NEW DELHI: “The inevitable quickening of the industrial and commercial pulse of India is expected to produce a volume of traffic which will put the air services planned on a paying basis,” said Sir Frederick Tymms, Director of Civil Aviation in India, in a lecture recently delivered in New Delhi to the Institution of Engineers (India).

The first task in India, according to Sir Frederick, is the establishment of a network of trunk air services connecting the air ports of entry and exit and the principal commercial and administrative centres. To begin with, services of not less than daily frequency will be operated on every route with aircraft of 12 to 20 passenger capacity and a cruising speed of 130 miles an hour or better. The services will be planned within the day to serve all major cities on the routes, but not every minor city. With the later introduction of night flying and increase [in] frequency of service, every place on the air routes in India and neighbouring countries will be within 12 hours of any other. Between Rs. 2 crores and Rs. 3 crores have been spent on the construction of aerodromes and organisation of the civil air routes. (Dawn, Delhi)

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2014