FIRST SOLENTS FOR TRANS-TASMAN ROUTE EXPECTED IN MARCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26957, 17 December 1948, Page 4

FIRST SOLENTS FOR TRANS-TASMAN ROUTE EXPECTED IN MARCH

The hope that the first Solent flying boats would be operating between New Zealand and Australia next March was expressed by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Jones, when he met a deputation from the Otago Air Development Committee, a subsidiary of the Dunedin Development Council, yesterday morning. . Mr Jones said that he had taken part in the discussions of • the South Pacific Air Council, which had made several important decisions to provide an air service in the South Pacific. He added that the Solents were fast, and would provide a good trans-Tasman service for five or six years. The New Zealand Government was glad to buy Solent aircraft because they were British made, and Britain bought New Zealand’s goods He did not think that land based aeroplanes were suitable for transTasman flights. In the South Pacific. Mr Jones said, DC 4 planes had been operating, but in future the service would be cpnducted with DC 6’s. The Australian Government had been able to buy them cheaply, in comparison with present market prices, from Sweden and other countries. These aircraft would now operate between Australia and Vancouver, and also between New Zealand and Vancouver. They could carry 48 passengers, with sleeping accommodation for 30. “ I had a ride in one, and they are the best aircraft one could find in any part of tho world,” Mr Jones added. They had a speed of 300 miles per hour.

Australia and New Zealand now had an air service that could compare with other countries for bringing tourists He hoped that the dollar position would ease in due course so that New Zealand people could move freely into dollar countries.

Sir Frederick Tymms had stated that Harewood was suitable for an international aerodrome. No one could dispute that, Mr Jones said, but the question arose whether Wigram, a services aerodrome, should be abandoned eventually on the score that it was too close to Harewood. The Minister said that he thought Harewood could be brought to international standard. If Solents opened a trans-Tasman service next year, however, and there were two inter-colonial passenger ships running, the demand for passages by air and by«, sea would have to be considered in relation to an international aerodrome at Harewood. If there were a greater demand for air travel, and the Solents could not cope with the demand, greater provision for air travel would have to be made. The Minister said that it would be wrong for him to forecast what would take place. Other provinces than Canterbury wanted international aerodromes, but the Tymms report favoured Harewood.

Mr Jones commented that the Government had done a wise thing in having Sir Frederick visit New Zealand to inspect aerodromes and make a report. A Royal Commission, which was once proposed, would have ,done nothing but revive the former difficulties. The report had certainly settled a number of suggestions made for aerodromes in Otago, such as the foreshore and Green Island, and he was glad to have that information. A member of the deputation, Mr A. S. Falconer, said that it took Dunedin people as long to get to Auckland to catch a trans-Tasman aircraft as it did to fly the Tasman.