COMMERCIAL AIR SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 247, 16 July 1935, Page 11

COMMERCIAL AIR SERVICES

Three Licenses Sought

TRANSPORT BOARD’S DECISION

British Machines Favoured

An air license has been granted by the Transport Co-ordination Board to New Zealand Airways, Limited, to operate a service between Tiinaru and Dunedin with six English machines, but the company has been refused permission to begin services between JWhaugarei and Gisborne, Auckland and Wellington, and Christchurch and Dunedin with five Boeing (American) machines which the company has purchased, although they are not yet landed in New Zealand. The fares applied for in respect of the service for which a. license has been granted have been provisionally approved. It is emphasised by the board in a decision of many words that "the applicant was warned of the danger of purchasing new machines and the report was read in which t lie Controller of Civil Aviation had expressed a marked lack of enthusiasm for these aeroplanes. The applicant company therefore cannot complain if the use of these machines is not viewed with favour at present.” Three Routes Specified.

The board explains that New Zealand Airways, Limited, applied to carry out regular services by air over three specified routes: — Route I.—Whangarei-Auekland-Ham-ilton - Rotorua - Whakatane - Gisborne, with an extension from Whangarei to Russell as required. Route 2.—Auckland-Rotorua-Napier-Masterton-Wellington, with permission to call at places on the route as required. Route 3.—Christchurch-Timaru-Crom-well-Queenstown-Dunedin, with the right to call at Roxburgh or Ranfurly as required. The first two routes go through Rotorua, which would be the junction of the two services. The applicant stated that it was prepared to operate these routes from August in the case of No. 1 and from November in the case of No. 2. The third route was intended to be a feeder service to the main services which would be operated to Dunedin and Christchurch under the licenses to be issued to Great Pacific Airways (N.Z.), Ltd., and to the Union Airways, Ltd., and its date of commencement and timetable were indefinite as it depended on the latter companies beginning operations. Conditions of License. The application as regards routes 1 and 2 was refused, but the application in respect of route ? was granted in part, namely: (1) Route followed to be Timaru-Cromwell-Queenstown-Dunedin with the right to call at Roxburgh or Ranfurly as required. (2) Service to be commenced at a date to be fixed. Company to apply at any time not later than December 31 next for a date to be fixed accordingly. , (3) Fares as proposed approved provisionally. (4) Machines used to be those now owned and operated by applicant—namely, five Hermes Spartans and one Puss Moth. (5) Other conditions (if any) to be specified when application is made for commencement of service. Single-engined Machines. Giving detailed reasons for the decisions the board states:— “N.Z. Airways, Ltd., is a private company with a subscribed capital of £2OOO. Its headquarters are at Timuru, where its workshop is situated, and its operations are mainly in this neighbourhood and south to Dunedin and Queenstown, though it has carried out flights in the North Island also. Its fleet consists of five Hermes Spartan and one Puss Moth aeroplanes, none of which is quite new, and since our hearing of the ‘trunk’ service applications in February, the company has bought five Boeing machines, which are now on the way from America. The company has been granted an air ‘taxi’ license for the six original machines. All the machines, including the Boeings, are of the single-engine type.

Boeing Machines.

“Boeing machines have been used extensively on service routes in America; but they are now being discarded in favour of more modern kinds, and the ones purchased are of pattern which was first built some five years ago, and which we understand the makers have now ceased to manufacture. The report of the Controller of Civil Aviation on these aeroplanes styles them ‘obsolescent’ and states that they are now being discarded in America. In addition to the machines we have mentioned, the applicant has referred also to Airspeed Envoy machines, which are a late type of British machine, but in reply to questions at the hearing no undertaking as to their purchase was forthcoming, and the evidence given by the applicant company showed its intention to use the Boeing aeroplanes on the two northern routes applied for.”

Safeguarding the Public.

After reviewing the evidence given by representatives of various applicant companies, the board says: “Our duty as regards this application is defined by the Transport Licensing (Commercial Air Services) Act 1934, and we have first to consider, under section 8, ‘the extent to which the proposed service is necessary or desirable in the public interest.’ We observe first that the public interest clearly demands that licenses should be granted to air services with special care, on account of the dangers attending this form of travel. Experience must be gained before widespread licences can be issued, and care must be exercised that the services are carried out from the outset in the best type of machine procurable. We should not be doing our duty if we took any risks in licensing services-or aeroplanes with which we

are not thoroughly satisfied. “We,realise that the public patronage to be expected for air services will not warrant the use of large fast twinengine machines over every route, because there are areas where the population is obviously too sparse to support them; but where they can be used we prefer the twin-engine type because of its greater safety and reliability. On routes where smaller machines only can be employed profitably, a singleengine machine is the only type available, but these routes will usually be such than an interruption of the service on account of weather will be of less importance, and consequently risks in flying are less likely to be

taken and the service may be carried on with reasonable safety.

Landing Grounds,

“We doubt if a service over either routes 1 or 2 is desirable at present. There is no pressing need for either service, and though all increased facilities for rapid travel may be desirable in some ways, other factors including those mentioned above must be taken into account. No evidence of any public demand which might indicate the need for such a service has been tendered to us. The preparation of landing grounds and navigational facilities on the intended routes should advance further before they are reasonably safe for flying a regular service, and no attempt to do so ought to be made until the work on these has made substantial progress, otherwise the result may be a disaster. If a license were granted, and the machines were ready, it is probable the landing grounds—for instance Rotorua, which is the junction of the 4 two routes — would not be available for the service to start as planned.”