N.Z. Cancels Canadian Air Rights

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31770, 29 August 1968, Page 1

N.Z. Cancels Canadian Air Rights

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, August 28,

The civil air service agreement between the Governments of New Zealand and Canada is being terminated. This action was approved by the Cabinet some weeks ago after an examination of the service; Canada has been given 12 months notice of termination. Asked the reason f° r the New Zealand action, the Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr Gordon) said tonight that Air New Zealand had not taken i up its reciprocal rights to fly

between New Zealand and Canada, and that Canadian Pacific Airlines, the Canadian operator, was actually bringing very few passengers to New Zealand. It is believed that in 196667 only 800 Canadian passengers came to New Zealand by C.P.A. Many others travelling to New Zealand flew down to the Pacific coast of the United States by internal airlines, and then across the Pacific by Air New Zealand, British, Australian or American airlines. Aviation authorities tonight said that by continuing to fly to New Zealand, Canadian Pacific was taking revenue from Air New Zealand and associated companies. It is estimated that Air New Zealand's share of this revenue would be about $350,000 annually. ' The bilateral agreement has been in force for 18 years. C.P.A. began fortnightly services between Canada and New Zealand in 1953, and weekly services a year later.

The services dropped back to fortnightly when DCBs with their larger capacity came into service with C.P.A. in December, 1965. Canadian Pacific Airlines has been running services to Australia and New Zealand since 1949. In 1947 British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines began the first British air services between New Zealand and Canada. The partners in the airline were the British, Australian and New Zealand Governments. The Canadian Government declined to join the partnership. In 1949 Canadian Pacific Airlines, as a private carrier, inaugurated the Pacific service. The first landing at Auckland was in July of that year.

An important condition of the bilateral agreement is that the capacity provided should be closely related to the traffic offering, and that the carriers should be able to justify the frequency of their services on that basis.

When in 1966 C.P.A. sought to return to the once-weekly service the request was refused on the grounds that the airline could not justify a service of even once monthly in relation to traffic then offering.

After Air New Zealand Itself began to run long-haul services across the Pacific to Los Angeles, the position became more difficult. Much of the traffic carried by the Canadian airline would have been available to Air New Zealand and other airlines if C.P.A. had followed requests to comply strictly with the terms of the agreement. As New Zealand’s declaration of termination of the agreement carries 12 months notice, there is ample time for C.P.A. to object, to make a new approach, or simply to amend its service to match the numbers of through passengers offering. It is believed that Air New Zealand has no plan to establish a Northern Pacific air route to Canada.