Qantas advantaged by DC10 sale

Press, 4 October 1982, Page 1

Qantas advantaged by DC10 sale

By.

LES BLOXHAM.

travel editor The premature sale of Air New Zealand's second to last DCIO has forced the airline to hand over to Qantas seven of its scheduled flights between Christchurch and Sydney. Air New Zealand decided that the opportunity to sell the DCIO last month was too good to miss, but realised that it would create difficulty in maintaining schedules until the new sum-

mer timetable becomes effective in November. The main problem was the gap left by the DCIO between Christchurch and Sydney on Fridays. Qantas agreed to help but with a 747. It is believed that Air New Zealand is not having to pay Qantas for the extra flights. Under the pooling system, the two airlines are supposed to share the capacity’ from Christchurch and Auckland across the Tasman. However, the scales tipped in Air New Zealand's favour earlier this year; now Qantas has been

given the chance with the supplementary flights K. catch up. They will continue over the next four Fridays. Air New Zealand has only one DCIO left to sell, and airline sources report that a sale is likely soon The fact that the airline has been able to sell its DCIO fleet at a time when hundreds of used wide-body aircraft are stockpiled around the world reflects Air New Zealand's high engineering standards which have kept the big jets in mint condition.