§ 26. Mr. Edward Daviesasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation what circumstances have determined the decision to discontinue the flying-boat service between Britain and Durban; and what arrangements are being made to wind up the undertaking and to provide for the staff.
§ Mr. LindgrenAt the Southern Africa Air Transport Conference held in Cape Town in 1945 it was decided that the flying boats, which have now been in service for nine and a half years, would be withdrawn at the end of 1946 and that the service between the United Kingdom and South Africa should be operated by landplanes. The flying boats, all of which are based on Durban, will be flown to the United Kingdom for disposal and the organisation at the Durban base, which was a wartime expedient, will be dispersed. Retrenchment of locally engaged staff is taking place, and arrangements have been made to repatriate British Overseas Airways Corporation's contract staff and their families to this country.