End of the Season

Workmen pounded, sawed and lugged heavy timbers about the floor of the Graf Zeppelin's great hangar at Friedrichshafen last week. They were building a "cradle" to support the big dirigible, about to be deflated and put up for the winter. While at rest on its shoring, the Graf will be minutely inspected by dirigible experts, to estimate an airship's lifetime. The Grafs record for 1930: 155 flights covering 144,275 mi. Passengers carried, 6,278; mail, 2,200,000 pieces; freight, 12,166 Ib. Zeppelin officials claimed that revenue from passenger fares met the cost of gas, salaries, insurance, depreciation.

Capt. Ernst Lehmann, second officer of the Graf, last week told the Berlin Shipbuilders' Association how to make money in the transatlantic Zeppelin business with four or five craft making crossings within three days or less. Capital required: $7,000,000 to $12,000,000 for landing stations; $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 for construction of ships. Annual expenditures: $6,660,000, or $37,000 for each of 180 annual trips. That cost could be fully met by mail and freight revenues, said Capt. Lehmann. Zeppelins carrying 40 passengers each would show profits of $28,600 per trip from passenger fares, which Capt. Lehmann set at $715.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.