Air Transport News
Page 43
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HILLMAN MAIL LOADS INCREASING SATISFACTORILY.
nA.IL loads on the Hillman air serIVIvice between London, Liverpool, ielfast and Glasgow, which was started under Post Office contract on December 1, are increasing. The load rom 'London is still about 700 lb. each morning, but the load northward from Liverpool has developed unexpectedly In about 500 lb. Moreover, the south
ss mails from Glasgow have developed from the low initial weight of 22 lb. to about 300 lb. There is not much passenger capacity available, and only a few persons have so far used the service.
Mr. Hillman has been able to maintain the 3.i-hour schedule except on a few occasions due to headwinds, and having to use four-cylinder Dragons,
instead of Dragon Sixes. He will shortly have nine machines of the latter -type, in addition to four standard Dragons.
In the meantime, the standard Dragons have operated the Paris service. The demand for Christmas bookings has led the company to put on two services daily to and from Paris from December 17 to December 29, and, if traffic warrants it, the double service will be continued for the rest of the winter.
HILLMAN CAPITAL ISSUE.
(IN December 19, Hillman's Airkjways, Ltd., made an issue of 400,000 ordinary Sc. shares. This is a straightforward issue by a company having prospects which call for more capital than one man can reasonably he expected to put up.
When Mr. E. H. Hillman bought two de Havilland Puss Moths in November, 1931, he was operating one of the largest coach businesses owned by any person in Great Britain and was carrying about 6,000,000 passengers per annum on a number of services between London and East Anglia. Ile has steadily developed air-transport services, and after losses of £1,603 and £4,698 respectively in the years .ended March 31, 1933 and 1934, his accounts have shown a profit of £3,547 in the six months to September 30, 1934. These figures allow for depreciation of aircraft at 25 per cent, per annum.
The purchase consideration, to be satisfied by an allotment of shares, is £30,000. The fleet comprised, as at September 30, four Dragons, one Dragon Six, two Fox Moths, one Puss Moth and one Gipsy Moth. Two further Dragon Sixes were then on order (and Mr. Hillman tells us that six more have since been ordered). The prospectus mentions a proposal to use a 12-passenger type cruising at 140 m.p.h., and speaks of new services between Essex Airport and Ostend, Brussels, Dieppe and Cherbourg.
At present, the company is running the Paris service started in April, 1933, and a Royal Mail service on the London Liverpool Belfast Glasgow route, restarted under Post Office contract on December I. Mr. Hillman has a 21-year lease from May 1, 1934, on the Essex Airport. The rent is £960 per annum and there is an option to purchase the freehold at £16,500 during the first two years, or at £19,000 during the next five years. The aerodrome comprises 165 acres.
AERODROME FOR SWANSEA?
FOR more than a year Swansea Corporation has been undecided about its aerodrome policy, but at last it has appointed Messrs. Norman, Muntz and Da.wbarn to survey the locality in search of sites. A series of public representations on the matter has been made.
An extension of the Bristol-Cardiff ferry to Swansea would probably be made if an aerodrome existed.
CO-OPERATION IN JERSEY.
IN the Royal Court at Jersey, a holdling company named Channel Islands Airways, Ltd. (capital £100,000) has been registered to cover the association between Whitehall Securities Corporation, Ltd., and Jersey Airways, Ltd. This association was announced some weeks ago, when Jersey Airways, Ltd., ordered six de Havilland Express air liners (four Gipsy Six 200 h.p. engines).
RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF ABERDEEN AIRPORT.
THE aerodrome at Dyce, Aberdeen, Is being rapidly developed by Aberdeen Airways, Ltd., of which the principal figure is Mr. E. L. Gandar Dower. Drainage, etc., has cost about £4,500, and the levelling operations now in progress are costing a further £8,000. The company has already erected two steel hangars, one for the school and one for air transport, also a comfortable airport building and an oil-engined power station.
Mr. Gandar Dower plans to run an air service between Aberdeen and London, next year, with halts at Edinburgh (when an aerodrome becomes available), Newcastle and Hull. There is scope for an east-coast passenger and mail service to Scotland to connect the three English industrial centres and the two Scottish tourist centres. An extension north to Inverness to connect with the mail service of Highland Airways, Ltd., to the Orkneys and Wick would provide a through north-andsouth airway.
A recent return flight over the route in a Dragon Six showed the advantages of this aeroplane for such a journey. Although the fuel consumption per hour is about 18 gallons, compared with 13 gallons on the standard Dragon, the speed is about 33 m.p.h. higher, so that the fuel •consumption per mile is approximately the same. Cruising at about 140 m.p.h., the flight from Aberdeen to Hatfield, in. slightly unfavourable winds, was made in 8 hours 21 minutes, plus 12 minutes for a halt at Newcastle.
I.O.W. WINTER SERVICE.
THE decision has now been made by I Spartan Air Lines, Ltd., to continue throughout the winter a once daily service between London and the Isle of Wight. The company operated this route, until October 31, under contract with Railway Air Services, Ltd., but has since been running on its own account. There has been no break in the service.
The winter times are :—Cowes (Somerton Aerodrome), 11 a.m., Bembridge 11.10 a.m., Croydon 11.55 am.; in the other direction, Croydon 12.5 p.m., Bernbriclge 12.50 p.m., Cowes 1 p.m. On December 21, 22, 24 and 26 there will be an extra departure from Cowes at 2 p.m. and one from Croydon at 3 p.m. There will be no service on Christmas Day or New Year's Day.