Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The Far East is a term often used by people in the Western world to refer to the countries of East Asia. There were local partnership companies; Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd) in Australia, and TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Ltd) in New Zealand. Qantas Airways Limited (ˈkwɔntəs ( is the National airline of Australia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Tasman Empire Airways Limited ( TEAL) was the forerunner of Air New Zealand. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island
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Formation
Created following the advice of the government Hambling Committee in 1923 — that the main existing aircraft companies should be merged to create a company which would be strong enough to develop Britain's external air services — and offered a £1m subsidy over ten years if they merged. Imperial Airways Limited was formed in March 1924 from the British Marine Air Navigation Company Ltd (three flying boats), the Daimler Airway (five aircraft), Handley Page Transport Ltd (three aircraft) and the Instone Air Line Ltd (two aircraft). British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd was a short-lived British Airline operating flying boats across the English Channel in 1923 and 1924 A flying boat is a specialised form of Aircraft that is designed to take off from and land on water using its Fuselage as a floating hull. Daimler Air Hire was a private air hire company established June 7 1919 by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Searle CB, DSO, of Handley Page Transport Ltd was an airline company founded in 1919 by Frederick Handley Page in the new era of civil flying after the First World War. Instone Air Line was an early British airline from 1919 to 1924. The land operations were based at Croydon Airport to the south of London. Croydon Airport was an airport in South London which straddled the boundary between what are now the London boroughs of Croydon and Sutton. IAL immediately discontinued the predecessor's service to points north of London, the airline not being interested in serving what they regarded as the 'Provinces'.
The first commercial flight was in April 1924, when a daily London-Paris service was opened. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Additional services to other European destinations were started throughout the summer. The first new airliner was commissioned by Imperial Airways in November 1924. In the first year of operation the company carried 11,395 passengers and 212,380 letters. In April 1925, The Lost World (a recent blockbuster film) was shown to the passengers on the London-Paris route. The Lost World is a 1925 Silent film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle 's book of the same name. This was the first time that a film had been screened for passengers on a plane.
The extension of service to the British Empire (Empire Services) was not begun until 1927 when, with the addition of six new aircraft, a service was instituted from Cairo to Basra. The Short Empire was a passenger and mail carrying Flying boat, of the 1930s and 1940s which flew between Britain and British colonies in Africa, The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Basra ( BGN: AlBasrah also called Basorah Abillah and Uruk or IRAQ The name that British colony has adopted for Basra but the first service from London for Karachi did not start until 1929 using newly purchased Short S.8 Calcutta flying boats, even then the passengers were transported by train from Paris to the Mediterranean where the Short flying boats were. (ڪراچي) is the largest city in Pakistan. It is the world's second largest city proper behind Mumbai in terms of population which exceeds 10 million The Short Calcutta or S8 was a civilian Biplane Airliner Flying boat made by Short Brothers. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city In February 1931 a weekly service between London and Tanganyika was started as part of the proposed route to Cape Town and in April an experimental London-Australia air mail flight took place; the mail was transferred at the Netherlands East Indies, and took 26 days in total to reach Sydney. Tanganyika is the name of an East African territory lying between the largest of the African great lakes Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. See http//enwikipediaorg/wiki/WikipediaFootnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the tags and the template below Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 The purchase of eight Handley Page HP.42 four-engined airliners boosted the range of services, in 1932 the service to Africa was extended to Cape Town. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout
In Australia in 1934 Imperial and Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd) formed Qantas Empire Airways Limited to extended services in Southeast Asia. Qantas Airways Limited (ˈkwɔntəs ( is the National airline of Australia. But it was not until 1937 with the Short Empire flying boats that Imperial could offer a real through service from Southampton to the Empire. The Short Empire was a passenger and mail carrying Flying boat, of the 1930s and 1940s which flew between Britain and British colonies in Africa, Southampton ( IPA /ˌsaʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England The journey to the Cape consisted of flights via Marseille, Rome, Brindisi, Athens, Alexandria, Khartoum, Port Bell, Kisumu and onwards by land-based craft to Nairobi, Mbeya and eventually Cape Town. Marseille, ( English alt Marseilles mɑrˈseɪ — French: maʁsɛj locally — Provençal Occitan: Marselha maʀˈsijɔ Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Brindisi can also refer to a song in which a company is exhorted to drink such as the "Tea-Cup Brindisi" in Gilbert and Sullivan 's " The Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm) is the Capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. Port Bell is a small industrial centre near Kampala in Uganda which has a rail link and a rail/road Ferry Wharf used for international Kisumu is a Port city in western Kenya at 1131m with a population of 355024 (1999 census Nairobi (naɪˈroʊbɪ is the capital and largest city of Kenya. Mbeya is a city located in southwest Tanzania, Africa Mbeya's urban population was 280000 in 2005 Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the Survey flights were also made across the Atlantic and to New Zealand. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island By mid-1937 Imperial had completed its thousandth service to the Empire.
Air Mail
The Empire Air Mail Programme began in July 1937, delivering anywhere for 1½ d. /oz. By mid-1938 a hundred tons of mail had been delivered to India and a similar amount to Africa. In the same year, construction was started on the Empire Terminal in Victoria, London, designed by A. London Victoria is a major London Underground, National Rail and Coach station in the City of Westminster. Lakeman and with a statue by Eric Broadbent, Speed Wings Over the World gracing the portal above the main entrance. The terminal provided train connections to flying boats at Southampton and to the since closed Croydon Airport. Southampton ( IPA /ˌsaʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England Croydon Airport was an airport in South London which straddled the boundary between what are now the London boroughs of Croydon and Sutton. The terminal operated as recently as 1980. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar)
To help promote use of the Air Mail service, in June and July, 1939, Imperial Airways participated with Pan American Airways in providing a special "around the world" service with Imperial carrying the souvenir mail eastbound over the Foynes, Ireland, to Hong Kong portion of the New York to New York route. Foynes ( Faing in Irish) is a small town and major port in County Limerick in the midwest of Ireland, located at the edge of hilly land on Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Pan American provided service from New York (departing on June 24) to Foynes (via the first flight of Northern FAM 18) and Hong Kong to San Francisco (via FAM 14), while United Airlines carried it on the final leg from San Francisco to New York where is arrived on July 28.
Amalgamation
Compared to other operators (Air France, KLM, Lufthansa) it was lagging behind in Europe and it was suggested that all European operations be handed over to its competitor British Airways Ltd (founded in 1935) which had more modern aircraft and better organization. Air France (formally Société Air France) is one of the world's largest Airlines Air France is based in Paris, France, and is a subsidiary of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines ( Dutch: Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, literally Royal Aviation Company; usual English translation British Airways Ltd was a private airline company operating in Europe formed in 1935 However in November 1939 both Imperial and British Airways Ltd were merged into a new state-owned national carrier: British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). The British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC) was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 The new carrier adopted the Imperial Speedbird logo, which has evolved into the present British Airways Speedmarque, and the term (Speedbird) continues to be used as BA's call sign. Speedbird is a Callsign used by British Airways during Air traffic control procedures as well as the name for the famous stylized British Overseas British Airways plc ( is the national Airline and Flag carrier of the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe In Broadcasting and Radio communications a call sign (also known as a callsign or call letters, or abbreviated as a call, or otherwise
Related lists
References
- Budd, Lucy "Global Networks Before Globalisation: Imperial Airways and the Development of Long-Haul Air Routes" Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Research Bulletin 253, December 5, 2007
External links
- Imperial Airways enthusiast website
- British Airways Archive and Museum Collection
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