AIR TAXI LICENSES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 114, 7 February 1935, Page 4

AIR TAXI LICENSES

-♦ West Coast Applications Adjourned ’ Applications for air taxi licenses on the West Coast of the South Island were heard by the Transport Coordination Board yesterday. Flight Lieutenant J.' C. Mercer, managing director of Air Travel (N.Z.) Ltd., which had been granted a license for a service at the last meeting of the board, applied for an air taxi license. He had been kept very busy since he had started, he-told the board, but he could still cope with taxi work. His application had the approval of the Post and Telegraph Department, the Director of Air Services, the Railway Department, the main passenger service by motor-car, and the settlers. He asked for an exclusive license. It would lead to undue risk being taken by the pilots of rival concerns if more than one license were granted. West Coast Airways Ltd. also had an application before the board for an air taxi license, but Mr. Nancekivell, the operator, was taken suddenly ill yesterday, and had to undergo an immediate operation. For him, Mr. J. P. Ward said that his client did not agree that if there were two machines on the Coast they might collide. They had not done so yet.

“It seems that the point about these air taxi licenses that will give us difficulty is the question of fares,” said the board chairman. Both cases were adjourned sine die.