News digest, Vol. 1, No. 1, September 30, 1944

              Vol. 1, No. 1
PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS PACIFIC-ALASKA DIVISION NEWS DIGEST
September 30, 1944
FOREWORD: This idea of a news digest has but one objective - to help the men * on the line’ become better informed on current news in the Aviation industry. Suggestions for improvement are solicited.
SAN FRANCISCO - Details of the new equipment, rates and schedules for post-war operation of the mainland-Hawaii Sector of its transpacific routes to the Orient and Australasia, are currently being presented to the CAB by Pan American World Ai rways•
Plans call for large, fast land planes, grossing more than 80 tons, completely pressurised for sub-stratosphere flying. Speed will be approximately 300 miles per hour, reducing transit time to Hawaii to little more than 8 hours. Capacity will be provided for 128 passengers.
Two round trips daily will be made between both Los Angeles-San Francisco and Hawaii, and traffic is estimated at 100,000 passengers annually. This is more than double the number of persons carried by all forms of transportation over the same route in normal times.
One-way fare to Hawaii will be $96, round-trip $172.80 contrasted with the present $278 one-way and $500.40 round-trip. Cargo rates would be reduced from the pre-war average of $1.00 per ton mile to an average of 24 cents.
Other companies applying to the CAB for certificates to fly the same route have proposed fares much higher. Matson Navigation suggests $175 one way and United Air Lines $125. (PAA Release)
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MERCHANDISING BY PAA
The radical fare and cargo reductions proposed by Pan American for its Latin American systems offers intriguing fields for speculation and a new era in air tranS' portation. The plans do not merely provide sufficient seat capacity for existing business - they offer vast amount of seat capacity at appealing rates as a stimulant to creating new business.
This is typical of American industrial merchandising and it is good to see it being applied to air transport. This is an unusual step forward for PAA and would seem to indicate that the company is placing its faith in the future volume of business. It indicates that Pan /merican expects competition and is issuing a forthright and healthy challenge.
The plan is a revolutionary development both for the company and for air transport in general. If it means that PAA is stepping out to compete on a volume basis with the airlines of the world - counting on its superior efficiency and service to capture its share of the business - then the proposal is one of the most heartening and important developments in air transport in the industry’s history.
(American Aviation)
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0WI REPORTS ON WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT OF CRITICAL MATERIALS
0WI reports that air cargoes totaling approximately 22,000,000 pounds were flown from remote comers of the world during the period Jan-June 30, 1944, over a global aerial freight system. OWI said comparison between the airplane and ocean vessel as cargo carriers showed that the 22,000,000 pounds represented .065 of 1% of the total volume carried by ocean vessels, and that the value of this cargo was about 6.42% of the total value of ocean cargo. Average unit value for the airplane was $3.58 a pound, or 99 times the average unit value of ship cargo.
The air cargoes traveled over two main routes: (1) from sources of supply in China »over the Hump* to points of world distribution in India, and (2) from Karachi, India, across Africa, the South Atlantic and South America to ports of entry in the U. S. Materials carried as air cargo include tin, mercury, hog bristles, mica, tantalite, drugs, quartz crystals, beryllium ore and insecticides. (Aviation Daily)
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FOREIGN AIR POLICY DISCUSSION
Reaction to the recent letter to President Roosevelt and the CAB from Senators Bailey (N.C.) and Clark (Mo.) asking that no decision be made by the executive brancv of the government until Congress has had further time to consider foreign air policy and pass any legislation if needed, is that the letter will not alter plans of the CAB to conduct hearings on foreign air routes, and will not delay the Department of State in acquiring commercial landing rights.
A high State Department official indicated that his department would continue negotiations with foreign governments on landing rights because such rights are in the name of the U. S. government regardless of the form of international air transport policy which is adopted - chosen instrument or a series of airlines.