CHINA
COMMERCIAL AVIATION
A13
By courtesy of the China National Aviation Corporation, one of the air mail and passenger services operated under the direction of the Ministry of Communications, the following authoritative history of its accomplishments to date, with an outline description of the equipment in use, is here placed on record:
:
"The China National Aviation Corporation commenced business on the 8th July 1930, and on the 20th October of that year the first Loening Amphibian took off from Lunghwa Airport (Shanghai), and the route to Hankow, a distance of 516 miles, was opened, this line serving Shanghai, Nanking, Anking, Kiukiang and Hankow, thus uniting the principal commercial ports of the rich valley of the Lower Yangtze River.
"On the 1st April 1931, the Shanghai-Hankow line was extended to Ichang at the foot of the world-famed gorges of the Yangtze, and on the 21st October of the same year the line was further extended to distant Chungking, 1,600 miles by boat from Shanghai, thus covering almost the entire length of the great Yangtze River.
"On the 11th November 1933, the Chungking-Chengtu line (in Szechwan province) was inaugurated, thereby making Chengtu, the capital of the most. western and one of the richest provinces in China, within easy access.
"The commercial conquest of Western China by air completed, the China National Aviation Corporation turned its attention to the north, and on the 10th January 1933 the Shanghai-Peiping line was inaugurated with stops at Haichow, Tsingtao and Tientsin.
"On the 24th October 1933 the Shanghai-Canton line was established, with stops at the important ports of Wenchow, Foochow, Amoy and Swatow. This line, just over 1,000 miles in length, serves the entire coast from the Yangtze Delta to the Pearl River, covering territory inhabited by over one hundred million people.
"At the present time, Loening Amphibians, with a crew of two and a seating capacity for four passengers, and with a cruising speed of 90 miles per hour, are in use between Shanghai and Chungking, daily schedules each way being flown between Shanghai and Hankow, and three round trips per week between Hankow and Chungking.
"Stinson land planes, with pilot, co-pilot, and seating capacity for four passengers, with a cruising speed of 110 miles per hour, are in use between Shanghai and Peiping, and also between Chungking and Chengtu, three round trips per week being flown between Shanghai and Peiping and four round trips per week between Chungking and Chengtu.
"Between Shanghai and Canton, Douglas Dolphin Amphibians are in use. These planes carry a crew of two and six passengers, with a cruising speed of 150 miles per hour."
The following table gives an excellent idea of the rapid advancement of commercial aviation in this country: the statistics are for the China National Corporation's field of operations only:-
Miles Flown
Passenger Miles Flown
Passengers Carried
Kilogrammes of
Mail Carried
1929 1930
....
57,893
66,411
354
3,932
...
...
330,079
638,726
2,654
17,893
1931
445,039
€06,991
2,296
34.428
1932
...
431,145
775,036
3,153
50,851
1933
:
...
636,900
901,873
3,050
49,246
1934
:
833,416
1,469,296
4,570
58,052
*12
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