INTERNAL AIR LINES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 62, 15 March 1939, Page 11

INTERNAL AIR LINES

TWO NEW SERVICES

WEST COAST AND GISBORNE

New air connections will further shorten travelling time in New Zealand and the latest extensions to be made, in a daily service by Cook Strait planes between Rongotai and Greymouth, which was inaugurated this morning, and a service between Auckland and Gisborne by Union Airways thrice-weekly in each direction, from March 20, will be of particular value in that respect. The time of surface travel has been reduced to a few" hours only by. the West Coast services and the full day's journey .'from Auckland to Gisborne will be covered in two and a half hours, with ten minute stops at Tauranga (which will be an hour and ten minutes from Auckland) and Opotiki. De Havilland 86 airliners will be used on this service, carrying 'ten to twelve passengers. The. change-over from summer to winter time-tables.. on all routes will be made about Easter time, but the Auckland-Gisborne service next week will start away on a winter time-table. This will mean that there will be no through connection from Napier to Auckland, for the planes will leave Gisborne (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) at 7.30 a.m. However, if the traffic later warrants it a daily service in each direction may be given and a through service from Hawke's Bay may be possible. The air fares will very closely approximate fares by surface travel. DOWN THE COAST. V The daily service to. be given between Rongotai" and Greymouth is. an extension of the less frequent service inaugurated some; time ago, with calls at Nelson and Westport, the latter town not being included in the.earlier, service as the aerodrome .was. not, then suitable for the operation of passenger planes. ." . • It is now possible for a business man in a hurry to leave Rongotai. at halfpast seven . and to be back here.. by, quarter past two, though he would certainly have to talk .fast at the .far end of the run, at Greymouth. New Zealand Air Travel planes carry on to Hokitika, the Glacier aerodromes, and South Westland, so that practically any part of the West Coast can now be reached in one day from Wellington. Both the new services have a great deal to offer as tourist routes, for they stretch over wonderful mountain and; water scenery. The Air Travel extension of the Wellington-Greymouth service is one of the finest scenic airways in the world. . [ Union Airways have extended their route milage from 500 miles daily be^ tween Palmerston North and Dunedin in 1936 to a daily route milage (including / the Auckland-Gisborne service 'on six days) to 1840 miles. Cook Strait Airways have not increased their route milage in the same proportion, but much more frequent service is. .given between Wellington, Blenheim, and' Nelson, and now Greymouth and Westport, than when the service avas commenced. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■