Seats Fill Up

Air transport operators scowled last spring when they saw the upward march of passenger traffic falter and temporarily retreat. They were heartened by a 20% increase for the full year 1931. Last week they beamed when it was announced that traffic for the first quarter of 1932 was 31% up. Even the fact that Depression had nibbled away 4% of their air mail poundage failed to quench their delight.

Some first quarter results were :

Lines Passengers Change 1931 1932

American Airways 6,580 11,485 74% Eastern Air Transport 4,945 7,937 60% Ludington Air Lines 11,304 9,310 18% Northwest Airways 1,866 3,283 76% Pan American Airways 12,562 14,012 9% Transcontinental & Western Air 179 4,214 48% United Air Lines 3,062 11,250 20%

All U. S. lines carried 86,763 passengers, compared with 66,399 in the first three months of last year. Though flying weather is generally at its worst from January through March, nearly 90% of schedules were flown. Transport officials view the increase as the first fruit of two major policies which came into full play last year: fare reductions and systematic effort to sell through tickets.

As every one knows, air travel throughput the land is but little more expensive (in some cases less) than train-plus-Pullman fare. But few realize that airline tickets can be obtained as easily as any other transportation tickets. All large transport companies have coast-to-coast arrangements with hotels, travel agencies, telegraph companies where schedules can be obtained, tickets purchased. American Airways has more than 9,000 such outlets.

To kill the notion that flying is still an erratic member of the transportation family, airway operators have turned from merely peddling tickets to selling fast, complete transportation facilities combining air, rail & bus. Slogans have been softened from "Fly" to "Travel By Air." Having learned that over two-thirds of their passengers are executives or salesmen, traffic departments are out to educate U. S. business to save time & money through the use of coordinated air transport. Skylines, one of the industry's useful timetable monthlies, quoted last month from the experience of a roving executive who cut a trip from 17 to eleven days, lopped 25% from his expense account.

Airline passenger traffic rises to a peak around Labor Day. To capitalize this bulge most companies inaugurate new schedules, speed up old with the coming of warm weather. Last month American Airways by a one-hour shift in a plane departure at Cleveland so bettered connections with Pan American that the New York-Mexico City run was cut from 62 to 44 hr. United Airlines last fortnight put on a new plane to San Francisco which entails the loss of only one business day, announced that before the year ended it would cut the coast-to-coast run to 22 hr. That worried Pittsburgh steel-masters may seek solace in Manhattan playhouses, Transcontinental & Western has put on a 3 1/2-hr. "Theatregoer."

*A consolidation of old T. A. T. and Western Air Express. T. & W. A. has eliminated duplicate schedules, unprofitable services.

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