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Arabian Airways
In 1936,
Antonin Besse
saw the need for faster links between
Aden and Hadhramaut as to travel by
dhow or one of
Cowasjee Dinshaw's 'miserable
little' steamers was
tediously slow, and uncomfortable.
He envisaged also a weekly service
from Addis Ababa and another to
Sanaa.
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"Plus est en vous"
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Besse, who
also owned the Halal Shipping Company
which took cargoes to Mukalla and Shehr as and when
required, saw the obvious potential
for a contract with the Aden Post
Office on the Mukalla route. Further
reading on the mail services
here. |
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The first aircraft purchased was a
4-seat Monospar
ST.25
registered G-AEJB. After the closure
of Arabian Airways the Monospar was
given to the Free French movement,
but it crashed just a month
after. |
Monospar
ST.25 |
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Short
Scion |
The next plane added in 1937 was a
Short Scion registered
G-AEJL. By the end of 1937 the
business was still operating at a
loss. On December 18 the Short Scion was
written off in a crash at Tarim and was
replaced with a reconditioned Short
Scion costing
£2,000
in January 1938.
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Besse formed a limited liability
company with a paid up capital of
£5,000
and named it Arabian Airways Ltd. He
reasoned that the subsidies earned
from a mail service linked with
Imperial Airways in Khartoum would
provide a profitable edge to the
business and futile steps were taken
by his London office to seek the
necessary government approval.
Approvals had also not been
forthcoming for the various air
links he had wanted.
By the end of 1939 Arabian Airways
Ltd with it's two aircraft was
closed down and it's 2 pilots and
ground engineer entered service with
the RAF.
The venture had run at a continuing
financial loss and could in this
sense have been considered a
failure. However, only 10 years
later in 1949
Aden Airways would emerge as a
subsidiary of BOAC and prove Besse's
predictions correct. He had been
right all along and like so many
entrepreneurs was merely a little
ahead of his time. It is interesting
to note that he was invited to
become chairman of
Aden
Airways, a role he did not
accept.
He kept
the Short Scion in Aden
which he used for week-end trips to Mukeiras. Returning from such a
trip in 1940, the plane crashed on takeoff
and Mr. Besse suffered spinal
injuries. He was taken to hospital
where he was fitted with a body
cast; most uncomfortable in the
oppressive Aden heat. He was
transported to France where he spent
several months convalescing at his
'Le Paradou' property. |
