Loss Of $300,000 By N.A.C.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32036, 10 July 1969, Page 1

Loss Of $300,000 By N.A.C.

(New Zealand Press Association? WELLINGTON, July 9. The National Airways Corporation recorded a loss of almost $300,000 in the year ended March 31, compared with a profit of $17,235 in the previous yiear.

This is shown in the corporation’s annual report tabled in Parliament today by the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon).

There was an operating surplus of $274,050 ($376,764 in 1967-68) but after taxation and interest on loans a loss of $298,113 was recorded. Operating revenue increased by 11.3 per cent, a major contribution coming from passenger revenue generated by the introduction of the Boeing 737 aircraft. But operating expenditure also increased—by 12.1 per cent. Devaluation had a major effect on costs—not only on imported items, but also to a lesser extent on internal costs, the report says. Flying hours were down by about 8 per cent, primarily because of the greatly in-

creased capacity of the Boeings, and this resulted in an increase of 6.6 per cent in terms of passenger miles. “The capacity of the three Boeings, five Viscounts and 13 Friendships will be sufficient to cater for a growing volume of traffic at least through to summer, 1971,” the report says. Concern is expressed over the profitability of secondary services. “The corporation has tried

to maintain a precarious balance between the uneconomic secondary services and the more profitable trunk services. "The board of directors is firmly of the opinion that the secondary services have now been developed to the stage where they must make a better contribution towards over-all profitability, with the long-term object that these services should be economically self-supporting. “This may well involve differentials between secondary services and trunk services in respect of pricing policies or standards of service,” the report says.