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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0185.PDF
JANUARY 24, 1935- FLIGHT. 95 OUR INTERNAL AIR LINES —WHAT of the FUTURE? A Consideration of some oj the Points Raised at the Air Trans port Conference : The Need for a System of Trunk Routes By C. N. COLSON CONFERENCES are of two kinds. One variety, beloved of trades which sell articles direct to the public, forms an opportunity for agents and others to get together and promote better business by bon homie. The Air Transport Conference was of the other kind ; it was one of those particularly useful conferences which carry out their aim of making people interested in something and of showing how the particular matter can best be furthered. Now that it is over it behoves us to consider what has been achieved. The most obvious matter which was brought to light was the memorandum which the London Chamber of Commerce has laid before the Government on the subject of the control of inland air development. That memorandum sows the seeds for much thought. For example, is it desirable that the establishment of aero dromes should be encouraged throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain? We feel that such encourage ment should not be made without reservation. Aerodromes are wanted, admittedly, but there is a grave danger that municipalities may be encouraged, by misplaced publicity, to establish and finance large, well-equipped airports where there is little hope that they will ever be wanted ; then, as a natural result, the municipalities will never get an adequate return for their expenditure. There has, perhaps, been insufficient differentiation in the past between an adequate landing ground and a well- equipped airport. The latter is costly and should only be placed where the traffic probabilities warrant it; the former costs but little and is not only a great asset even now, but will soon be a necessity for any town which wishes to retain its commercial position. The danger of encourag ing municipalities to spend far more than is necessary is that -they may become (and rightly) disgruntled and dubious about the so-called experts who advised them ; 1hen they will spread seeds of distrust about aviation as a whole, to the detriment of everyone concerned. It should always be remembered that municipalities do not, as a rule, know very much about the air. They, therefore, look to accredited advisers to help, and, unless that advice is such as to establish each municipality's airport or aero drome as an undertaking which proves worth while, avia tion will suffer. A Scheme Outlined Now, a careful study of the situation would seem to indi cate the need for the establishment of a system of main trunk air lines which will link up with those points at which the international lines will be likely to enter our slands, and the diagram on this page offers a suggestion as to how they might run. This is, of course, merely a irarnework upon which a more far-reaching system can he built, and in no way limits the establishment of aero dromes throughout the length and breadth of the country. offers a suggestion as to where large airports are already + V?*J allC* ma^ ^ive some indication of where they are " hkely to be financially successful. The lines suggested nay be looked upon as the main bad-weather routes primarily serving international traffic. On them will also run shuttle services between our major towns. When exam- A suggested scheme of internal main air lines ining a scheme of this nature it must always be borne in mind that internal air lines have to face both a very high percentage of days of bad flying weather and a highly organised ground transport system with which it will be difficult to compete. The main use for internal lines (other than the trunk lines) will undoubtedly be on ferry services, such as that over the Severn from Bristol to Cardiff, those to the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man, and similar routes where even a low speed through the air results in a much faster trip than by surface transport. These lines do not, there fore, come into our present discussion to any great extent, and, except in so far as they use the airports indicated, it is best to look upon them as part of the branch-line system which will grow out of the main scheme. Aerodromes can be divided into two categories: those which pay on their own merits, and those which are an indirect benefit to their town. In the first case, the airport itself actually pays a dividend. The main trunk lines will use these airports, and these are the kind which we indi cate on our diagram as worthy of having considerable sums of money spent upon their development. The latter kind are purely landing grounds. They need have very little spent upon them and are valuable only because of the trade, whether it be in the form of visitors or direct commerce, which they bring by air. This is the kind which is needed by almost every town of any consequence. So much for generalities. Turning again to our diagram matic development scheme, it will be seen that we show traffic from New York coming into the country through Glasgow. This is, naturally, supposition, but there is con siderable weight of evidence to make it seem probable that the northern route over the Atlantic via Greenland will be found to be the most suitable. The stages are short and, therefore, the payload of the machines can be kept large. In winter this route may not prove to be practicable, and that over the Azores may be taken. Traffic will then prob-
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