The Daily Alaska empire., 1935-04-02
PRAISES OFFICIALS FOR
 AVIATION AID
General Manager of PM Also Pays Attention
 to Personnel

You may be sure it is most gratifying to me to see the in terest that has been taken in the opening of this service. want to express my sincere appreciation to His Honor the Mayor of Juneau and to the Committee of the Ju- neau Chamber of Commerce for the arrangements which they con- ducted for this inaugural service. I am very glad of an opportunity to also thank Gov. John w. Troy and all of the Territorys officials for the interest which they have shown in the development of avia- ton in Alaska
 This was the opening statement of Lyman s. Peck, General Mama ger of the Pacific Alaska Airways, at the PAA airport this afternoon at the inauguration of the air serv- ice between Juneau and Fairbanks.
 Continuing he said:
 
 There are two factors which contribute to any private enter prise such as the building of this airport and the establishment of a new transportation service, which are sometimes overlooked when the project is completed. I refer to the men who actually did the labor of producing the project and those who put up the money to perform it.
 Gives Credit
 Right here I want to say 10 each and every man who has worked on the construction of this airport and the other facilities of this airline during the past winter that there is tremendous amount of credit due you. Unless you men had been willing to work at sub zero temperatures with three feet of frost in the ground and all the hardships working in ice and snow, we would not be opening this airport or the airline today.
 T doubt if very many Alaskans realize how much money has been lost in aviation in Alaska. Our company took over two small avia- tion companies in Alaska some two and one-half years ago. One of these companies had lost consid- erably over $100,000 in two years, and the other over $300,000 in three years. Our company has lost ever half million dollars in two and one-half years. The cour- age which our directors have shown in spending money to provide air transportation in Alaska in these times would astound almost any, one.
 Is Time Saver
 There is no place in the world that know of which offers such tremendous time saving possibili- ties in the delivery of mail by air as this Juneau, Whitehorse, Fair banks service. This time saving is equally advantageous to passen- gers and express. To be able to leave Juneau at three in the af- ternoon and arrive in Fairbanks the same night in time for dinner can only be appreciated by those who have spent the two days trav- cling on the railroad and the three days and nights on the boat ne- cessary to make the trip between these two cities under the previ- ously existing means of transpor- tation.
 It was with a great deal of re- gret that I was obliged to announce that we would be unable to carry airmail on this first flight from Juneau to Fairbanks, and that we will not be able to carry mail on our planes unless an air mail con- tract is awarded to our company over this route. For those of you who are interested in seeing air mail service established on this route, I know no better way to ex- pedite the award of an airmail contract than to send a letter or telegram to your Delegate or to the Post Master General in Washing ton, stressing the importance of this air mail service to the Ter ritory. lAia
 Last November, when was asked at one of the weekly lunch es of the Juneau Chamber of Com merce to say something about our plans for opening this service, made the announcement that we expected to open about April first. Any of you who saw this airport site last November can appreciate
 Continued on Page Three)