Evening star., 1954-11-07
Use
Sill Questionable
Despite Parkway
By Hector MeLean

Can Baltimore's Friendship
international Airport be used as
d second airport for Washing
ton?
The answer, according to Mil
ton w. Arnold, vice president Of
the Air Transport Association
is up to the travelling public
VIII they put up with the ground
travel time between Washington
and Friendship?
Walter r. Perkins. chairman
of the Baltimore Airport Board
says the answer is also UP to
the airlines, which must volun-
tarily petition the Civil Aero.
ilautics Board If they want tc
shift some of their flights from
National to Friendship.
IF the Washington travelling
public would utilize Friendship
as a second Washington air.
port" Mr.. Arnold said. "very
little additional expenditure
would be required on the par
of the airlines to provide the
volume of service desired. since
eight of the nine (airline'
at NATIONAL are already operat'
ing there with basic StaffS anC
equipment"
Travel Time.
Friendships big problem II
getting a cut OF Nationals bust
ness has always been grounc
travel time.
Now, with opening Of the Bal
timore Washington parkway
Theodore E. Graft, president O.
Airline Limousine Service. ha1
offered the airlines operating a
Friendship 50-minute limousine
service between the airport ane
the Hotel Statler in Washington
He made his offer on the basi!
Of midday test he drove las
week.
An evening rush-hour tes
by The Star from the Stat
ler to Friendship took S:
minutes, with 20 of them spen
reaching the parkway at New
York avenue and Bladensburl
road.
Earlier, a District Highwa,
Department test-inbound from
Friendship to the Statler-tool
IS minutes.
The Baltimore airport wa!
opened in 1850 as a super field
designed to serve the entir,
Washington Baltimore -Annapo
lis area. It's 5000 acres-fiv,
times larger than National-li,
on a man-made plateau chosel
years ago as an ideal trans-At
lantic dirigible base by DR.. Hug
Eckener. IA
Field Stays Clean.
Fog, according to Gen. Donalt
n. Connolly. director of Balti
nore,s Department Of Aviation
f"just seems to drain away" from
the field. He said it is oftel
clear when most other fields Of
the East Coast are closed in b,
bad weather.
Friendship has a single inStru
ment landing runway 9,450 fee
long and 200 feet wide. That, ant
the two smaller cross runwayS
can be duplicated whenever bus
iness is good enough to make i
necessary.
The runways. Gen. Connolly
said. handle the biggest All
Force jet bombers and can takt
any craft now on the drawing
boards.
The field was built for ST.:
million--$12 million from a Bal
timore bond issue and SO mil
lion from Federal grant-in-ait
funds. A recent engineering sur
.vey, Gen. Connolly said, indi'
Gates it could not now be dup
Heated for $35 million.
Fine Terminal.
The terminal building has es
calators to connect the first ant
second levels, % roomettes will
showers, dressing tables ant
reds, and provides a dining
room, meeting rooms, a cocktail
bar and an outdoor terrace.
Airline worries about tn,
ground travel time between
Friendship and Washington wer,
explained by Mr.. Arnold. H,
said so to so per cent of ali
! travel into Washington is "shor
haul" business-trips of les
than 500 miles.
OF the short haul" business
he added, 25 per cent is to New
York. II prospective cusonler'
face too long a period of groune
travel at either or both end!
Of their fight, he said, they vii
take railroad trains.
Exponents of using Friendship
say the "long haul" trips-fron
Chicago and the West Coast
should be shifted from Nationa
into Friendship. Then. they In
sist, the ground travel tim
would not mean so much.
Cant BE Separated.
Mr.. Arnold replies that shor
and long haul traffic cannot b
separated. "Short-haul traffi
feeds the long haul traffic, h
says. Passengers from Norfoll
or Harrisburg fly to National t,
get fights to the West Coast.
The suggestion is that If the.
had TO fly to National and trave
on the ground to Friendship
they might take trains in tn
first place, or drive their own
cars.
To emphasize his point, MI
Arnold recently declared:
For. all practical purposes
the short haul air travel int
Detroit disappeared when th'
a{xif,,ar x.,oro ,.nrsYi,.al a. v,a0v,