Evening star., 1943-03-01

kiang, it would provide cheaper and more fire.
quent service. Likewise, in the years mmed-
ately after the war, the main air traffic between
most of the United States and most of Northern
and Central Europe might we'll go by way of
England.
The second point-that there is no profit in
hauling gasoline-means that all air transport
will operate at less than maximum speeds and
over less than the maximum jumps of which
planes capable High speeds and long jumps
mean greater gasoline loads and smaller pay.
loads. We should not be misled by the speeds
which bombing planes now attaining with
heavy loads of bombs. They are driven by tre-
mendous b0uer at tremendous cost. They were
built to obtain military results, not with view
to economy of operation. An airline trying to
operate similar planes would go broke in a
hurry On short hauls planes can afford higher
speeds than on long because they can refuel
more often.
Because there were no terminals with run.
ways long enough Pan American developed its
flying boats (the best is the B314 for overseas
work. But as better airports are developed land
planes are being substituted. Seaplanes are gen.
orally less economical to operate because of
their lack of streamlining and because of the
extra weight required for building stout
fuselage.
If the war ends within the next two years or
so, most International air transport probably
will move at less than 200 miles an hour on
jumps of 500 miles or less. The cheapest route
to the United Kingdom would run by way of
Newfoundland or Labrador, Greenland, and
Iceland 1t might carry most of the mail and
light express and freight, and provide passen-
Toe of L&Lo
charged on our domestic airlines.
Domestic passenger rates are approximately
cents mile but, in the opinion of some oper-
ators, may be reducible to cents or less shortly
after the war for comparable service.
AertoI limifedS: But there will be demand
for faster and more direct service and it can be
met at a somewhat higher cost. To businessmen,
a regular overnight fast mail service between
New York and London would be worth cold
cash because of the saving in cable tolls alone;
a regular overnight passenger service because
of its saving in time. Overnight service between
New York and London, with perhaps two re-
feling stops, is feasible. The fast transatlantic
sleeper can become in air transport between
London and New York what the Twentieth
Century and Broadway Limiteds are in railroad
transportation between New York and Chicago
The same kind of fast through service can be
provided between Chicago and Moscow. or be-
tween any other two points on the globe where
the traffic will shoulder the costs of the dead
weight of gasoline required to push multi-en-
gined transports at high speed on long hops.
Thus after the war we may expect to see
variety of air transport services: fast through
planes carrying passengers and mail at premium
rates, a somewhat slower service for passengers,
mail, and express which are not in quite such
4 hurry, and slower planes carrying light bulk
cargoes and passengers at the lowest air rates.
But even the slowest service will be fast COM
pared with other means of transportation.
Airplanes will not in the calculable future
supplant land borne and water-borne transport,
but they can take of the cream and sooner or
later, they will dip down into the milk.
There is talk of postwar rate of 80 cents per
ton mile or less for domestic air express instead
of the current rate around 90 cents Officials are
estimating that about 1000 transport planes of
various sizes and types could be required for
domestic air express alone, if airplanes cap
tured only half of this tremendous potential In
1888 there were, in the whole world, fewer than
10000 civil aircraft, of which only 1000 we're
Before the war, the United States had the
most efficient intracontinental air transport sys-
tenn in the world. 1t was building the best trans
port planes. And it had, in Pan American, the
most extensive International air service in the
world. In l941, Pan American covered oS582
route miles. In 1888, when the last comprehen-
sive figures were available, United States do
mestic and foreign airlnes few more air miles
than all the major European owned lines put
together.
Winged Freight: Now another immense
and growing factor has come into the play-the
Armys Air Transport Command, under Maj
Gen. Harold L. George. Several months ago, the
Air Transport Command was already operating
10000 miles of route. This mileage is being
greatly increased this year while the number of
trips is being increased by several hundred per
cent. The ATC flies the North Atlantic to the
United Kingdom by alternative routes: it Aies