CITY AIRPORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25940, 5 September 1945, Page 6

CITY AIRPORT

MORE CENTRAL SITE URGED CLAIMS OF FORESHORE AGAIN PRESSED * Dunedin’s slogan should be ‘ ByAir We Travel,’ for the air age is the answer to our claims for more tourists and business travellers,” said Mr H. M. Mackay, an ex-president of the Otago Expansion League, in an interview with a Daily Times reporter yesterday. Mr Mackay said that for years there had been a continual cry from the South Island that it was comparatively isolated, but should attract more tourists. The air age would bring opportunities, and there would be corresponding responsibilities, the first of which was to provide suitable airports close to the centres of population. The provision of a suitable airport as close as possible to Dunedin had proved a highly controversial matter, Mr Mackay said, but to-day more than ever he was convinced, in spite of opposition, that the southern endowment on the foreshore was the ideal site, and could be made Dunedin s greatest travel asset. Considerable opposition had come from the Otago Harbour Board and some Government authorities. All sorts of bogies had been raised perennially. It had been stressed that aeroplane sizes and speeds had increased, and that obstructions in the foreshore area made impossible the longer runways that were required. Recent aviation developments had, however, disproved these arguments. Harbour Board’s Attitude Mr Mackay submitted that modern medium-sized airliners could operate ideally from the foreshore, and for those who opposed the idea to say it would be too small for giant transocean airliners now on the drafting boards was beside the point, and nothing but a red herring. Aircra.t of the near future would be equipped forassisted take-offs from medium-length runways. The latest air-braking equipment, already in use on the modern types enabled them to land on much shorter runways than in the past. Apart from the temporary permission to land aircraft on the foreshoie granted 20 years ago, and again about 10 years later, the . Otago Harbour Board had persistently given the impression that it discounted the needs of aviation and intended the area for industrial expansion, Mr Mackay said. If so, it was penny wise and pound foolish. It adopted the slogan “By Ships We Live ” “By ships alone? asked Mr Mackay. The air age was dawning, but the board was still looking over its shoulder at the past to keep its slogan in focus. “If the board can get beyond the short-sighted and erroneous idea that it is a case of ships versus planes, and realise that instead it is a matter of ship-plane co-operation, all may yet be well,” said Mr Mackay. “No one will deny that the board has Dunedin s interests at heart. Where we differ Is how those interests can best be served. The answer lies in a combination of air-rail-road-sea.” Mr Mackay said that time-saving was No. 1 priority in aviation. The foreshore area was five minutes from the heart of D nedin. The city’s present airport, Taieri, was 13 miles out. The railway station, bus terminal and wharves were, rightly, all central, and the airport should be equally central.

The Question of Cost Claiming that the foreshore area fell short of general requirements, Government authorities had pointed to high hills north and east within one mile and a-half of the boundaries, said Mr Mackay. The question was also raised of turbulency, except when the wind was from the open sea to the south. The Harbour Board estimated that the cost of developing the area for its purposes would be heavy, but he doubted whether an airport there would cost more than a fraction of the proposed developments. . “We must remember that not only airliners will be operating,” he added. “ The greatest potential aerial development is possibly in air taxis, Private planes, and helicopters. Those who fly them wilt include numbers of business men provided they are not forced to waste valuable time getting to and from isolated aerodromes. Towns and cities planning with vision will get the trade. Those who persist in living in the days before yesterday will be bypassed by a busy world."