Mayor in air- link bid

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 4

Mayor in air- link bid

& NZPA correspondent

The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr Hamish Hay) has urged Singapore Airlines to start applying pressure now for rights. to fly into Christchurch.

Mr Hay, accompanied by the deputy chairman of his airport committee, Mr M. R. Carter, met senior officials of the airline in Singapore yesterday and outlined the advantages, as he saw them, of the present twice-a-week Boeing 747 service to Auckland being extended to include Christchurch.

"We had a long session, and I felt it was a veryworth while discussion,” Mr Hay said, in a telephone interview yesterday.

He said’ that he was not expecting an overnight decision which would give Christchurch such a service

on a "co-terminal basis” with Auckland.

"Singapore Airlines does not now have the right to do that, but we pointed out that there is a need to make an application now,” he said. "The attitude of the New Zealand Government remains to be seen."

Mr Hay said that he had described the scenic attractions of the South Island, and also the possibility for airfreighting fresh produce from Christchurch to Singapore.

"What it would ultimately mean, now- that the New Zealand Government has given approval for the exten- , sion of the runways al Christchurch Airport, is that once the trade is proved, Singapore Airlines could come to Christchurch and fly direct back to Singapore.” he said.

Mr Hay said that his council had also approached Japan Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Pan American Airways in its attempts to get more international airlinks for Christchurch.

“There seems, at the moment, to be some reluctance on the part of Air New Zealand to do something,” he said.

Mr Hay, who is visiting Singapore and Malaysia as a guest of Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airline Systems, arrived in Singapore on Friday and travelled to Kuala Lumpur yesterday, where he intends to try to interest M.A.S., which does not fly to New Zealand, in the prospects for a service to Christchurch. He will return to New Zealand on Monday.