§ Sir A. SINCLAIRasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air how many miles per day are flown on regular air routes in this country and on Imperial routes; and at what number of aeroplanes he would estimate the manufacturing capacity of this country at the present time?
§ Mr. MONTAGUEAs regards the first part of the question, I am not quite clear in regard to the scope of the hon. and gallant Member's question. The only regular British air services which operate over this country are those to and from the Continent and to and from India; the latter service is a weekly one and the others are not all on a daily basis. It would be difficult, in consequence, to give a figure of daily mileage flown, and I think the best answer will be to state the route mileage. The answer in that case is that the mileage of the routes operated by British commercial air lines throughout the Empire is approximately 18,700 miles, of which approximately 5,800 is represented by the lines operating from Croydon (to the Continent and India) and the rest by lines in Canada, Australia and South Africa. As regards the second part, an estimate of manufacturing capacity would have to be related to specific types of aircraft produced and would vary enormously according as large multi-engined commercial machines or small light aeroplanes were assumed to be in production in the various factories. I am consequently not in a position to give any useful figure in reply to this part of the hon. and gallant Member's question.