Aust, pilots seek charter licence
(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright)
SYDNEY, May 20. Australian airline pilots today disclosed plans to establish their own international charter airline.
A formal application for a charter licence would be lodged with the Government this week, a spokesman for the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots said in Sydney adding: “We can have a charter operation going, with one Boeing 707, by the end of the year. A British airline has been lined up for the lease of a jet.” If the Government refused to grant a licence to the newly-registered company, the Australian Pilots Air Charter Company, the spokesman said, it would shift its base to another country. Singapore and Fiji had already been approached, and the governments there had raised no objection.
The Australian Government has in the past refused to allow charter airlines to operate into this country. It is still considering an application by the American charter company, World Airways, for 15 charter flights from the United States early next year; but its policy has
been to give the national airline, Qantas, and other scheduled airlines first refusal on charters.
The pilots’ federation first proposed its own charter airline after Qantas had rejected its demand that the Australian airline should form its own charter company. “But,” the spokesman said, “we are not going into business in order to force Qantas to do so. Qantas is not tapping a lucrative market, and we believe that an Australian company could operate a profitable business in this field.” The pilots envisage developing the A.P.A.C. into a concern with a fleet of five aircraft within two years and a half, employing 150 Australian pilots and hundreds of Australian cabin and ground crew. Qantas last month announced plans to dismiss 138 aircrew as part of an economy drive. Talks between the airline, the pilots and the Civil Aviation Department on the retrenchments are still going on. -
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19710521.2.72
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 9
Word Count
318Aust, pilots seek charter licence Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 9
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.