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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0504.PDF
It also insists upon connections at specially indicated railway stations in order to link up with the fast -train services, and every effort has to be made to connect with the international air services flying through Germany and making use of German •aerodromes. In the occupied territories, motor- cycle services are utilised to carry mails and passengers to and from the nearest points at which German aircraft are allowed to land by the Inter-Allied Air Commission. This is a tale of activity which we may well lay to heart. After every allowance has been made for the difference between the conditions subsisting here and on the Continent, the reflection cannot be avoided that they do these things better in Germany than we seem to be doing in this country. At our present rate of progress, it will be a long time before the postal authorities find it necessary to establish a special post office to deal with the aerial mails leaving London ! We very largely blame the Post Office for the comparative slowness with which the air mail services are developing. In Germany, every means seems to be adopted to call the attention of the public to the fact that air mails are worked, and to point out the advantages to the business community which their superior speed offers. Here the Post Office issues a bald announcement to the effect that it is now possible to send letters and parcels by air to the Continent, quotes the rates—and lets it go at that. It does not advertise its services, nor does it go the smallest step out of it? way to induce people to take advantage of the aerial post. Its attitude is that it has, in deference to pressure applied, instituted these services, and if the public uses them, well and good. If it does not, then well and good also. We hate to be " crabbing " our own institutions all the time, but the difference between the methods of our own tape-bound Departments and those of France and Germany is too patent to be ignored. • • • The Air Ministry announces that severale proposals for operating air services on the cross-Channel routes under the scheme prepared by the Londonderry Committee have been submitted by private firms. This scheme, it will be remembered, was published in June last, and provider for a period of development covering the ensuing three years, during which time a subsidy will be paid to approved services on the basis of 25 per cent, of the gross earnings of each " approved " firm. It is very satisfactory to know that there are other Richmonds in the field, in addition to the concerns which are now operating services between here and the Continent, if only for the reason that it shows there are concerns with enough faith in the future of commercial aviation to risk capital and "enterprise in its devlopment. Three years is not a long period during which to be able to look forward to State assistance in the carrying on of these sendees. It will soon pass, and the companies concerned will have then to stand on their own feet— or get out of the business. By that time we shall see whether or not it is possible to run aerial mail and passenger services on a commercially remunerative basis. For our own_part, we have not the smallest doubt in the matter. Even now the margin between making a profit or a loss is very slight, and when we remember that services are mostly being carried on by means of converted war machines and on so rela- tively small a scale that overhead charges are almost JULY 28, 1921 prohibitive in their incidence, it would appear almost a matter of mathematical certainty that when con- ditions alter we shall find that air services will pay, and pay handsomely. It is just this three years that requires to be tided over—the period during which commercial aviation is engaged in finding its feet—and the Government subsidy scheme is wisely limited to that time. We agree that if there is nothing in commercial aviation as a business proposition it had better be allowed to lapse, and we shall do well to concentrate on the development of aircraft for warlike purposes. If there is, however, it should be given every chance to develop along the right lines, and that is what the subsidy is designed to do. Having no doubts whatever as to which of the sides of the proposition is the right one, we hear with the greatest satisfaction that the subsidy i^. attracting commercially minded people towards the business of aerial transport. «. • • We published in our issue of July 14 Parcels Post an announcement made by the Post- Paris master-General of the terms upon which a parcels air mail between England and France is to be carried on. We need not say how much we welcome this new evidence of the manner in which aviation is entering into the life of the nation and the improved and more rapid means of communi- cation which it places at our disposal. At present, the intention is to run one service daily, but if the experiment justifies itself there is no doubt it will very shortly be extended considerably. Unfor- tunately, it seems to be rather doubtful whether it will be so justified, since it seems to us that the rates to be eharged are scarcely so moderate that the commercial community is likely to take great advantage of the new service, save in cases of great urgency. These rates are based on the usual charge for inland parcels, plus one shilling per pound for air conveyance. This is well enough when small parcels are concerned. A parcel weighing a pound can be sent to Paris for is. gd., which is not really out of the way, but when we come to the maximum weight allowed for a single package and find that it costs 12s. 6d. to send 11 lbs., the proposition does not seem so attractive. The internal rate for parcels works out at gd. for a parcel weighing one pound, while 11 lbs. can be sent for is. 6d, Taking this as a basis of comparison, the air charges seem extraordinarily high, and calculated to defeat the whole object of the service. We believe that the rates for parcels of over I lb. in weight could be materially reduced to bring them within attractive limits and still produce a paying service. The factor which stands in the way of paying air services is the heavy overhead charges which are incurred, but, as we have repeatedly pointed out, the way to get over this is to increase the number of daily arrivals and departures. It requires very little more ground staff to deal with a dozen machines than with one. The obvious course to be taken, if commercial aviation is to be made to pay its way, is to calculate transport charges on an attractive basis so as to bring traffic. Initially there may be a loss, but as the commercial public increases its use of the ser- vices more and more machines must be put on to the routes, and what was a small loss in the beginning will be turned into a substantial profit before very long. It is not the way, however, of the Post Office or any other Government Department to look ahead and assist in this way. r :; ^.^j^c^v - 504
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