TASMAN PLANE TRAFFIC

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28158, 22 December 1956, Page 3

TASMAN PLANE TRAFFIC

HEAVY DEMANDS FOR OLYMPIC GAMES

N.Z. EARNS £250,000 IN TOURIST REVENUE (New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, December 21. Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd., carried a quarter of its normal annual load in five busy weeks during the Olympic Games period—and earned New Zealand £250,000 in tourist revenue in the process. TEAL planes carried nearly 3000 New Zealanders to the Games and filled return flights with 2000 Australians who took advantage of special excursion fares to see New Zealand and spend money here. The big Games airlift called for 170 single Tasman crossings by TEAL’s three-aeroplane fleet, as well as 28 flights by charter aircraft. The job was done with only four delays, in spite of the tightest turnround schedules TEAL ground crews have ever experienced.

They had to service and prepare each aircraft for a return Tasman crossing within two hours of landing. One crisis, when the Harewood airport was suddenly closed by bad weather, threatened the whole preGames schedule. The company overcame the’ problem by making an unscheduled Auckland - Christchurch flight, switching three aircraft and three passenger loadings. Flights were back to schedule within 12 hours.

On eight occasions, DC-6 planes in the fleet made 10 consecutive flights without exceeding the two-hour turnround time on the ground.

On Whenuapai’s biggest day, the terminal handled 500 TEAL passengers.

TEAL spokesmen say this is the busiest Christmas period in the company’s history.