Whangarei's New Air Service Starts June 13

Northern Advocate, 18 May 1949, Page 4

Whangarei's New Air Service Starts June 13

A NEW air service of considerable value to Northland will be instituted on June 13, when an extra flight will be inaugurated from Auckland to Whangarei. The effect of this will be to provide 10 extra seats to and from Auckland, and permit through connections with every airfield in the North Island except Napier, and also with Blenheim, Nelson and Christchurch.

Leaving Auckland at 8.35a.m., the plane will fly direct to Rotorua and return via Hamilton. It will then fly to Whangarei arriving at 12.30 and departing for Auckland at 12.45. Passengers will arrive at Whenuapai at 1.30, and may continue on south in a direct connection to Rotorua, or trans-ship at Rukahia (Hamilton) to a Lodestar 'aircraft bound for New Ply* mouth. . DIRECT SERVICE This direct service to Rotorua and New Plymouth will be made possible by the extra plane, as the previous timetable did not provide direct connections on the same day.

Passengers who wish to make the return trip from either Rotorua or New Plymouth, may do so, leaving New Plymouth at 9.40, and Rotorua at 9.55 and arriving at Whangarei at 12.30

With two flights a day the Whangarei office has eight seats each way daily and it has been found that the waiting lists have become so topheavy that many people do not apply for seats as they do not expect to be able to get on the plane. With 18 seats each way available, the passenger potential should be reasonably well catered for. The new service also provides for direct booking through to Hamilton, and it is felt mat there will be a fair passenger potential for this service now the overnight stop in Auckland has been eliminated.

An added advantage with the third flight will be the shortening of the wait at Whenuapai for the afternoon .plane to Wellington. In the past, pasengers waited three hours for this connection,"

The waiting time is now purely nominal.

Bookings are being accepted by. the Whangarei office of the National Airways Corporation for flights on the new schedule, as well as the existing ones, up to July 30. While the midday service is of direct benefit to Whangarei only, it will affect the Middle and Far North indirectly, as it will' no doubt happen that Whangarei will -be able to release seats of its quota of four on each of the present two flights to Auckland for through passengers from Kaikohe and Kaitaia.

In addition to this, passengers from the Far North may be off-loaded at Whangarei from the morning service, given half an hour in Whangarei, and then taken south, if seats are available, on the turn-round service.

As the concerned with the additional service are not all licensed for Lodestar aircraft, Lockheed Electra aircraft, of which the corporation now has only three, will be used.

By increasing the schedules flown by the Lodestars, it has been found possible to increase the service to districts served by a small field.'