Pan American air ways, Vol. 10, No. 4, September 1939

              W o rld ’s S ta n d a r d F o r A ir T ra n sp o r­ ta tio n

S y s te m T ra ffic

P4I\I
SEPTEMBER - 1939 - OCTOBER

W A YS
TO ALL PAN AMERICAN EMPLOYEES

N e a rin g Peak

Vol. 10

No. 4

PAN A M E R I C A N F U T U R E P O L I C Y C H A R T E D
CLIPPER FINISHES FLIGHT SURVEY OF SOUTHERN PACIFIC
R eturns to San F ran cisco Sept. 6th A fte r 1 5 ,0 0 0 M ile T rip O ver R ou te to N ew Z ealan d

CREW ENTERTAINED
B ases A t C an ton Island, N o u ­ m ea and A u k lan d R eady For Start o f R egu lar S ervice

SAN FRANCISCO. — When California Clipper settled onto the surface of San Francisco Bay September 6 to wind up the first flight survey of Pan American Airways’ projected new route to New Zealand, she had completed 15,000 miles of flying in 101 hours and 52 minutes flying time. Her crew, headed by Capt. William A. Cluthe — who had taken over command at Hono­ lulu when Division Chief Pilot J. H. Tilton left the ship for a trip out over the other Pacific line to Hong Kong—were still NEW YORK TO HAVE thrilling to the welcome they AIRLINE TERMINAL had received from their iso­ lated co lle a g u e s on Canton Im p ressive B uilding T o P rovide Island, from the French resi­ Traffic A c co m m o d a tio n s For dents of New Caledonia and the F iv e M ajor A irlin es British subjects of New Zea­ land. NEW YORK.—A central air­ On the “down under” islands line traffic terminal for the use business men look to Clipper of all scheduled airline opera­ service as a powerful stimulus tors serving the city, is soon to to trade and commerce—per­ be erected here, according to an sons with homes and friends in announcement of Airlines Ter­ the United States, even in Eu­ minal, Inc., the company formed rope, welcome the forthcoming by the participating airlines to opportunity for q uick mail formulate the plans and ad­ communication and for flying minister the project. trips across the Pacific. Located in the heart of New Their e n th u s ia s m is un­ York’s mid-town business dis­ bounded, the Clipper’s crew trict, the terminal will be built reported. And reciprocally, the on the site of the old Belmont crew members are now South Hotel at Park Avenue and 42nd Pacific adherents, calling the Street. It will thus provide easy route the most interesting in access to all surface travel the System. terminals, as well as many of It has one thing that no other the city’s largest business of­ air route in the world possesses fices. It will also serve import­ —it crosses both the equator antly to combine in one impres­ and the international dateline. sive building the reservations The equator lies between Hono­ and sales offices of the airlines lulu and Canton, the interna­ serving New York, and will tional dateline between Canton thus make it possible for air and New Caledonia. And, with travelers to make through res­ the single exception of an ervations on any airline in the aerial circle of South America world. —no other air route has so Here, too, passengers will much variety of climate. board the limousines for the California Clipper set off to airport, but a few minutes from blaze the trail over this new mid-town, through a special route on the afternoon of Au­ coach concourse at one end of gust 22 with a crew including the building. Capt. J. H. Tilton, command­ The exterior of the building ing; Capt. Wm. A Cluthe, F irst will be of limestone and marble, Continued on Page 5 Continued on Page 9

In presenting to you Pan American Airways’ plans for the future, I would like to point to these considerations: First, you will see that the program is comprehensive and progressive and is carefully planned for the next five years. The Civil Aeronautics Act under which the air transport business now operates, makes this long-range planning possible for the first time in our industry’s history. By issuing “cer­ tificates of convenience and necessity”over the established air routes of our system the United States Government gives the business of air transportation a stability which should be a t­ tractive to capital for its needed expansion. The decisions of the Civil Aeronautics Authority so far handed down indicate that they intend to carry out the spirit of the law “to foster, en­ courage and develop civil aviation” under sound business practices. It is obvious that world conditions are very uncertain today. But it is my strong belief that America should proceed with a real determination not to become involved in the present European war; that we should plan in every way to consolidate and strengthen the Western hemisphere with stronger and stronger ties of friendship and greater exchange of commerce and ideas. Conditions abroad have already brought the Americas closer together. And, as you all know, these same conditions have greatly increased the importance of and demand for the essential services which Pan American Airways performs. Peace is essential to our own progress and to the progress of our 20 neighboring republics. European politics are power politics and we do not want them in the Americas. Civil-aviation can and must do its share. Aviation is as important to peace as it is to war. It is up to us to make the best possible use of it for peace, and we should use it to its fullest effect. In keeping aloof from Europe we must be calm as well. But that should not mean that we are going to waste time, or be caught napping. It is for these reasons that Pan American Air­ ways is adopting this progressive program at this particular time. C. Y. W hitney , Chairman.

SPEED SCHEDULES, INCREASE SERVICE, VIA THE AMERICAS
P lan E ventual 4 8 H ou r Service T o B u en os A ir es V ia Both E ast and W est C oast

$6,000,000 FOR SHIPS
Six N ew B -3 1 4 s, 13 D C -3 s O r­ dered F or A d v a n ced O p ­ eratin g P lan

PAN AMERICAN IS SECOND QUARTER GIVEN NEW MAIL AIR TRAFFIC UP RATE ON PACIFIC S y ste m P a s s e n g e r M iles In c re a se
In crease A m o u n ts to 6 7 % % O ver O ld F igu re; N o w $ 3 .3 5 P er M ile F or 1 ,0 0 0 Lbs. 18% W ith P la c in g In S ervice O f L arger A ircraft

GRANT RETROACTIVE
O n N ew Basis C om p any R etains AH R even u e for F o reig n M ail B rou gh t to U n ited S tates

WASHINGTON. — A new scale of p a y m e n ts fo r the transportation of United States air mail on the Transpacific air route between the United States, Hawaii, the Philippines and China, effecting a 67%% increase over the rates former­ ly paid by the government, was received by Pan American Air­ ways September 14. Acting upon the company’s application to the Civil Aero­ nautics Authority for adjust­ ment of air mail pay rates on the Transpacific route, filed last October, the Civil Aeronautics Authority set, “as a fair and reasonable rate,” a payment of $3.35 per mile for the transpor­ tation of up to 1,000 pounds of mail in each direction over the route to the Philippines, plus a lump payment of $4,950 for each trip across the China Sea between Manila and Macao or Hong Kong. The former rate, under the Continued on Page 5

NEW YORK.—The advent into regular transoceanic ser­ vice of newer and larger air­ craft both on the Pacific and Atlantic routes of Pan Amer­ ican Airways a c c o u n ts for record increases in internation­ al air travel for the second quarter of 1939 over the same period last year. Miles flown on the routes of the international system were 3,459,470 for the second quarter, an increase of 1% for the same 1938 quarterly period, and 24,509,677 passen­ ger miles, an 18% increase for the corresponding period last year. In the second quarter of last year 3,423,098 miles and 20,776,822 p a s s e n g e r miles were flown on the entire Sys­ tem. A total of 57,237 passen­ gers were carried in the second quarter of 1939 as compared with 50,251 for the same period of 1938. Largely through the placing in service of the new 74-passen­ ger transoceanic Clippers on the Atlantic, there was a 172% increase on the New York-Bermuda service in the number of revenue passengers carried and a 122% increase in passenger miles flown. The same effect resulting Continued on Page 2

NEW YORK. — Progressive long-range plans for America’s international air transport ser­ vice, originally scheduled for consideration in 1940 and now advanced for earliest possible execution, and looking to main­ tain America’s aerial leader­ ship in the international field were recently outlined by C. V. Whitney, Chairman of the Pan American Airways. Envisaging plans for the eventual establishment of 48hour day and night schedules between the United States and the most distant capital on the South American continent, the board of d ire c to rs of Pan American, Mr. Whitney an­ nounced, has approved a pro­ curement p ro g ra m for the addition of a new fleet of multi­ engined aircraft which will represent an investment of ap­ proximately $6,000,000. Pan American’s p r e s e n t interna­ tional fleet totals 131 aircraft. Included in the program are orders for six additional B-314 flyingboats,of designs advanced over the original Boeing-built Clippers now in service on At­ lantic and Pacific routes, and a fleet of 10 Douglas DC-3 21passenger land t r a n s p o r t s , p o w ered w ith th e h ig h e r powered P ratt & Whitney 1200 horsepower Wasp engines. In addition Pan American-Grace Airways has ordered three of these DC-3 transports and has a fourth on option. The program of coordination and consolidation of services on Pan American’s 62,000 miles of international airways, as announced by Mr. Whitney, de­ scribed for the first time the company’s plans for three fourengined “stratosphere type” B oeing 307-S , 33-passenger land transports, ordered some time ago, and which are short­ ly to be delivered. The program includes the completion of prep­ arations for experimental op­ eration of one of these 307-S to test possibilities for high altitude, high speed air mail