THE BIRTH OF N.Z.’s AIRLINES

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33874, 20 June 1975, Page 11

THE BIRTH OF N.Z.’s AIRLINES

Tn 1913. just 10 vears after the Wright brothers few- for the first time, the

Union Company was restructured and in the new articles of association gave itself the power to enter aviation.

Nothing was done about this until the mid-thirties when commercial aviation came to New Zealand, but when company money did begin to go into aeroplanes it built up the service which the Government later took over and turned into the National Airways Corporation of today. The Union Company claims to have teed off the corporation and, allowing for the argument that says only Government monev could have made NAC what it now is, the Union claim is probably correct. Just as the shipping company has money invested in Australia’s interna) shipping services now. so it once had money in internal air services in Australia. In 1930 Holyman Airways was established and in 1934 the Union Company began buying shares in it. By 1936 it had a third of them along with the Huddart Parker Company and William Holvman and Sons PtyLtd

In 1936 Holyman Airways was absorbed into a new group calling itself the Aus-

tralian National Airways. Shareholders were Holyman. Huddart. and Union, as in the old airline, and the Adelaide Steamship Company, and Orient Line. Australian National Airways soon became the biggest interna) airline in the country but ran into Government-backed opposition and eventually the partners in ANA sold their shares to Ansett Transport Industries in 1958 for £3,300,000. Government intervention was also the order of the day for the internal air services which the Union Company started in New Zealand during the midthirties.

At the same time the Union Company applied for a licence in its own name to fly planes between Dunedin and the North Island and incorporated Union Air-

ways. Ltd, in April, 1935. The first flight was in January, 1936, linking Palmerston North to Dunedin via Blenheim and Christchurch. Cook Strait Airways connected with it and took passengers and freight to both Nelson and Wellington from Blenheim.

The Union Airways’ planes began a regular mail service in March. 1936. Until then mail had to go as freight. The first regular commercial air service here was operated by East Coast Airways. Ltd, between Napier and Gisborne in 1935. backed by the Union Company’s 60 per cent shareholding. In conjunction with the Anchor Shipping Company, which was based in Nelson, the Union Company set up Cook Strait Airways, Ltd, in the same year. Both

shipping companies had a 50 per cent share in this company.

These three companies were virtually one. The pilots and administrative staff frequently worked for two of the three, and in 1938 East Coast Airways merged with Union Airways.

Probably the same would have happened with Cook Strait Airways but the Royal New Zealand AirForce took its De Havillands on the outbreak of the Second World War and the line closed down. For the next six years Union Airways was the only airline operator in New Zealand.

During the first four years of its life the company lost a total of £71,000. but since its restricted services were well used during the war it made a total

operating profit during the war years of £56.000. Then in November, 1945, the Government took over the airline and formed the National Airways Corporation. For a while the Union Company continued to manage the service, but eventually dropped out of direct involvement with flying in New Zealand. Air links across the Tasman were planned at the time these early internal services were formed.

The Empire Air Mail Service opened in 1935 with the flying boats of Imperial Airways (which later became 8.0.A.C. and is now British Airways) operating between Southampton and Sydney, and the Union Company approached the company about extending this route to New Zealand. It was suggested that Imperial Airways. Qantas and the Union Company form a company to operate a trans-Tasman service independent of the Empire Air Mail Service but connecting with it. These three companies quickly settled on the suggestion, but it took years before the British, Australian and New Zealand Governments came to an agreement on the ■control they- would each have over such a company. The Union Company decided to bring matters' to a head in 1939 and ordered three flying boats for the proposed, and now inevitable, international link. Two of these planes got here in spite of the outbreak of the Second World War and in August, 1940, Tasman Empire Airways. Ltd (TEAL) was incorporated. Share allotment was Union Company 19 per cent, New Zealand Government 20 per cent, Qantas 23 per cent, and what was now called 8.0.A.C. 38 per cent.

During the war the two TEAL planes gave the only regular service across the Tasman and the company really needed three aircraft to cope with the demand.

Then came the official takeover of 1945 and in April, 1946, the Union Company’s shareholdings held in the name of Union Ariways were transferred to the New Zealand Government.