Further Development
Proposals in 1930 (initially called Project H) were for scheduled airship services from 1931 from Cardington to Karachi and Montreal with R100 and R101 (both lengthened with additional bays) until 1934 when additional and larger airships, the R102 (an enlarged R101 with 8,300,000 cubic feet (240,000 m3) capacity) and the R103 (of around 9,500,000 cubic feet (270,000 m3) capacity) would be available. By 1935 the four airships would offer monthly return services to Montreal and Karachi and a weekly service to Ismailia in Egypt. A service to Australia was to start in 1936, and an even larger airship, the R104 was proposed.
But on 31 August 1931 the Cabinet decided to abandon British airship development, although Cardington would still keep a watching brief on overseas developments. The R100 was broken up. Proposals for the planned R102, R103 and R104 airships were now all abandoned. The loss of R101, the deepening world depression, and doubts about the optimistic financial forecasts, were all factors in these decisions.
Air routes to the Empire were instead pioneered by Imperial Airways starting in 1929, initially using flying boats and later landplanes.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Airship Scheme
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