AIR SERVICES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 February 1939, Page 5

AIR SERVICES

ACROSS NORTH ATLANTIC CAPTAIN BALFOUR REPORTS PROGRESS. BRITISH AND AMERICAN CO-OPERATION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 1. Asked in the House of Commons today about the present position of negotiations for the establishment of air services across the North Atlantic by Imperial Airways and Pan-American Airways in co-operation, Captain Balfour, Under-Secretary for Air, said that the necessary permits for the operation of a regular service by Imperial Airways and Pan-American Airways in co-operation, between the United Kingdom and New York were issued in 1937 to each company by the Governments concerned. The establishment in the United States of a new civil aeronautical authority, however, had made it necessary for Imperial Airways to apply for a new permit, and such application had been made. It was hoped that Imperial Airways would be ready to start a scheduled seasonal service of experimental character to America on June 1 next.

Captain Balfour, further questioned, said that the Ministry had heard a report that the American air line was ready to start. It was hoped, he said, that a start would be made simultaneously, but if one company were ready before the other, the British would not place any obstacles in their way. >

In view of the fact that future air traffiic to London is certain to necessitate the provision of a fourth land airport in addition to Croydon, Heston and Fairlop, negotiations are in progress for the purchase of a suitable area at Lullingstone, Kent, which is about the same distance from the centre of London as Croydon.