East-West Airlines nears IM

Press, 27 November 1986, Page 23

East-West Airlines nears IM

By

ROBERT LOWE

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney East-West Airlines, the Australian domestic carrier that is hoping to do a deal with Air New Zealand, expects to carry one million passengers this year. The Perth-based airline expects to top the mark before the end of December, and in doing so, double the number of passengers it carried in 1983. Last year, East-West carried 938,000 passengers, a 43 per cent increase on 1984. A spokesman said that to keep up with demand for seats, three new Boeing 737 aircraft were on the way to service major centres in Queensland. The delivery of the aircraft follows court hearings in September, when a Federal judge dismissed actions by Ansett and Australian Airlines over East-

West’s expansion into Queensland. Ansett and Australian Airlines said the Government had breached the two-airline agreement by granting East-West licences to run services between Brisbane and Cairns, Townsville, Prosperine, Mackay, Rockhampton and Mt Isa. Recently, an East-West spokesman, Mr Bill Meeke, said his company had had discussions with Air New Zealand on ways of countering Ansett, which is joining Newmans Air and Brierley Investments, Ltd, in setting up a new domestic airline in New Zealand. Mr Meeke said Air New Zealand could fly into the existing gateway ports served in Australia. “We could pick up passengers beyond there and carry them on touristbased fares and move them around our own internal network.”