Airline loadings not substantial

Press, 12 February 1981, Page 4

Airline loadings not substantial

Bv

LES BLOXHAM

travel editor.

Figures issued by Air New Zealand on Tuesday do not support. an assertion made by/the Westport Airport Authority in “The Press” on Monday that a “substantial” load of freight “greatly increased the payload” of a special .Friendship service between Wellington and Westport last Thursday. The authority ihad de-! scribed' as “misleading” a report in “The Press” of Friday which said that only three passengers travelled on the 40-seat aircraft to Westport. Five were on board for the return journey. Air New Zealand was persuaded by the authority to provide the special flights to compensate for the lack of the usual Friday service on Waitangi Day. A minimum of 32 passen-

gers would have been needed in each direction for the flights to have broken even. The authority said that the report was misleading, and the special service helped relieve congestion of West Coast freight, at Wellington. Freight both ways | was substantial, greatly increasing the payload, said the authority. j The airline, after an approach by “The Press” checked the loadings. ■ A spokesman, said on Tuesday that theyAvere slightly above the average for the service, but they were “not : substantial.” “On the north-bound flight the revenue from freight would have been equivalent to that received from five full-fare passengers,” he said.- Less freight was carried on the south-bound flight'.-