CHRISTCHURCH-SYDNEY JET SERVICE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30273, 12 April 1965, Page 1

CHRISTCHURCH-SYDNEY JET SERVICE

Thousands Watch Qantas Boeing

Scheduled jet air services between Australia and New Zealand were inaugurated at the week-end by Qantas with remarkable demonstrations of public interest at Christchurch International Airport, the first in this country to be licensed for these operations.

Five thousand watched the first Boeing 707 arrive on Saturday, 3000 walked through it between 8 a.m. and noon yesterday, and possibly 10,000 saw it take off and land again after a courtesy flight over the North Island and then leave at 5.30 p.m. on the first outward trip to Sydney.

Week-end weather conspired with Qantas to stimulate attendances. After a patchy Saturday morning, the afternoon was fine for the arrival and thousands flocked to the airport. Sunday had frequent showers so, with nothing else to do, thousands more went out to watch the big Boeing’s movements from the comfort and warmth of two lounges and two restaurants, though about 1000 were always watching from the terminal rooftop. The car park was packed.

The crowds were changing all the time but the attendance at the official functions — the arrival, a commemorative party, and the departure—were somewhat the same, as were the speeches. Yesterday afternoon the! Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr! McAlpine) caused a ripple of' speculation (when he dis-1 patched and then boarded the! Boeing for Sydney) by saying: "If a Concorde supersonic! aircraft eventually serves the Tasman crossing, it would fly! an elapsed time of only one I hour 45 minutes and the traveller by his watch, would! appear to have arrived a quarter of an hour before he left." Questioned afterwards whether Concordes were a long-term prospect for Air New Zealand. Mr McAlpine said flying-boats to four-en-

gined land planes, to turboprops, and pure jets were changes which had occurred rapidly as aircraft improved. The use of supersonic aircraft must come in the foreseeable future. He would say no more

Mr McAlpine recalled that, i because the Prime Minister was held up by bad weather, | he dispatched the first commerciai service from the I Christchurch International ! Airport in 1947. It gave him equal pleasure to dispatch the I first pure jet. Jets would generate their own traffic just as any other I innovation in transport, he i said. Even the Aramoana had doubled traffic and required rail-cars to be tripled. Safety Aids Mr McAlpine said he had been criticised for his re- ; fusal to approve jet services until necessary navigational ■ aids were installed but jets could now be brought into Christchurch in conditions ; which would have barred them on all but perfect days. The Christchurch-Sydney I flight was scheduled to take three hours five minutes comI pared with two hours 3S min- ■ utes on the inward run, Mr McAlpine said. But he was here interrupted by a note from Sir Hudson Fysh, chairman of Qantas, saying the first outward flight would take two hours 40 minutes. “We’ve got together with the met. boys (and I am Minister in Charge of Meteorological Services) and we find that we will have a following wind,” said Mr McAlpine, amid ■ laughter. I Sir Hudson Fysh said the

outward flight from this country was possibly of most interest to New Zealanders as it opened for them vistas of jet travel for pleasure, business, and even shopping. But they should never forget the potential of the tourist industry which ranked first in Italy and third in Canada. Tourists brought in money benefiting the whole economy. Factors chimneys were not the sol< concomitants of industry. “There is the greatest an<’ best understanding betweei Qantas and Air New Zealanr and together we enter a nev era,” Sir Hudson Fysh said Saturday’s Arrival An estimated crowd o more than 5000 person crammed every vantage poin' at Christchurch Airport ot Saturday afternoon to watcl the arrival of the jet airliner At 2.42 p.m., heads craned at the Boeing smoothly ap oroached the eastern end ot the main runway with black smoke pouring from the four iets on its swept-back wings Seconds later there was a put) of white smoke and a squeal as the aircraft landed after a flight from Sydney which had taken only two hours and 26 minutes.

“What a difference.” said Mr S. E. Neilson who was the first oaying passenger across the Tasman—on Sir Charles Kingsford - Smith’s second flight in 1933. “That crossing took 14 hours.”

Mr Neilson and Mr T. H. McWilliams, who was radio operator on “Smithy’s” first Tasman crossing in 1928, were both guests on Saturday’s flight. Mr McWilliams said he was pleasantly surprised with the service on the Boeing. “We most certainly didn’t starve today,” he said. “In 1928, however, I would have gone hungry if I hadn’t nacked some sandwiches before we took off on that historic crossing.”

Direct Link

Speaking at a special function after the Boeing landed, the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr G. Manning) said it was a red letter day for the city. The service now meant that 'New Zealand was directly jlinked with jet services to I other parts of the world. The chairman of Qantas. Sir Hudson Fysh, said the new service marked another step forward in communications between Australia and New Zealand and foreshadowed the joint Air New Zealand-Qantas partnership services which would begin on | a wider scale when Auckland ;had its new jet airport later this year. “When this happens Air New Zealand will go out into the world in a way which will mark a great advance for New Zealand international air commerce,” he said. Partnership “This new service then is not merely a Qantas service but is operated in partnership with Air New Zealand and holds the fort for us both. Australia and New Zealand are. of course, both jointly interested in this transtasman air traffic and also in the wider sphere. Unity is strength. Isolation is a reversal of the historical progress of mankind,” said Sir Hudson Fysh. The chairman of the City Council’s airport committee (Cr. A. R. Guthrey) presented a plaque to commemorate the flight to Sir Hudson Fysh who in turn presented a framed i replica of the coat of arms and crest of Sydney and a 'message from the city’s Lord ! Mayor to Mr Manning. A plaque was also presented to [Mr Guthrey.

After the reception, the Boeing took 94 guests on a two-hour flight over the South Island.