OCEAN FLYING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21710, 18 February 1936, Page 8

OCEAN FLYING

NEW ZEALAND’S PART r, ■, !■ COMMENT BY ENGLISH JOURNAL Long-distance flying-and New Zealand’s share in the future’ of international aviation are commented on in an editorial article in a recent issue of- “Flight,” an English aeronautical journal. It is said that the Atlantic has not yet been-.flown in.commercial conditions, and feialJfllgbts have been made across the Pacific by the flying-boat Chink Clipper, yet agreements have been made which provide •for the. regular commercial crossing of both oceans before another 18 months have passed. ’ “It stands to reason that if one ocean can be mastered, so can the other” the article says. “The only question is whether both offer sufficient com-mercial-attractions. Wealthy traffic is always crossing the Atlantic, but can the Pacific be placed in the same class? Pan-American Airways will get a mail contract from the United States Government for their service through Honolulu to Manila and also for the southward branch as far as Pqgo Pago, in American Samoa. From there-down to New Zealand no pecuniary assistance from any government will be ‘forthcoming, and the air company will have to create its own traffic. Junction of Two Airways •“The shortest and most convenient sea route between Great Britain and New Zealand is across the Pacific and through the Panama Canal. This, means that New Zealand tourists and letter-writers are quite familiar with the idea of making first for North America - when the destination is the Old Country, and this .familiarity is an asset on which the Pan-American Cdnpany has doubtless relied. San Francisco is a good many miles north of the canal, but, if one reckons by time and not by distance, it is nearer to Great Britain than is Panama. From San Francisco to New York there is an excellent air service, and from' New York there , will soon, we - must be* heve. be an air service on to Ireland. A letter from New Zealand should be delivered in Great Britain in about a week, ■ “On the other side of the world the boats of Imperial Airways, starting from England, will soon be making regular crossings of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Auckland, which Kipling once apostrophised as ‘Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart,’ will then have become the junction of two airways which, between them, will span the world. Thus the whirligig of aeronautics brings its revenges. - Mails or Passengers ..“In spite of the Panama complex of New Zealanders, the Pan-American service to Auckland will have to debend on mails for its revenue for some time to come. That probably applies to all transoceanic services. There are certain basic facts which can be stated about’ air travellers. They are. the pe&ple who can afford to travel flrstclaiis on trains and steamers, and they pay first-class fares for the sake of comfort,, not for the sake of speed. The third-class passenger arrives at New York just as fast as does the first-class traveller. When the air companies ' invite such passengers to go by aeroplane they are offering them more speed and less comfort. “It has been proved -that these travellers want comfort and luxury, but it has not yet been proved that they, as a class, want mere speed. The Normandie and the ‘Queen Mary can, or will, offer, very attractive speeds, and they also offer the greatest luxury. Nothing useful can be deouced from the occasional millionaire “ a te ry * WiU any lar S® number ■ otflrst-ciass passengers desert the Norpqahdie and the Queen Mary for the comparatively cramped quarters of a flymg-boat? . , , Question of Interest : “On some routes the aeroplane offers attractions which may counterbalance the absence of swimming pools, ballrooms, gymnasiums, and deck' games. The Eastern, airway crosses land, and sea alternately,, and -offers, a rich, variety °£jV* ew ß" -! The aircraft \pii this, route ,£wl at beautiful, and, interesting cities. lse Atlantic,' flyingrbba’ts, will, offer nothing but hmnitigatod, views of the ■ Atlantic, except when the aircraft are ; wrapped in.fog andtbejpilot, is flying M. hw instruments. The. Pacific cross? ing from SahFrapcisco to,. Auckland ia-to vtake'three days.. SjThe :*ea may sunny* jahd ; ;thdfe; ‘ will. he ■;atolls to^wktch.* but eeescSpe ;:ire'MhbJy, M .jpjhjW OTcteaL {the j&st-clsp mails, 1 advantages ‘‘WlU'bebnormous. Not'lone ago -it U‘‘, . ... . /. 4 w. . ..i.li’

took- a fortnight for 1 a letter from! India to reach Home, ahd Haw Zea-; f land was infinitely farther away. To' bring New- Zealand nearer by half • than India so recently was is a very > mighty achievement.” -1 ■