Developments in the Air
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egular Air Services Planned for the
Coming Season : the Advance on 1933 MANY air-service plans are nearing completion, and now is a good time to take stock of them. Let us first consider the intentions of companies which ran scheduled services in 1933.
Blackpool and West Coast Air Services, Ltd., last year carried nearly 1,000 passengers to the Isle of Man and brought as
the Blackpool-, Liverpool-Isle of Man triangle, and with fairly frequent departures between Blackpool and Liverpool. A natural development would be to Belfast, Dublin and Galway.
British Amphibious Air Lines, Ltd., has run a Cutty Sark am phibious flying boat between Blackpool and the Isle of Man during the past two summers and will probably continue to do so.
Eastern Air Services carried a modest traffic between Nottingham and Skegness and will probably reopen the line with an extension to Leicester and Birmingham.
• ' So far as is known at present, the Great Western Railway Birming ham-Cardiff-Torquay-Plymouth line will reopen. The company lost 26,526 on the line last year, and the only definite traffic figure to hand is that 208 persons used the service in August.
Highland Airways, Ltd., continues its InvernessOrkney line, on which, between March• 8 and September 16 last year 1,015 passengers were carried. There is talk of a line from Inverness to Stornoway, with a call at Ullapool, but this is at present merely coilj C ture.
AIR LINES IN OPERATION PROPOSED AIR LiNES
Hill m an's Airways, Ltd., on its services from Romford to Margate, Clacton and Paris last year, carried, between April 23 and September 29 (24
w e ek s), respeA:,tively 1,191, 1,543 and 1,750 singlejourney passengers. The Paris line has been continued through the winter, with . an average from November 3 to February 16 of 55 single-journey passengers per week, or practically four per journey. This service will be run twice daily from March 28, but no other statement is yet publishable.
Jersey Airways, Ltd.,' has carried quite good traffic on its Portsmouth-Jersey and HestonJersey daily services, commenced respectively on December 18 and January 28, and looks like having a good summer. Developments may be looked for here.
Midland and Scottish Air Ferries. Ltd., has continued its Renfrew-Belfast twice-daily service throughout the winter also its Renfrew-Islay service, and has big plans for development. On March 14 it will start a London-Glasgow line, via Birmingham and Liverpool, with fares of about £10 10s. return. and £6 10s. single; also a London-Belfast route, via Birmingham, Liverpool and the Isle of Man. The Western Isles extension to Stornoway is at present being surveyed.
Norman Edgar Western Airways, Ltd., has operated between Bristol and Cardiff since September 26, 1932, and last summer carried well over 1,000 single-journey passengers. The company will link up this year at Bournemouth with a. new service of Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation, Ltd., from that town via Ryde to Shoreham (tor Brighton, Hove and Worthing). This will make a cross connection with the -company's Ryde-Portsmouth ferry, on which, between June 2 and September 28 last year 6,827 passengers were carried. That line extends to Shanklin.
It is still doubtful whether North Sea Aerial and General Transport, Ltd., will run its Hull-Grimsby ferry this summer. A short season from July 1 last year yielded well over 1,000 passengers and the service would be the mors valuable this year on account of the intention of the Royal Dutch Air Lines (K.L.M.) to link Amsterdam with Liverpool, via Hull.
Finally, Spartan Air Lines, Ltd., which operated three Spartan Cruisers on the Heston-Cowes service from April 14 to October 2 last year, is not yet able to state whether it will run again this season, That concludes a summary of the concerns which operated scheduled services, and the interesting feature about the plans of fresh concerns to enter the field is that they mostly appear to be based on the K.L.M. proposed Hull-Amsterdam-Liverpool daily service.
For instance, London Scottish and Provincial Airways, Ltd., proposes to run a London-Derby (or Nottingham)-Manchester-Glasgow line, to be connected with the K.L.M. route by a feeder service between Hull and Derby (or Nottingham).
Commercial Airways (Essex), Ltd., has a similar plan to link London (Abridge) with Glasgo-.v, by way of Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh. This service will not actually connect with the K.L.M. line.
A group of financial men in Ireland is endeavouring to form a concern, probably to be called the Irish Aviation Development Corporation, to link up Limerick, Waterford, Cork and Dublin, bringing all these towns into communication with northern, England and northern Europe by means of the Dublin-Liverpool proposed services and the K.L.M. line. It seems likely that many northern European towns will be reached within the day from most of the important centres of northern Britain without need for first flying to Croydon.
Provincial Airways, Ltd., is to run a Croydon-Southampton-Plymouth line, linking other air lines and Atlantic ships with Continental air services.
Probably the first regular freight service will be a Manchester-London connection to be operated experimentally by Bouts Brothers, Ltd. There is another scheme afoot for a north-and-south air line, probably between Edinburgh and Hatfield, via Newcastle, of which nothing can be said at present. Secrecy also surrounds a plan for a new line to Paris which is going to offer an interesting travel proposition. From Heston the British Air Navigation Co., Ltd., will run regularly to Le Touquet and Deauville. The Scottish Motor Traction Co., Ltd., has, as yet, noplan to announce.
In addition to all these proposals the railway companies have agreed with Imperial Airways, Ltd., on the formation of a new company to operate internal air services. Possibly action will follow without delay.