The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1973 Too many charters

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33155, 20 February 1973, Page 12

The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1973 Too many charters

To sell seats on charter flights from the United States for which permission to land here has been flatly refused by the New Zealand Government is a strange way for World Airways to conduct its business. To approve, belatedly, the same charter flights is an equally strange way for the Minister in Charge of Civil Aviation (Dr Finlay) to administer his portfolio. Early this month Dr Finlay refused to allow World Airways more than the 15 charter flights already approved for the airline in 1973. He said 15 flights were sufficient to assess the charter experiment and its effect on scheduled traffic, especially that of Air New Zealand. Less than two weeks later he has approved six more flights “ very reluctantly ” on the ground that adverse publicity for New’ Zealand in the United States must be avoided.

Some sympathy must be felt for Dr Finlay in his dilemma, especially as the last two annual reports of the Tourist and Publicity Department have commended charter flights as a means of attracting tourists from North America. But as Air New Zealand takes delivery of new DCIO aircraft which will greatly increase its capacity on the North American route—and when complicated negotiations are taking place among scheduled carriers in an attempt to reduce trans-Pacific air fares for tourists —additional charter flights do not appear to be in the best interests of New Zealand, even if the amount spent here by their passengers will compensate for any loss of foreign exchange by Air New Zealand. Further attempts to exert pressure of the kind used by World Airways should be resisted firmly by the Minister: and World Airways, after its behaviour on this occasion, should be very low on any list of “ most “ favoured operators ” when new requests to fly charters to New Zealand are being considered. Charter flights from the United States, spaced to avoid overtaxing accommodation in this country, have obvious advantages in attracting tourists. World Airways can win patronage from the central and eastern United States, areas which Air New Zealand does not reach. But in the long run the scheduled airlines operating across the Pacific have more interest in developing New Zealand's tourist industry than charter operators arranging occasional tours. Any adverse effect on Air New Zealand as a result of charter flights will need to be noted carefully. New Zealand’s best interests will lie in finding ways by which the country’s own airline can offer relatively low-cost package tours in scheduled flights. A single tourist brought to New Zealand by Air New Zealand is worth up to six times as much in foreign exchange earnings as one who arrives by a foreign charter flight.

Later this year New Zealand will be host to the annual general meeting of the International Air Travel Association: and the chairman of Air New Zealand (Sir Geoffrey Roberts) has been elected president of I.A.T.A. for 1973-74. New Zealand thus has an added interest in encouraging the growth of scheduled air services through the I.A.T.A. organisation. It should not yield too easily to the blandishments of American charter operators.