AIR LINE FORMED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 931, 26 March 1930, Page 9

AIR LINE FORMED

ATLANTIC SERVICE PLANNED FOR MAILS AND PASSENGERS NEW YORK, Tuesday. Mr. Charles Mitchell, chairman of the National City Bank, and Dr. Hugo Eekener, designer and commander ol’ the Graf Zeppelin, announce the formation of a company by prominent financial and aircraft interests in the United States and Europe for the establishment of a lighter than air mail and passenger transatlantic line. Preparations for the organisation of a service are to be made this year. The capital of the new concern totals several million dollars. Actively interested are such companies as United Aircraft, National Air Transport Corporation and the Union Carbide Company. Of particular interest Is the participation of United Aircraft, hitherto identified only with airplanes and accessories. Its subsidiary lines extend from Canada to Mexico, from San Francisco to Cleveland. AIR FORCES COMBINE In the course of an interview today Dr. Eekener said the scheme was of particular Imp'rtance to him because it meant that airplanes and airships, long regarded as competitors, are to be joined in a co-operative enterprise. Already airships had achieved what might he called moral successes over long periods of time. Those were necessary and gave them the necessary assurance and courage to proceed. Now they had gone beyond moral achievement into the field of actual accomplishment. They were ready to go ahead and complete their studies of the practical problems to be solved before launching the project. The company had been formed and the capital had been fully subscribed. By the end of the year they would have completed their studies.