Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-12

all probably arises the idea OF Lon
don to Paris; then comes London to
New York; next one thinks of Lon
don to India, and afterwards a con-
tinuation of the Indian route to Aus
tralia naturally suggests itself Prob
ably the next one that occurs to ev-
erybody's mind is London to Cairo,
and Cairo to the Cape.
$50 far as the old world is con-
cerned, those are actually the main
air lines, but as a matter of fact it
seems highly probable that there
will be more flying done ultimately
on the American continents than in
the old world. However, for the
better understanding of the running
of air lines it may perhaps be ad-
visable to discuss those of the old
world, simply because people as
rule are more familiar with the
geography of our hemisphere.
Everything turns in favor of the
airplane. For example, the through
journey on the main line from Calais
to Constantinople via Germany and
Austria was, even before the war, an
extraordinarily SLOW trip. The dis
lance can be covered quite comfor-
tably in two days by any respectable
modern airplane, even stopping for
fuel every 500 miles or so, and if the
passenger elected to fly by day and
night the journey could be done
quite we'll in "a hours.
Can Save Eighteen DAYS.
when one comes to consider the
journey from England to India one
is still more impressed with the pos
sibilities of the aeroplane. At pres
ent the only way of getting to India
is by boat, either through the Suez
canal or round the Cape of Good
Hope. By the fastest route the
journey takes, one believes, u days,
yet with a properly organized serv
ice of modern airplanes taking the
shortest route the journey could be
done from London to Calcutta in
two and a half days. With such
margin it is obvious that the afr
plane could afford to wait for sew
eral days if detained by bad weather
at this end and could still beat the
mail boats and trains to Calcutta by
weeks. The Cape-to- Cairo line will
be natural extension Of the line to
India.
Across the Continent.
while these lines are being de-
veloped in Europe there should be
an equally great amount of develop
ment in America. Although the
United States claims to have some
of the fastest trains in the world,
the average speed of the American
train on transcontinental journey
is by no means high, and there
should be air lines for the transport
of mails right across the American
continent and to the bigger cities in
the west before many years have
passed. Even the famous New
York-to- Chicago express could be |
beaten by properly organized air |
line provided it were equipped with |
real aeroplanes fitted with reliable
engines.
There will also be quite important |
services up and down
the coast of the United States and |
between the United States and |
parts of British Columbia and Can
ada. Already the Canadian govern
ment is taking up the question of air
lines seriously, and the great Ca
madam railway lines are taking Par
powers to run air lines as
to the railways, for in
Canada, as to very great extent in
the United States, the main lines
run almost straight between east
and west and the cross-communica-
ton from south to north is bad or
ent. Therefore there is quite
an opening, both in the United |
States and Canada, for tributary air
lines to feed the railways"