EMPIRE AIRWAYS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19691, 7 August 1929, Page 5

EMPIRE AIRWAYS.

PROGRESS IN THE PACIFIC. NEW ZEALAND'S OPPORTUNITY. (BY E R. MONEY. I.ATF- FLYING OFFICER, K.A.r.) It seems a little difficult to realise how ©ommonplacr transport as become in practically every coun ry except New Zealand, wbich shares with Hungary the unenviable distinction of being one of the two most backward nations in the wor ' wit i regard to aviation. One hears that Western Australia Airways, tor instance, have been running regular passenger and mail services between Perth and Derby for the lust ten years. They have flown over 7,000,000 miles without any fatalities. They have carried 10,795 passengers. And they have now commenced r cg u * tar services between Perth and Adelaide, a distance of 1500 miles, with loaeater, 3-en-inel De Havilnnd Hercules" air liners. lncidenta have found the whole of the £BO.OOO required to linn nee this new ' ine niiiong their own original shareholders. _ . Another Australian air lin«, the Qantas Company, have been running regular services in Queensland for w»ven years. They, too, have not had a single fatality And all of the flying in Australia up to this year has been done in single-engined aeroplanes Those services have been almost entirely for passengers and mails, of course, but in Europe the German Flvincr Combine, T.uft Hansa, carried •?.270.0001h of freight in 1928. And the Dutch Airline, the Royal Netherland Air Service, have had to out on extra aeroplanes to cope with the flower and vegetable enrtjo offering befcwen Rollmd and Fngland. In Canada, with a population of about 10 000.000. 51.868 passengers were carried on regular air line services in lf) -> 8 Then one hears casually that 100 air liners, all f/il'.y loaded, entered or left the London air port at Crovdon during tbo three days of the Easter holidav this year. The Americans, as usual, oome to light with startling figures They operated over 91 300 miles of regular airwavs in 19°8. nnd thev carry passengers for 7 cents a mile, which is iust about the same cost as rail travel. tnkin<r into consideration the cost of saved. You can now cross the American continent from New York to San Francisco in two days. You travel by air during the day, and by train at night. But, as a matter of fact, many of the American air routes are now oper ttted at night. Beacons every twentyfive miles keep the aircraft on their course, and the aerodromes are so brilliantly lit by flood-lighting that landing is as easy as by day. Finally, the United States Air Lines are planning the first aeroplane service to Europe. They intend to moor huge floating sta iions in the Atlantic, and the crossing will be made in a day and a half. The first of these floating islands is already approaching completion. Even Spain, which has not moved very fast since the days of the Inquisi tion, has fixed on Vigo as a trans-Atlan-tice air port, and intends to establish flying boat services to America, via the Azores. You may ask what all this has to do with us in New Zealand. I think it has a lot to do with us. In these days of fierce competition and overcrowding of the labour and production markets, no country can afford to walk, when other countries are running. It is not as though we were a selfcontained community. We can only exist as a nation by competing in the world's markets. And time is the essence of business. In five years' time, if not sooner, the Americans will have linked their western coast with Hawaii, and Hawaii with Samoa, by either an airship or a flying boat service. It will only remain for New Zealand to complete the link from Samoa to Auckland, as easy link, by the way, since the Tonga Group and the Kermadec Islands are perfectly situated re-fuelling points on the direct journey. We could establish a flying boat service from here to Samoa within 18 months from to-day, using similar boats to the Short "Calcutta" 15-passenger boats which are already flying every week from Genoa to Alexandria. But that is not all. In five years' time, granted that no wars or national calamities intervene, there is going to be a flying boat service between New Zealand and Australia. The boats used will cruise at 150 miles per hour, that the crossing will be completed in ten daylight hours. The boats will probably carry not fewer than 40 passengers, and the fare will probably be about £2O. At present, the fastest flying boat cruiseß at 105 miles per hour; five years ago that speed was 65 miles per hour. I do not say that this service will be regular, because we shall have to await "all clear" weather reports before we dare send out boats off —but it will be an 80 per cent, summer service, and, perhaps, a 70 per cent, winter service. If New Zealand does not establish this service Australia will. Australia is sec- j ond only to America in wide-awake ness in connexion with aviation. Already one hears from Australian and American tourists visiting this country, asking: "Can't we fly to Rotorua or Tongariro, or Russell f" as the case may be. '' Do you mean to say you haven t any aeroplanes in this country f' Perhaps the answer is made: Oh, it's too dangerous here; look at the country, and what about our winds! Their reply to this kind of remark is usually a stare of surprise, and then the American laughs and says: You ought to see the country our boys fly over, and at night, tool" Now let us consider what could be done in New Zealand. A commercial aeroplane carrying a number of passengers, and up to 5001b of mails, could leave Auckland every morning at 6 in the summer, and arrive at Wellington at 10. If it was required to stop at places like Hamilton, New Plymouth, and Wanganui to pick up or drop passengers or mails, the time-table wou occupy about five hours, instead or f °The aeroplane could leave ton at 10 a.m. after the arrival of the Limited from Auckland, and ny to Dunedin in four hours. If Bt°P» wer ® made at Blenheim, Christchurch, and Timaru, the time-table would occupy about hours. , Dunedin could be left with stops at Timaru, Christchurch, and Blenheim, if necessary, Wellington could be reached at 6.30 P-™- * time for passengers and mails o the night express for Auckland. An aeroplane could leave Auckland at 6 a.m., and arrive in ** 8.15 a.m. It could go on to Hwtmgs half an hour later, am g eoald 10 a.m. Any Napier passengers could be taken in by motor-car, a journey of 45 minutes from the projected Hast'TJ ir .r£ M le.v. .«*» « 10.15 o.m„ and be m 0 ° ? 1145 a.m. That is to say that Auckland could be linked to a five-hour service via the West Coast, and a s*-hour service by the East Coast, including three §top» •» the

west run, and two stops on the east run. If you want to go to Gisborne from Wellington to-day, it takes you 7} hours by train, and seven hours by service car. If you want to go to Gisborne from Auckland to-day, it takes you 16 hours by service car. If you arrive in Wellington from the north by the night express, wishing to go to Ghristchurch, you must wait for the night steamer. You will have an 11-hour crossing, and then will require another hour to reach Christchurch by rail. You can come back the next night, and travel to Auckland, Say, by the daylight express. That is the very quickest you can do. You have been travelling for three nights and one day, and you have had one day's business, or pleasure, as the case may be, in Christchurch. You have also had a day to wait in Wellington. You have been away from home three days and three nights, and four out of six of those periods of 12 hours have been spent in travelling. Probably at the end of it you feel a little weary. Now, supposing you could fly! Four hours to Wellington. Two more hours to Christchurch, arriving there at 12.30 p.m. Do your business, or go racing, during the rest of the day, and travel back by night boat to Wellington. Get into an aeroplane, and arrive in Auckland at 12.30 p.m. You have been away 304 hours, as against three days and three nights.

But you may think that the cost of such air travel would be prohibitive. Well, if other countries can carry pas sengers at little more than first-class railway fares, I'm sure we can. You must allow in the cost of the meals you save, of course. It only requires a full complement of passengers in a mail-carrying aeroplane to bring the costs of air travel down to just under 6d per mile per passenger. Within the next year or bo, if all goes well, we shall have passenger and mail aeroplanes flying regularly in this country.