Strait flight rights sought

Press, 19 August 1981, Page 11

Strait flight rights sought

PA Wellington Commuter airlines have begun to jostle for position in a bid to provide scheduled flights across Cook Strait. Air New Zealand has announced that it will cut back its early morning return flights between Wellington and Blenheim in October. Two commuter airlines are keen to fill the gap. A Wellington pilot. Mr Murray Turley, has had his application heard'by the Air Services Licensing Authority. He wants to run an early morning round trip between

Wellington, Blenheim, and Nelson under the name Air Albatross. Mr Turley’s initial idea was to provide a freightbased service taking morning newspapers and mail to the South Island and picking up a backload of passengers. However, this has run into direct opposition from James Air, which now runs a minimum of one return service a week between Wellington and Nelson, and which has non-scheduled flights between Wellington and Blenheim.

James Air formally opposed the Air Albatross application a month ago and has lodged its own application for scheduled Welling-ton-Blenheim flights. The Air Albatross application is still awaiting a decision from the licensing authority, while the James Air application will be heard in public on September 1. On the same day, the authority will also hear an application from the freight airline, Safe Air, to increase fares on its Chatham Islands flights. That could be a lively

hearing because the islanders are believed to be mounting a strong case against the application. Safe Air want to increase the one-way adult Welling-ton-Chathams fare by $24 to $l4B and the ChristchurchChathams fare by $29 to $lBl. Freight and charter rates would also be increased.