Women’s View Of New Airport And Service

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28952, 21 July 1959, Page 2

Women’s View Of New Airport And Service

That they flew from Wellington to Christchurch yesterday between “changes” may not have been noticed by Virginia and Sarah, but the flight was a convenience much appreciated by their mother. Virginia James and Sarah James, the two and a half months old twin daughters of Mrs J. James, were passengers on their first flight with their mother and an older brother, Richard, aged 22 months, on the first day of the regular Viscount flights from Rongotai to Christchurch. Other mothers with young children will share Mrs James’s pleasure at being able to travel with ease between Christchurch and Wellington in little more than an hour, compared with the more than three hours involved in the Wellington to Christchurch trip by way of Paraparaumu. Mrs James arrived with her family yesterday in Wellington in the Athenic to visit her mother Mrs S. C. Gibb, of Christchurch. Mrs James, who was formerly Miss Jocelyn Gibb is an old girl of St. Margaret’s College who trained as a nurse at Christchurch Hospital. Five years’ ago she left New Zealand for a working holiday in England and became the wife of Captain J James who is a Royal Marine now stationed in Malta. Mrs James, who remembers the long bus trip to Parrparaumu and the longer air trip before Viscounts were* used, was delighted with the short trip yesterday and the smart new air terminal at Rangotai Women’s Comments “Effortless, smooth, so untiring; convenience combined with pleasure,” were remarks of women who made the trip by Viscount from Christchurch to Wellington and back yesterday as the guests of National Airways Corporation. Leaving Christchurch at 9.40 a.m., reaching the heart of the capital well before 11 a.m and returning by a 3 o’clock plane before businesses closed in Christchurch the same day is a service which will be of value to business women. Housewives too. who wish to attend a special event in either city without making Special arrangements for their families and without disrupting their household duties can do so easily. Passengers who left Christchurch on the glistening morning yesterday, just had time to appreciate the glory of the snowcapped Kaikouras, pick out Blenheim beneath and stretch their necks to see the edges of Picton nestling at the end of Marlboroijgh sounds before the air-j craft ' swept over Lyall bay to land at the new Wellington airport. A girl aged about tour had settled down to the serious .business of tracing the'characters in her picture-book flattened out on the convenient snap-down tables of the air-djiairs when the hostess made her rounds to collect the books distributed. The Airport

Wellington airport yesterday was in a gala mood. Passengers disembarking from aircraft enter the concourse from the foot of a back to front L. The first impression is of spaciousness The flooring is composed of outsize squares of heavy-duty linoleum in red. beige and green. A fernery of cyclamen, palms, and asparagus ferns set in the middle of the floor is refreshingly different in an airport.

The same floral decorations set in troughs divide the attractive restaurant into several dining areas where customers can sit at benches, eat at tables and chairs covered in blue leather on one

side of the room and red leather on the other side or dine at formally set tables complete with lace cloths and candles set in champagne bottles, with contemporary easy dining chairs. Over the food counter is an awning reminiscent of the Champs Elysees, made of dark and light green striped canvas. While fish net lowers the ceiling of the cafe from the high steel beams above. The long body of the L where passengers from the city enter the terminal has on one side the documentation and information counters connected with flying business and on the other side a line of shops set in knotty pine woodwork. Marond glass signs with bold primrose lettering march evenly along the concourse above the shops to identify their wares.

Rongotai air terminal is excitingly different. It looks like a big city terminal and offers no excuses for the fact that it is a reconditioned factory building. Girders boldly painted alternately in brick red and green, seem to announce with pride: “We know we are girders but at least we are bright ones.” A balustrade with slats to match the beam colours tops a facade of knotty pine wall covering; From the conveyor belt for passengers’ incoming baggage to the turnstile through which outgoing passengers pass io claim their bags from sloping ramp counters, the pace of the airport is briskly efficient. The decor gives the feeling of functionalism wed to originality and brightness. It has not the serene beauty of the Christchurch terminal but it is lively and wholly alive. The atmopshere of Rongotai is worthy of the capital—it has personality.