Monday, Aug. 29, 1927
Flying Trains
The country has broken out in a rash of airplane companies, if one credits the flow of items which bubble up each morning to attract the newspaper reader. The latest project is a New York-to-Chicago airway; there to connect with the Chicago-and-San Francisco planes, already operating. The fare will be $400; the flying time 32 hours. Trains take 90 hours; cost $140.
Alluring reports of various concerns picture the passenger stepping into a deeply upholstered cabin; sailing smoothly, swiftly above the realms of way stations; ordering luncheon from a white-coated and obsequious steward. Actual facts from the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America indicate'that the solid citizen is skeptical of airways. Last year only 7,651 citizens paid for tickets on U. S. flying trains. At least two companies, lacking passengers, evaporated. Flying taxicabs,
specially chartered planes and short-ride airplanes which carried people curious "just to see what it was like" did better business. Nearly 670,000 people took their first bird's-eye-views of life thus.
Airway travel is roughly three times as fast as railways; costs three times as much. There are eight passenger airways now operating. The figures:
Chicago to San Francisco
New York to Boston
Portland to Los Angeles
Salt Lake City to Los Angeles
Chicago to Minneapolis
Cheyenne, Wyo., to Pueblo, Col
Detroit to Grand Rapids, Mich
San Diego to Los Angeles
ATB RAILROAD
Time fare Time Fare
22 hr. 40 min. $200.00 68 hr. $79.84
3 hr. 5 min. 30.00 5 hr. 8.24
11 hr. 15 min. 113.50 39 hr. 30 min. 40.88
7 hr. 15 min. 60.00 30 hr. 28.05
5 hr. 50 min. 40.00 12 hr. 14.66
3 hr. 25.00 8 hr. 8.16
1 hr. 45 min. 18.00 4 hr. 5.49
1 hr. 10 min. 17.50 3 hr. 30 min. 4.55