COOK STRAIT AIR SERVICE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21308, 30 October 1934, Page 10

COOK STRAIT AIR SERVICE

. New Company Formed OPERATION NEXT YEAR i BACKING OF IMPORTANT! TRANSPORT INTERESTS j An air service joining Wellington,} Blenheim, Nelson and ITokitika is j planned by Cook Strait Ail ways, new company of which the registia- j tion will be gazetted within a few j days. The company is particularly notable because its formation marks J the first entry into commercial aviation in New Zealand of othei foims of transport; the three main shateholders arc the "Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Limited, Newman Brothers, Limited, and the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company, Limited. The capital of the company will be £50,000. Its provisional directorate includes Dr. J. P. Jamicson (president of the Nelson Aero Club), Messrs H. C. Cock,-J. Newman, W. i Rogers, and E. H. Thomson, The present intention is that the company's aeroplanes will leave Wellington in the morning, cross to Blenheim, where passengers will be able to connect with service ' cars going south, continue to Nelson, and then to Ilokitika, which will be reached about noon. There the service vvill connect with the South Westland service to be operated by the company in which Mr J. C. Mercer is interested. In the afternoon the machine will return by the same route, arriving in Wellington aboul 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening. This service would make South Westland much more attractive to tourists and North Island visitors, for it would reduce the time taken to travel from Wellington to the Franz Josef, for instance, by a day and a half. The schedule is, however, only tentative, as the company has at present no idea what types of aeroplanes it will use, except that, because of the water crossing, they will have more than one engine. A technical adviser will be appointed soon, and he will go to England early next year to enquire into the operation of internal air-lines in Great Britain and to investigate new types of machines. The choice of aeroplanes will to some extent depend on the landing grounds available. At present the Blenheim aerodrome is good, but the Nelson aerodrome needs enlarging before it can be used by moderately large machines. The Nelson Aero Club will probably arrange for the necessary work to be done. The transport interests which are backing the new company have a precedent in such companies as Railways Air Services in Great Britain, which was formed by the four gr.eat railway companies and Imperial Airways Ltd., to connect the main cities of the British Isles. They consider that by entering commerciaJ aviation they are protecting their own interests in transport in the districts to be served, while their present organisation will ensure effective co-ordination of the various forms of transport. Interchangeable \ tickets, for instance, will be one ot ; the features of the service.