F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 129 
Its great advantages are speed and independence of the nature of the route 
traversed, since direct journeys over both land and sea are possible. In 
other countries, notably Germany and the U.S.A., air transport competi- 
tion has been severely felt by the railways; but in Great Britain the 
comparatively short distances have prevented any rapid development of 
internal air transport lines up to the present year. The advantage of speed 
is somewhat reduced by the time taken to travel from the centre of towns 
to the adjacent aerodromes. In the table on p. 130 statistics are given 
relating to air transport in this country for the years 1929-33. It will be 
seen that the total mileage flown, even for 1933, amounted only to a little 
more than three million miles. 
During the present year, however, great activity has been shown in the 
inauguration of internal air routes. In March 1934 a total mileage of 
approximately 5,000 route miles, or roughly a quarter of the railway route 
mileage, was contemplated by various. undertakings taken together. Not 
all these schemes may come to fruition. Last year the mileage operated 
over regular routes was under 600 route miles. In previous years, there- 
fore, the railway companies in this country had no occasion to take air 
competition very seriously, but profiting by their experience of road trans- 
port competition, and to be prepared, they obtained air transport powers 
in 1929. This year they have formed a new company—Railway Air 
Services, Ltd., in conjunction with Imperial Airways, Ltd—for the 
operation of internal air transport routes. 
Experiments made in the past have not been very encouraging, and last 
year, for example, the G.W.R. lost over £6,000 on its air service between 
Birmingham, Cardiff, and Torquay ; while in 1930 the City Councils of 
Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham had to subsidise the internal 
experimental routes of Imperial Airways, Ltd. 
In the past the best results have been shown where air transport could 
take shorter routes than the rail, or routes involving a sea passage—e.g. 
_ the air ferries between Bristol and Cardiff, Hull and Grimsby, Glasgow 
and Belfast, London and Cowes, Thurso and the Orkneys. 
In August of this year Railway Air Services introduced a route between 
‘London, Birmingham, the Isle of Man, Belfast, and Glasgow, whereby 
it is possible to leave Glasgow at 9.15 A.M. and reach London (Croydon) 
by 1.30 P.M. Leaving London again at 3.10 P.M. one could be back in 
Glasgow at 7.30 P.M. 
The importance of this year’s developments are due to the employment 
of faster aircraft. The machines used in 1930 on the Manchester-London 
route had a cruising speed of go miles per hour, but to-day the machines 
which are being employed are capable of over 140 miles per hour. Another 
important development is the utilisation of these services by the Post 
Office for the carriage of mails. 
If the new services commenced this year can survive as a commercial 
_ undertaking, a new era in British transport will have been inaugurated. 
But when full account is taken of all the costs of operation this is extremely 
doubtful, unless a subsidy in some form is granted them. 
The decline in railway traffic which has taken place during the post- 
_ War years has been due, as I have said, to a variety of causes, including 
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