CP Air: Worldwide Routes, October 1978: Detail of Pacific Network

Continuing from the previous post, showing the Pacific portion of CP Air's October 1978 route network. Vancouver dominates as the airline's home base, with strong showings a the prairie capitals of Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. All four western Canadian cities are connected to Honolulu, which is merely a way station for further stops at the international airport at Nadi (here spelled Nandi) in Fiji, finally finishing at Sydney. A single Asian route links Vancouver to Tokyo and Hong Kong. Routes out of Vancouver also link California, and further down the Pacific coast to Acapulco and Lima, as shown in the earlier post. An extensive domestic network across Northwestern Canada extends as far as Whitehorse.

CP Air: Worldwide Routes, October 1978

The incredibly complex connectivity of the classic Canadian Pacific Air Lines route network in October 1978 is shown here in this blazoning vintage advert. Then operating as CP Air, the aviation arm of the Canadian conglomerate offered passenger services to 14 international airports on five continents from no less than five separate gateways across Canada.

Particularly key was the European gateway of Amsterdam, which lined to four Canadian cities: Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto, although somewhat oddly not its primary airport, Vancouver. CP Air jets also departed Toronto for Milan, and Rome, with onward service to Athens from both Rome and Amsterdam. Rome and Lisbon, but not Amsterdam, were served from Montreal, which also enjoyed service to Mexico City. Toronto was also linked to Mexico City as well as Acapulco and Lima. Whether the continuing service from Lima to Santiago, finally terminating at Buenos Aires, were originally from Toronto or Vancouver is unclear.

CP Air also connected all its international gateways, except Montreal, to Honolulu, from whence it plunged far south to Antipodea. CP Air's Pacific operations, shown above, will be detailed in the following post.

All Nippon Airways: Tokyo to Seattle aboard the B787 Dreamliner, 25 July 2012

Like its rival Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, the first customer for the B787 Dreamliner, has been rapidly deploying the plane on new routes made suddenly-viable with the new aircraft's advanced capabilities and economics. One of these is to Seattle-Tacoma, although the special note indicate that the route will commence with a B777, prior to the delivery of a B787 model.

Delta Air Lines: the East Asia/Pacific Routes, January 2012

Continuing from the previous post, this detail of Delta's January 2012 route map shows the airline's numerous routes spreading out of its Tokyo Narita hub to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taipei, Busan, Seoul, Shanghai, Manila, the latter also served from Nagoya, whereas the Micronesian islands of Saipan, Guam and Palau are also served from mainland Japan, including Osaka-Kansai. Numerous routes lead off to the right to the United States, as shown in the previous post. A score of mainland Chinese cities, dotted in blue to indicate connection via SkyTeam parents such as Korean Air, China Eastern, and China Southern, beckons before the curvature of the earth at left.

Delta's Transpacific Routes, January 2012

A map from the beginning of the year showing Delta's crisscrossing of the north Pacific. The remnants of Northwest Airlines half-century of service across the rim of the Pacific is clearly evident with Tokyo as a through-put hub, and Detroit, acting successfully if somewhat curiously as the primary Asian gateway of the long-haul system, as well as also keeping Minneapolis connected to Narita. Added to this are Delta's old standby, Atlanta, and its upstart hub at Salt Lake City (the first time Utah's capital has been mentioned on Timetablist).

Non-hubs Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco enjoy non-stops to Tokyo, and Portland, Oregon also continues to be blessed with a prestigious non-stop to Japan. Seattle has actually fared better under Delta than under Northwest: the Department of Transportation awarded a highly-lucrative non-stop to Beijing, the only entry point aside from Detroit, and a Sea-Tac to Kansai connection. Detroit also has the only transocean flight to Hong Kong, whereas Atlanta was granted DOT approval for a non-stop to Shanghai-Pudong (although this route was ultimately unsuccessful and has since been suspended). Lastly are a trio of lucrative connections between Honolulu and mainland Japan, including Osaka and Nagoya.

Note that Delta serves Haneda now also, as many international carriers scrambled to do. Tucked in between the massive Narita operation and the new mainland China gateways is Seoul Incheon, where Delta's SkyTeam partner, Korean Air, has its super hub, although Delta only links to the mainland US via Detroit (Korean Air serves Atlanta). Now that both China Eastern and China Southern are part of SkyTeam, mainland connections may be just as important.

The following post will detail the Asian portion of the map, showing connections from Narita to Southeast Asia.

Air Madagascar: Regional Routes, 2005/6

From an overly-helpful website of a travel agency specializing in Madagascar, this Air Madagascar route map from half a decade ago shows its routes to neighboring islands and mainland Africa from October 2005-March 2006.

Linhas Aereas de Moçambique: Domestic Routes, 2012

Continuing from yesterday's post, the current domestic network of Mozambique's flag carrier shown via an attractively spare Adobe Illustrator job, found on its website. Flights fan out from the capital in the south to nearly every one of its eight national destinations, but every city is connected to at least two others, with several routes running out from the regional centers. Connections criss-cross on the belt at Beira and Quelimane, reaching to the northern capitals of Nampula and Pemba. A route from Tete to distant Lichinga crosses over Malawian airspace.

Linhas Aereas de Moçambique Routes, 2012

The well-tended website of Mozambique's state carrier, Linhas Aereas de Moçambique, features a handsomely spare route map. Although the online image shows the entire globe, LAM's routes are almost entirely confined to southern Africa as shown here. It is therefore curious that Asia and the Americas are included, as LAM serves neither and in fact only recently was able to re-enter the ex-African market with its return to Lisbon this year. There is a strong emphasis on not only other continents but connecting carriers' services, which quite strangely are shown in solid lines on the map, while the airline's own network is only depicted in faint dotted lines: the effect is to blur distinctions and make LAM's own operations diminished.

While the scope of LAM's presence is small, it impressively flies internationally from what appears to be no less than eight of its ten domestic airports: flies to Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam come out of northeastern Nampula and Pemba, whereas Joanesburgo is served from five cities. There is also a nonstop from Maputo to Cape Town. Somewhat strangely, it appears that the flight to Luanda originates from Inhambane, and the flight to Lisbon on LAM's own wings appears to stop in Beira-- perhaps these are cartographic errors?

Linhas Aereas de Moçambique: Maputo-Lisbon-Berlinin, 1983

Staying in southern Africa: Timetablist has featured a very similar envelope in the past, recognizing Linhas Aereas de Moçambique's service 1983 to Berlin from Maputo, via Lisbon. However, this particular item seems to be principally introducing not just the route but also the aircraft, the Primeiro Voo of a DC-10, which here roars to a landing, facing the viewer straight on. The cancellation stamp is impressed twice, featuring LAM's handsome spread-wing songbird logo. Note also the Fokker friendship in the colors of LAM's ancestor, DETA, on the postage stamp.

LAM has survived to the present day but is shamefully not currently serving Europe, due to the European Union's categorization that no carriers certified by Mozambique's aviation regulatory bodies may enter European airspace. However, given Mozambique's booming economy, demand for intercontinental airline seats is surely rising, and perhaps LAM's fortunes will rise with it.

Air Zimbabwe Schedule from Harare, 1997

The full schedule of Air Zimbabwe services from Harare in 1997 shows 17 destinations on at least two, possibly three continents. The typical timetable handbook format, used around the world by many airlines, often presents some curious itineraries: as in this instance it is difficult to contemplate such a volume of passengers between Zimbabwe and, say, Salt Lake City, or Tampa, or Klagerfurt, or Barbados, to warrant taking up the space (and expending the printing costs).

This is particularly true as the state carrier at the time seemed to serve only Frankfurt and London Gatwick (interestingly via Larnaca) beyond Africa, aside a somewhat curious Harare-Perth-Sydney service, with a UM flight number but operated by a B747. As there is no other source which records this venture, it suggests that Air Zim was wishfully assigning a codeshare as its own metal.

A decade later, the airline's schedule would pivot away from Antipodean and Anglophone areas and orient itself along the Africa-Asia-China axis  (as seen yesterday) which has been a major story of the 21st century.

This item is borrowed from the incredible blog airline-memorabilia.blogspot.com which uncovered this 15-year old gem. The Timetablist is indebted to the Airline Memorabilia Blog for its continued support and the privilege of reposting these timetable pages. 

Air Zimbabwe Schedule, September 2011

An Air Zimbabwe timetable from last year, some 14 years after yesterday's map, shows an airline no longer limited to Southern Africa, but with less service within the region also.

Such important connections as Cape Town, Durban, and Nairobi are gone, although the service to Lusaka now connects to Lubumbashi in the DR Congo. The furtive crossing of the Indian Ocean to Mauritius has now been replaced with a quixotic Asian connection to Beijing via Kuala Lumpur. The prestigious London route has been restored.

While the aircraft livery has been updated and a global reach has been achieved, Air Zimbabwe continues to be plagued with problems, and indeed was grounded in the time between this schedule's printing and now.

Air Zimbabwe Network, 1998

An academic airline illustration, from the January 2000 issue of the Journal of Transport Geography, in a paper titled, "Air Transport Operations and Policy in Zimbabwe, 1980-1998" by Chris Mutambirwa and Brian Turton.

The map isn't a graphic feat, its dry two-toned appearance fitting for the journalism at hand. The map shows not only current routes of Air Zimbabwe in 1998, but those such as Harare-Maputo and Victoria Falls-Windhoek that were withdrawn in 1997. The connecting lines also note the number of weekly flights per route. Gaborone is strangely out of place.

Air Zaïre Network, 1981

Given this week's sleek but slender offerings from newly-minted Korongo, its incredible to look back a time when Congolese carriers had a much wider reach: the above poster shows the spread of Air Zaïre at its zenith, when it was "also celebrating 20 years" since its founding in 1961 as Air Congo.

The national carrier had an astonishing array of services, which are here represented by a powerful kinetic gesture reminiscent of an African antelope artwork. The European cities are connected by the arc of the animal's horn: Athens, Rome, Geneva, Frankfurt, Madrid, Amsterdam, London, Paris, and of course Brussels. 

The second horn aligns with the West African route, linking Kinshasa with Lagos, Libreville, Douala, Lomé, Abidjan, and Dakar. Lubumbashi is the only domestic destination included here but was hardly the only internal operation. 

East Africa on the animal's underside show Lusaka, its southernmost city (South Africa was shunned) but also Kigali, Bujumbura, Nairobi, Entebbe and Dar Es Salaam.

This calligraphic creature was used for a number of years, appearing on timetables and other advertisements. Air Zaïre's fortunes would sink with the rest of the continent's aviation companies, and indeed with country itself, which continues to be mired in conditions far less promising than a quarter century ago. 

Korongo Airlines: Kinshasa-Lubumbashi, 2012

A web advert for the young Korongo Airlines, offering its 8 weekly flights to Lubumbashi from Kinshasa at also mentioning its twice-weekly flights to Johannesburg. The resemblance to its parent, Brussels Airlines, is apparent in the color scheme.

Korongo Airlines Network, 2012

A new chapter in the saga of Congolese Aviation is the recent arrival of Korongo Airlines. Backed by Belgians (as has so frequently been the case in the history of Congo's airlines), Korongo has been constituted by Brussels Airlines with other partners. According to the map, the airline seems to only offer a flight between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, although the route map, taken from the airline's website, also includes diamond hub Mbuji-Mayi, secondary Katangan capital of Kolwezi. Beyond the vast extent of the Congo itself, prestigious plans are apparently in place for flights to Johannesburg (already underway according to the Wikipedia article) and Brussels-- the dashed line from Kinshasa suggests that for the time being passengers may connect with SN service to Zaventem.

Zambezi Airlines Routes, 2011

Zambezi Airlines has had a short, rocky history, having commenced flights in 2008 just before the demise of Zambian Airways. But its certificate to operate was suspended by authorities from 2011 until just last month. The airline is now resurrecting its regional network of scheduled services, currently only operating from Lusaka to Johannesburg but surely hoping to return to its pre-crisis network, which as can be seen above stretched from the DR Congo to Dar Es Salaam to Cape Town.

With the continued growth of the Zambian economy and boom in its cooper belt, along with its positive democratic developments, the young airline has the opportunity to land its reticulated tail fin at other airports across the region, giving the rising nation a de-facto flag carrier and a regional player.

Air Mauritius Network, c.2011

Air Mauritius, Africa's fourth-largest airline, has an admirable reach across four continents. Especially impressive are the links with three Australian and three South African cities, the four largest hubs of India (bridging the sizable South Asian diaspora on the island state) and the cluster of long routes to Europe: six major gateways in five countries, plying the high-end tourist trade. Shanghai had just been added at the time of this map's publication, and two grey circles detail code-share set-ups which reach deep into westernmost Europe and southeast Asia. Unfortunately, since this graphic was drawn, some of this spread has retreated: Kuala Lumpur, Milan, Sydney and Melbourne are all sadly departed.

Zambia Airways Routes, c.1980

A vintage (though undated) Zambia Airways timetable cover features a route map which fascinates with where the state carrier both did and did not fly. The only ex-African routes are to Europe, with non stops to London and Rome, the latter which branches off firstly to Frankfurt and then, bizarrely, to Belgrade. While East Africa's capitals are included, neither Rhodesia nor South Africa are served, presumably blockaded due to apartheid. No domestic routes are shown, aside from service from Livingston, at Victoria Falls. Maputo's Portuguese name is provided in parenthesis. The farthest eastern destination is Mauritius; the airline had yet to reach Bombay or Jeddah. There are no West African services, much less than flagship route to New York.

Air India: Bombay-Lusaka, June 1980

Thirty-two years ago, Air India had a much wider reach than today. Air India of a quarter-century ago had more service to African than the airline does to southeast Asia. Here is a special cover from the Indian Posts and Telegraphs ministry celebrating the first flight to Lusaka, Zambia, from Bombay.

The trademark Maharaja makes an appearance, bowing his head next to the dark and perfectly crisp cancellation stamp, underneath a postmark with a lovely illustration of an AI jumbo in flight (although surely this was not used to central Africa). However it is the resplendent peacock which dominates the decoration, its head not bent in supplication but turned back to admire its own fan of plumage.

Although Air India once served not only Zambia but also Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania (as recently as 2006), Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria, today it does not land on African soil at all.

Air India: the Gulf Routes, c.2012

Air India has more routes to the Gulf than what remains of its European, North American, or nonexistent African network but still the coverage is spare. Cairo is not served, Kuwait is farmed out, and there is no direct service from such megacities as Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad or Amritsar (that latter three not even shown here) but only from the Keralan coastal centers of Kozhikode, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Major Gulf hubs such as Doha and Bahrain are also absent. The label for Abu Dhabi is far removed from its dot, also. Everything about the contemporary Air India, a sad shadow of its former self, indicates an airline out of focus.