Fhe Nmue Nugget
Published Monday, Wednesday
and Friday by The
Nome, Alaska
Telephone: Main 125
P. O. Box 618
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W. A. BOU CHER. .EditorPublisher
EMILY BOU CHER. .Society Editor
Second Class Application Madeln
Nome Post Office
FRIDAY, Nov. 10, 1944
»---_
ALASKA
LIVES ON AIR
If there be those who
question the factual back
ground for the many elab
ate statements we hear rel
ative o the importance of
aviation [n Alaska, they
need only consult statistics
on file with the Civil
Aeronautics Board to con
firm them.
Documents fUed by the
Alaska Airlines in connec
tion with the hearing on
operations between Fair
banks and Kodiak, include
many interesting tables
showing how Alaska ‘ticks’
in the field of transporta
tion.
One of the outstanding
tables shows how the peo
ple of Alaska depend more
on aviation than do the peo
ple of continental United
States. The figures were
taken from the Post Office
Department appropriation
bill for 1941.
It is a simple table that
the airline presented, but
some of the spectacular
facts it showed for the
year 1939, the last year of
normal operations before
the war, are as follows.
Alaska had 116 times as
many planes per capita en
gaged in commercial avia
tion as did continental U
nited Staes.
These Alaskan planes
flew 70 times as many
miles per capita as did the
commercial planes of the
United States.
The Alaska planes car
ried 23 times as many pas
sengers, per capita, as did
the planes in the States.
The planes carried their
travelers 18 times as many
passenger miles per capita
as did he fleet in the
States.
Alaska commercial air
planes carried 1,034 times
as much poundage of
freight and express, per
capita, as did the commer
cial planes of the States.
Forty-eight times as
many pounds of mail per
capita, were moved by air
in Alaska as compared to
as compared to the States.
Elaborate as those state
ments seem to be, they are
supported by he figures
aken from the federal files*
They must not be con
strued as claiming that A
laska exceeded the States
in number of planes oper
ating, passengers flown
freight carried, and the
like.
The figures are comput
by reducing operations of
commercial carriers in the
States and Alaska to a per
capita basis. They are
based on the two funda
mental facts (1) In 1939
the official population of
thethe States was 130,215,
000 and Alaska 62,700, and
(2) In 1939 there were!
3,055 commercial airplanes
operating in the States
while Alaska had 175.
By reducing those fig
ures to a per capita basis,
it is found that the num- !
ber of planes operain ‘in
Alaska was 116 times great
er per capita than in the
States. Actually the 130,
215,000 people in the U.S.
had approximately two and
one-half planes to service
each 100,000 of population
while in Alaska we had
approximately two and
service each 1,000 persons.
On the basis of other of
ficial figures as to miles
flown, passengers carried
freight, express and mail
movedmoved, it is reveal
ed that the following facts
are rue:
While he planes of the
States carried just about
21 passengers out of each
1,000 served, the planes in
Alaska carried 474 persons
out of each 1,000 of popu
lation.
Thus only two percent
of the people in the contin
three-quarters planes to
ental United Staes used air
planes as a means of ravel
while in Alaska 47.4 per
cent af the people traveled
in the air.
But the most spectacular
figures to be drawn from
these statistics are probab
ly those pertaining to
freight and express car
ried.
In Alaska approximate
ly 66.6 pounds of freight
and express for each per
son streaked across the
skies in commercial air
planes. During the same
period, the skies over the
States saw only sixty-five
hundredths of one pound
(.065 lbs.) of freight and
express for each person.
A brief study of these
facts is sufficient to show
even the most skeptical
that the present economy
of Alaska and its commun
ities leans heavily on the
air. Legislation that would
impede the development
and expansion of aviation
has a direct influence on
the everyday lives of Al
askans. '
Legislotors considering
the needs of aviation, must
view the problem as intim
ately connected with the
welfare of the people they
serve. The paving of an
airport runway, the main
tenance of navigation aids
and other encouragement
to commercial aviation
comes under the heading of
public needs rather than
subsidies for private ent
erprise.
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