Air service application

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 24

Air service application

Capital Air Services. Ltd, which uses 10seater Cessna 402 aircraft, has applied to the Air Services Licensing Authority for a nonscheduled licence to run a regular service between Christchurch, Timaru, and Oamaru.

According to the Welling-ton-based company’s general manager (Mr W. Bowers) the main difference between a non-scheduled service and a scheduled one is that the former permits the airline to “overfly” a town if there is no passenger or freight demand when the aircraft is overhead. Mr Bowers said his company would look for a minimum of five return services a week to start with, but considers the demand could ultimately call for a daily service.

When asked about his company’s competition with National Airways on this sector, Mr Bowers said he was conscious of the economic problems of the national airline’s having to use 40seater aircraft on routes with low passenger loadings. But, he added, what was uneconomic for National Airways was “very viable” for Capital Air Services with its smaller but equally fast planes. The Wellington-based company has been running scheduled services to Blenheim and Christchurch, and to Nelson and the West Coast, for several years.

If the Air Services Licensing Authority grants the application — and a decision iis expected later this month

— the company could begin services immediately, said Mr Bowers CHATHAMS FARES The authority will consider an application by Safe Air this morning for higher fares on its Chatham Island flights, the Press Association reports. The Blenheim-based airline runs Bristol freighter services to the Chatham Islands from both Wellington and Christchurch.

Increases in passenger fares from Wellington of $5 to $66 and from Christchurch of $6 to $77 are being sought. Safe Air also wants an increase of 3.2 cents a kilogram to 29.6 cents for basic freight. An increase of 1.8 cents a kilogram to 15 cents will be sought for the “commodity freight rate,” covering goods like butter, bread, eggs, and fresh fruit. The airline’s last fare increase on the service was in December, 1974. The Licensing Authority’s assistant, Mr T. P. Aspell, said yesterday that objections to the application had been received from the Chatham Islands County Council, the Chatham Islands Packing Company, Ltd, and from the Chatham Islands Meatworks Company.