4 MARCH 1949, Page 5

I have been surprised before this at estimates I have

heard of the small number of aeroplanes needed to serve the travelling public of the world adequately. And the emotion does not wear off. In the debate on the Air Estimates in the House of Commons on Tuesday Air-Commodore A. V. Harvey, who, apart from his war record, is a director of a commercial air-company today, mentioned casually that, with satisfactory aeroplanes to carry 5o passengers, 500 machines would be sufficient for all the air-routes of the world. It sounds an almost incredibly low figure, but I am certainly not going to pit my

own ignorance against Air-Commodore Harvey's extensive knowledge.