EMPLOYMENT: The Fattest Contracts Ever

AVIATION

Planemaker Donald Douglas sat down in the Wings Club in Manhattan with the presidents of three airlines. Panagra’s Harold J. Roig, American Airlines’ A. N. Kemp and United Air Lines’ W. A. Patterson. When Planemaker Douglas left, 12 minutes later, he had in his pocket the fattest airline contracts ever placed in the U.S. aircraft industry. The contracts gave Douglas the job of building 93 four-engined airliners, more than $50,000,000 worth, for postwar delivery.

The planes will be of two types: 44-passenger DC-45, with a top speed of 280 m.p.h., and so-passenger DC-6s, with a top speed of 335 m.p.h. American Airlines will get 55 planes, Panagra three and United 35. Within a week, United plans to contract for another 15 from Douglas. Similarly, Eastern Airlines is now mulling over an order for Douglas. The airlines know that the new planes will make hash of present schedules. The transcontinental time will go down from 18 hours to 8 hours 30 minutes.

As soon as WPB gives the word, the airlines will begin to get the planes. Douglas is making a military version of the DC-4, will build the DC-6 for the Army.

This deal brought Douglas’ postwar backlog to well above $100,000,000, more than three times higher than his best prewar year. But this commercial backlog would keep his plants operating postwar only a month at the present fabulous levels. Thus, even with the new contracts, he commented: “We’ll have enough work for 15% to 20% of our workers.”