§ Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for Air why the departure of an aeroplane from Croydon for Paris was delayed on Thursday evening for two hours beyond its scheduled time for departure?
§ Sir K. WoodI have made inquiries and find that a request was received by Imperial Airways for two seats on the last service to Paris on the 13th July. A published summer timetable showed services at both 8.45 p.m. and 10.45 p.m., but the latter service has not been operated for some time. When the two seats were asked for, no applications had I understand been received for the 8.45 p.m. service, and in the circumstances the company decided to schedule the service for 10.45 p.m. on that day. I am informed that when requests for seats on the 8.45 p.m. service were later received, the company notified prospective passengers of the altered time of departure, and would have run a service at 8.45 p.m. as well as at 10.45 p.m. had there been a substantial demand for it.