Passages and rebates: Colonial officers and the shift from sea to air travel in the 1940s

Abstract

Passengers seldom appear in historical accounts as having their own role in the development of civil aviation. This study identifies a particular class of air-travellers: colonial officers and their families, stationed throughout the British Empire, who in the late 1940s drove a shift to the air at a time of an acute crisis in shipping accommodations. The drive from sea to air relied on an administrative infrastructure which was created by the Crown Agents for the Colonies on the basis of their earlier agreements with shipping companies. The Crown Agents administered the passage of colonial officers and negotiated a rebate agreement with British Overseas Airways Corporation in 1949. The study concludes that the history of civil aviation and the shift from sea to air travel depended not only on technological improvements but also on passengers whose practices normalised air-travel.