NEW TASMAN AIR SERVICE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27376, 15 June 1954, Page 14

NEW TASMAN AIR SERVICE

First DC-6 To Be Welcomed

EARLY-MORNING FUNCTION AT HAREWOOD

The crew and passengers on the first Tasman Empire Airways DC-6 to land at Harewood from Sydney at 7.10 a.m. on June 29 will be officially welcomed to Christchurch. This was announced by the Town Clerk (Mr H. S. Feast). The Mayor (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) and Mr Feast will be at the airport, but at present, Mr Feast said, he was not able to say which councillors would also be present. The Mayor will make a speech of welcome soon after the DC-6 lands. The secretary of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce (Miss I. V. Shrimpton) said that Chamber of Commerce participation in the ceremony had not yet been decided.

The DC-6 carries 40 tourists and 16 first-class passengers when fully loaded, and on June 29 the first DC-6-will have among its passengers an Australian press and radio party expected to number 20. Arrangements for the visit of this group to New Zealand have been made by the airline in conjunction with the New Zealand Government Tourist and Publicity Department. After lunch in Christchurch on June 29 the visiting journalists will leave for Hanmer Springs. They will spend a night at Hokitika and are due at Franz Josef glacier on July 1. They will have two full days in the glacier country before leaving for- Westport. The group will return to Christchurch on July 5. and its members will have a full day in Christchurch before returning to Sydney from Harewood on July 7. A similar New Zealand party totalling 17 will fly back to Melbourne on the return flight from Harewood on June 29. This group is scheduled to fly on to Sydney on July 1 and to return to Christchurch by a DC-6 due at Harewood on the morning of July 3.