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Transatlantic Zeppelins

Air Routes to and from Paris

Brindisi to Athens and Istanbul

Imperial Airways

Air Routes in Germany

Air Routes in Latin America

air routes from the U.S. to Central and South America in 1933

Air Routes to Asia

as of 1933

Air Routes in China

• blue = China National Aviation Corp.; types:  Loening Amphibian, Sikorsky S-38 and S-43 (from 1935), Douglas Dolphin and DC-2 (from 8-34), Stinson SM-1 Detroiter, Vultee V-1 (from 1934)

• green = Eurasia; types:  any and all German civil aircraft including Ju-52 trimotors (it's operated by Lufthansa)

• purple = Southwest Aviation Company, plus various French companies

• red = railways. The connection to Canton isn't completed until 1937; the line from Hanoi to Kunming was completed in 1911 though.

• brown = the Horse and Tea Road

     Air travel price examples in China:

• Shanghai to Chungking $400 (twice a week, via Nanking, Hankow, and Ichang)

• Shanghai to Nanking $40 (daily)

• Shanghai to Tientsin $160 (daily, via Tsingtao)

• Shanghai to Peiping $180 (daily, via Tsingtao and Tientsin)

Air Routes from France to Africa

     Planes fly one round trip per day from Toulouse to Casablanca, via Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga, Tangier and Rabat. 1146 miles.

     Air mail planes continue from Casablanca, via many stops, along the African coast to Dakar.

     One round trip is flown each day between Marseille and Algiers:  499 miles.

     Another round trip is made each day from Marseille to Ajaccio and Tunis, and back. 621 miles.

Air Routes in Egypt

     As of 1933:

     The Egyptian air forces received ten new planes in I933.

     Scheduled air lines were started. Commercial activities are confined largely to a Egyptian-British company, Misr Airwork, Ltd., which operates a flying school, aerial service and a twice-a-day transport service between Cairo and Alexandria. Light British planes are used. In summer months the company also operates a weekly schedule from Alexandria to the coast resort at Mersa Matruh (halfway between Alexandria and the Libyan border).

     Imperial Airways of Great Britain between London and Johannesburg, and India and other eastern points, makes connections through Egypt. The Dutch line also serves Cairo. and an arrangement has been made for the extension of an Italian air service from Tobruk on the Mediterranean coast to Alexandria.

     As of 1935:

     Misr Airlines (based at Almaza Airport, Heliopolis) has several scheduled services:

• Cairo (Almaza) to Alexandria:  a morning, mid-day and afternoon round-trip flight are made each day; the flight one way takes about an hour.

• Cairo (Almaza) to Port Said, and on to Haifa, Jerusalem, Jaffa or Tel-Aviv, Palestine:   one round trip per day. We haven't found much information about the route or schedule at the Palestinian end of this service, but a flight from Port Said to any of the Palestinian airports takes about 3 hours.
  

• Alexandria-Port Said-Cairo-Minia-Assiut:   departs Alexandria about 7 a.m.

     The airline is entirely equipped with De Havilland aircraft, cruising speed 135 mph.

Air Routes in India

     These aren't all the passenger air routes in India, but it's what we have so far ...

Zeppelin Route to South America

     The complete route is from Berlin to Arica, Chile; the airship portion (aboard the LZ127 Graf Zeppelin) is from Friedrichshafen to Rio de Janiero. From Berlin to Friedrichshafen (via Stuttgart), and from Rio to Arica (via Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Santiago), service is via Ju52 "Condor" aircraft. This route is suspended in between November and May, and during the summer tickets often sell out -- and are charged at a higher rate.

     Each of the airplane stages (except Montevideo to Buenos Aires) operates once a day. The Graf Zeppelin maintains a regular round trip cycle, usually taking 5 days from Germany to Rio de Janiero. For example in 1934 it departs from Germany on June 9, June 23, July 21, August 4, August 18, September 1, September 15, September 29, October 13, and October 27. 

     The basic fare is RM 1500, or $590; fares for departures in late June are 10% higher. Freight rates are RM 10 per kilogram, in excess of 20 kilograms; baggage in excess of 50 kilograms is usually refused. Freight sent by steam ship is charged RM 10 per 100 kilograms, by the way.

     This route began in the spring of 1932, and ended in after May of 1937 (when the Hindenburg was lost). There is an airship shed, the Hangar do Zeppelin, at the town of Santa Cruz just outside of Rio de Janiero.

Other Known Routes

• Deruluft operates daily service between Berlin and Moscow, and between Berlin and Leningrad, with Ju-52 and ANT-9 aircraft.

• Romania has some internal air routes.