The Press TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1954.

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 10

The Press TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1954.

Inadequate Airports The annual report of the National Airways Corporation could be regarded as highly satisfactory if it were not for the shadow of inadequate airports that hangs over it. In spite of its handicaps, the corporation made a satisfactory profit last year (after paying full interest to the Government and paying income tax); it has written down the value of its aircraft to a low figure, and has an additional £150,000 set aside towards the purchase of more expensive (but more efficient) new aircraft. Its business, particularly its freight business, <is growing rapidly and economically. It has been able to afford the losses on “ public interest ” services to some of the smaller centres because of the profitability of its main routes. The corporation would be well placed to meet the sharp rise in costs, inclucN ing reasonable landing and air service charges, if it were not for the airport difficulty. The corporation mentions specifically the limitations of the fields at Invercargill, Onerahi (Whangarei), and Rotorua, which compel the use of uneconomic Dominie aircraft. Even in the most favourable conditions these aircraft cannot be made to pay on these routes. As the Milson field at Palmerston North cannot be used in wet weather, frequent, expensive, and unpopular diversions to the Air Force station at Ohakea are necessary. Airports at Nelson and Blenheim have given the same trouble in wet weather, though to a lesser degree. The report does not mention what additional costs are incurred because the Whenuapai and Paraparaumu airfields are long distances by road from Auckland and Wellington. . These are serious, present inadequacies, which will be mitigated when Rongotai assumes its proper place as the hub of internal air services. The future is even more doubtfuL As the aircraft replacing the Douglases will be heavier and will probably have tricycle undercarriages, grassed runways will no longer be practicable. The only really good fields in sight for trunk services are Harewood, Rongotai, and probably Invercargill. The provision of a good airport for Auckland at Mangere is still in the stage of discussion. Major improvements are necessary on branch routes, particularly those where the aircraft operating are already uneconomic. In part, the trouble lies in the -reluctance of some local authorities to bear their share of the cost of developing airports. The greater cause of the trouble, however, seems the tardiness of the Government in announcing a firm policy, showing which airports it will support, and the standard these should reach. Although this may involve questions as difficult politically as financially, the answers must soon be given if New Zealand is not to be left with obsolete air service* operating from inconvenient, uneconomic, and perhaps dangerous fields. Procrastination makes a solution no easier. Good airfields are admittedly expensive; but even if safe internal air services were not almost indispensable in modern conditions, this expense must be met if the State’s big investment in the corporation and in aviation facilities generally is to show any return. As the corporation says: “The deter- “ mination of an airfield policy . . . “i* becoming of increasing “urgency ”.