Passenger traffic in the 1930s on British imperial air routes: Refinement and revision

Abstract

Far fewer passengers travelled on the airline that served the British Empire in the 1930s than conventional data imply. The passenger traffic pattern was also more complex than has been presented. Recycled secondary records based on figures aggregated to boost the airline's image have inflated empire passenger loads and hidden the share of paying versus non-paying passengers. Annualised data have concealed the monthly and seasonal variability of passenger traffic. Geographical route summary data and reporting conventions have given the impression that Britain's designated empire airline, Imperial Airways, served only principal imperial cities. In this article reconstituted raw data show temporal and geographical variations in passenger loads. A surprising number of passengers flew only short sections of the Africa air route. Passenger information relating to empire air route segments allows reappraisal of the role and impact of Imperial Airways.