AIR PASSENGER BOOKINGS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 85, 12 April 1946, Page 5

AIR PASSENGER BOOKINGS

400 WAIT AT AUCKLAND PRIGY.ITIES CONCERN OF THE STATE (P.A.) Auckland, April 11. With an accumulation o£ 400 prospective passengers awaiting transport by air from Auckland to Sydney, and with the ever-present likelihood of the list being increased from day to <jay by travellers holding high Govern-ment-issued priorities, the Tasman Empire Airways Limited is finding its resources fully extended. The position at present is further complicated because one of the two modified C class Empire flying-beats, the Aotearoa, is under overhaul, leaving the Awarua to do all the flying for the moment. An average of 50 persons a week can be carried from Auckland to Sydney by the two aircraft maintaining normal schedules, but this does not necessarily mean that at the end of eight weeks the 400 now waiting will have been catered ifor. On the contrary, it is fully expected that various factors, including | the introduction into the list of high priority holders, and unfavourable weather, necessitating more fuel and thus fewer passengers, will cause a longer delay to those who have booked but are well down on the priority list. It is thus by no means certain that all the 400 now on the list will get away within the next eight weeks. Tasman Empire Airways is required to accommodate Government priorities. and, since these are fairly numerous and occur often at short notice, less-favoured travellers cannot be given a departure date in the near future. A sudden influx of mail may also upset the calculations of those awaiting their turn to fly. Mail has a priority over all passengers, while freight comes at the bottom of the list, and the recent issue of New Zealand’s peace stamps, resulting in much heavier postings than usual, cost several passengers their seats. Last week, instead of the usual 6001bs of mail, there was 1600ibs offering for one trip, and about lOOOlbs the next, and on both occasions passengers had to be delayed to enable the mail to be carried.

Priorities are the business of the Government, and are not issued by Tasman Airways. They are controlled by the External Affairs Department and fall into four categories according to the estimated importance of the applicant and of his business. Persons who do not come within any of the four priority categories are listed in a pool, and at the moment comparatively few in this class are able to be accommodated.

More rapid disposal of the accumulated bookings may be possible in the near future, when it is planned to Increase the frequency of the service. Beginning on May 20, and continuing until about the middle of June, It is planned to operate four return trios across the Tasman each week, and, later still, when the new and larger flying-boats are delivered, a daily service is envisaged. For those travellers who are unable to obtain aircraft passage across ■the Tasman there is little hope at present of an immediate sea crossing. There is no regular service, and recent sailings have been confined to occasional American liners and passenger liners en route from the Dominion to England, via Suez. Priorities for travel are issued by Army Headquarters in Wellington, and a fairly large number of New Zealanders are waiting- Although it is possible that the Huddart Parker liner Wanganella. and the pre-war Matson service may’ be restored to the Tasman run in a few months, no definite announcements have yet been made concerning the dates.