronautic authorities assert that no other section of the globe supplies flying conditions as favourable as the route proposed for the Berlin-Osaka service despite its great distance. Dr. Eckener’'S predicted successful arrival at Tokio within the next 36 hours is expected to give the deciding impetus to fulfilment of the German-Russian plan, and the extent to which German interests have envisaged the ultimate feasibility of such an undertaking is further indicated in recent purchases by the City of Berlin of the huge airdrome at Staaken, less than ten miles from the heart of Berlin. The whole scheme is in keeping with the ambitious plan to make the German metropolis the aerial centre of Europe. Leningrad and Harbin wore selected as stopping places en route because of their availability for fuelling. Leningrad is not far from Moscow and Harbin is less than 600 miles from Peking, while Tokio, Yokohama and Shanghai can be reached speedily from Osaka by plane.