CAPE TO CAIRO BY AIR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3843, 11 September 1928, Page 4

CAPE TO CAIRO BY AIR.

Following his aerial survey of Afriea, Sir Alan Cobham was recently asked by the British Air Ministry to compile an estimate of the cost of running an air line from Alexandria to Kisumu, in Kenya, and also an estimate for an extension of the air line later to Bulawayo, in Southern Rhodesia, where the All-Red air route would be in a position to link up with any development from South Africa northward. The various East African dependencies concerned, with the concurrence of t-he Colonial office, are ready to offer support, provided the Imperial Government is also prepared to subsidise the line in its early stages • of operation. Commercial interests have also offered valuable support. The- project envisages a weekly service to be flown with three-engined flying boats capable of carrying passengers, mails, and goods, the route being from Alexandria to Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, passing such useful centres from a traffic point of view as 'Cairo, Luxor, Wadi Haifa, Atbara, Khartoum, Butiaba, Jinja, and Kisumu. Provisional estimates indicate that it will cost about £95 to fly the full route of 3325 miles and about £SO to fly from Alexandria to Khartoum. Four days at the start are allowed for the full route from Alexandria to Kisumu, though with development this time will be shortened still more in comparison with Hie 20 days required to reach Kisumu by the Red Sea and Mombasa. It is proposed to make Kisumu an important headquarters for the change .to land machines when the route is extended to the south and Bulawayo.