Chapter 320 Actions of Various Countries

On the second day after the banquet, that is, on May 22, 1912, Australasia announced the establishment of the Royal Air Machinery Manufacturing Company and officially started the business of selling airships to foreign countries.

In addition, the Royal Australasia Airlines was also established, and before the start of the Olympic Games, a global route would be established to facilitate athletes from all over the world to travel to Australasia.

This decision immediately made the concept of airlines expected by many Europeans and Americans, and made the Sydney Olympic Games even more popular.

If you think about it carefully, even if you don’t get a good ranking in the Games, you can experience a journey around the world on an airship, which doesn’t seem to be a big loss.

After all, Australasia has announced that during this Sydney Olympic Games, athletes from all over the world will travel to Australasia, and all airship tickets are free.

For many countries, this can be regarded as a big deal. After all, there are dozens or even hundreds of athletes in any country.

If calculated according to the current ticket price, a round trip airship ticket will cost at least tens of thousands of pounds, which is not a small expense for the sports departments and associations of various countries.

Being able to travel for free has also made many countries more enthusiastic about participating in the Olympics.

Anyway, it won't take long to take an airship to Australasia. After Australasia announced the airship flights, several countries actually chose to sign up for the Olympics temporarily.

This is good news for Arthur. If nothing unexpected happens, the number of countries and regions participating in the Sydney Olympics will exceed 30, and the number of athletes participating in the Olympics will reach a terrifying 3,500 or more.

This scale is not only far beyond the London Olympics four years ago, but also greatly exceeds the original Stockholm Games in history.

As for the cost of picking up and dropping off these athletes, it is actually nothing for Australasia.

After all, Australasia's airlines can enjoy the cost price of the airship, use these athletes and this Olympics, and in turn advertise for the airship and airlines. This is simply a win-win situation.

Anyway, in order to promote the Sydney Olympics, Arthur had promised to cover the travel expenses of all participating athletes and provide them with free accommodation and food in Sydney.

It was nothing more than replacing the ship with an airship, which would not only greatly save the time of athletes coming to Australasia, but also would not change much in terms of travel expenses.

After all, one's own family knows one's own business. The reason why the airship ticket is expensive is because of the popularity of this round-the-world tour and the novelty of the new transportation tool of the airship.

The cost of a round-the-world tour by airship, including all expenses, should be around 10,000 pounds.

Even if the cost of various services and food and drinks on the airship is not calculated, if only the ticket price is calculated, 58 seats, an average of 172 pounds per person, can make the airline pay back.

In this way, even if all athletes take the free airship, the cost of two round trips is only more than one million pounds, and selling dozens of airships can make up for it.

Moreover, when the airline's business gradually becomes more and more, the profit of the airline alone will be enough to make up for these expenses.

You should know that the people who can afford airship tickets are basically the rich and noble classes in various countries.

For these classes, airship tickets costing thousands of pounds are nothing. Efficiency and comfort are their top priorities.

And airships are definitely much faster than ships, and the comfort level is far better than ships.

This also means that as long as safety is guaranteed, airlines that focus on airships will become the main competitors in the global navigation business in the next few years or even more than ten years.

The huge number of capitalists and dignitaries around the world are enough to make a large number of airlines make a lot of money in the aviation business.

Of course, as a provider of airships, Australasia must have made the most money.

Before other countries and companies can provide airships with performance comparable to AU-3, Australasia is the arbitrator in the aviation business and the absolute leader of the world's airlines.

In fact, it can be expected that major European and American countries will definitely catch up with Australasia in terms of airships quickly.

Let's not talk about ordinary powers for now. For top powers like Britain and Germany, it is not difficult to catch up with Australasia in airship technology within a few years.

This also means that Australasia's profits from airships will last for a maximum of one or two years, and then it will face strong competition from Europe and the United States.

However, if things develop in this way, it is within Arthur's expectations and estimates.

You know, it is not so easy and safe to travel around the world by airship. If airships are really so convenient and safe, they would have replaced airplanes and become the most mainstream aviation tool in history.

The famous Hindenburg incident in history caused a devastating blow to the originally booming airship industry.

The airships of this era are developing faster than in history. It is not certain which round-the-world voyage the Hindenburg incident will occur.

It is a good thing for Australasia to withdraw from the airship aviation industry early.

After all, if an incident similar to the Hindenburg occurs, not only will there be a large amount of compensation, but the government and airlines will also face reputational losses.

Especially when the royal family is involved in Australasian airlines and airship companies, the royal family's prestige may be affected.

Perhaps it was the benefits and value shown by airships that made European and American capitalists excited. In short, the next day at the Aeronautical Research Institute, Director Teodor signed an order for hundreds of airships with European and American capitalists. The price is as high as 75,200 pounds, and the total value of all orders exceeds 8 million pounds.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the net profit from these orders is as high as about 4 million pounds, which is enough for two super-dreadnoughts.

It seems that Arthur's plan to sail around the world and bear the athletes' travel expenses is just a drop in the bucket.

After all, hundreds of airships cannot meet the world's aviation demand. According to Director Teodor's estimation, the world's aviation demand will enter the saturation stage with at least a thousand airships.

However, the airship is also damaged, and coupled with the cost of inspection, repair and replacement of various parts of the airship, this is enough for the Aviation Research Institute to have no shortage of income in the next few years.

If you add Australasia's own airlines, I am afraid that the annual revenue from aviation will exceed tens of millions of Australian dollars.

After this round-the-world voyage, both governments and capitalists in various countries saw the role and value of airships.

In the civilian field, airships will become the fastest means of transportation, and perhaps the most popular and trusted way to travel around the world.

Although the price of airship tickets is indeed not low, these days, people who can freely travel to other countries are definitely not civilians.

These people are either rich or noble, and their spending power far exceeds that of ordinary people in developed countries.

In the military field, current airships show even greater potential.

This is an air vehicle that can reach anywhere in the world. It is a potential threat to any country.

You must know that there are no satellites now. The only way for people to distinguish whether there is an enemy attack is through naked eye observation.

This creates good conditions for sneak attacks by airships. No country can guarantee that every inch of its territory will not be attacked by airships.

Whether transporting strategic supplies or transporting soldiers, the speed and efficiency of airships are worthy of attention.

Even as a pure weapon, airships can transport tens of tons of bombs, posing a serious threat to ground troops and facilities.

Starting from the end of May, European and American countries have successively announced a new round of research and construction of airships.

The British government has made emergency allocations to domestic airship research institutions and companies, and it is said that at least more than two million pounds have been invested in airship research.

Germany is not willing to give in. As the largest and most advanced airship manufacturing company in Germany, Zeppelin has received attention and support from the German government and received a sum of funds.

According to German news, Nicholas II also approved Russia’s domestic airship development plan, and it is said that the investment will exceed 500,000 pounds.

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The United States is even more wealthy and has announced assistance to multiple domestic airship companies, with assistance funds exceeding US$30 million.

Coupled with the large number of domestic capitalists in the United States, if nothing unexpected happens, domestic airship manufacturing companies will spring up like mushrooms after a rain in the next few years.

Even the island countries that lost British aid, under the call of their emperor, all tightened their belts and saved two million yen to purchase airships and invest in research.

Many European powers, including France, Austria-Hungary and Italy, also have their own airship purchase and research plans.

For a time, the importance of airships was unparalleled, whether in civilian or military fields, and was valued by countries around the world.

Among all the countries that are determined to invest in airship research, the United States is probably the most wealthy.

The U.S. military contacted multiple airship construction companies in the United States and proposed its own airship procurement plan.

The U.S. military's requirements for airships must have a carrying capacity of at least 20 tons and be able to travel around the world.

The U.S. military has released news that as long as any airship company can meet this requirement, the U.S. military will order at least fifty airships and will reach long-term cooperation with the airship company.

This is no small amount of money. If we refer to the selling price of airships in Australasia, the value of fifty airships will exceed 4 million pounds, and at least a quarter will be pure profit.

In other words, as long as you can meet the requirements of the US military, you can get a profit of 1 million pounds for free. Even if converted into U.S. dollars, it is 5 million U.S. dollars. This is definitely not a small number.

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