Airlines of Asia Since 1920

Book excerpt: In 1920 Siam inaugurated the first air services in Asia. Today Asian airlines are high in the world ranking & many have outstanding reputations for efficiency & service. They also have some of the youngest aircraft fleets. The enormous development that has taken place from pioneering routes with single-engined open cockpit biplanes up to the present with large fleets of the latest jetliner is described in enormous detail in Airlines of Asia since 1920. The Asian countries, & consequently their airlines, have suffered much during these years. First, many of them had to fight for their freedom from colonial powers; then there was the devasting Second World War followed by numerous other wars & revolutions. Somehow the airlines survived or came into existence when conditions stabilised. The fact that so many are now among the world's leaders is due to the calibre of the men responsible. In narrating the history the author pays tribute to these men & in remarkable detail takes the reader through all the financial & political trials that they have overcome. Of particular interest is the chapter on the airlines of the New China. The single state airline has been replaced by numerous new airlines with the latest European & United States equipment & traffic growth has been enormous. A large number of maps, tables & photographs help to make Airlines of Asia since 1920 a work of outstanding value. R E G Davies has done more than anyone else to record for all time the history of the world's airlines from the first scheduled air services in 1914. He has spent his working life involved with commercial air transport, with airlines & manufacturers of transport aircraft & since 1983 has been Air Transport Curator at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC. He is also a Fellow of three Royal Societies: Geographical, Aeronautical & the Arts & is a Fellow National of the Explorers Club. His previous titles on related topics for Putnam Aeronautical Books, Airlines of Latin America since 1919 & Airlines of the United States since 1914 have been widely applauded. In preparing this book R E G Davies visited most of the countries in Asia & interviewed many of those responsible for running Asia's airlines.