Struggle for Prominence: Clashing Dutch and British Interests on the Colonial Air Routes, 1918—42

Abstract

used their international airlines as instruments for political, economic and, in the case of Japan, also military penetration in regions where they held strategic interests. In Great Britain, France and Germany, the aspiration to provide a peacetime captive market for the national aviation industry also played a part. Yet, the most important motive, common to all countries that supported their national aviation effort, was national prestige.' Government support for air transport activities was given mainly through the provision of financial and diplomatic assistance. Since most of the airline companies of the inter-war period were highly unprofitable as business ventures, subsidies were decisive for their survival. Subsidies came in different shapes, though they had one element in common: the amounts of money involved were not related to the contribution of air transport to the national economy. The most widespread kind, used in all countries, involved 'remuneration' for the transportation of mail. It has been estimated that, in general, less than 10 per cent of the money received by the airlines for airmail transportation can be regarded as actual payment for services rendered.2 The rest was subsidy. This type of subsidy was sometimes supplanted by straightforward government compensation for company losses (as was the case in Holland), or by a system of payments based on an annual number of miles to be flown set by the government