New Guinea Aerial Services

Licenses Instead of Merger—Plan for New Sydney-Rabaul Service—Will N.G. be on Imperial Airways Map?

OWING to a variety of events, the aerial transport industry of New Guinea is in an uncertain and somewhat disturbed condition.

The plan to merge all the aerial trans port companies into one corporation, which would operate under Government charter, is still under consideration. The plan has been opposed in public discus sions in both New Guinea and Papua. (See reports on pages 56, 60, and 68.) There is strong opposition to the plan on the part of certain of the aviation con cerns; and one gentleman, whose influ ence is great, has stated positively that he will not enter a merger.

An alternative plan is receiving con sideration. It is that two or three of the leading aviation companies, whose basic organisation gives a guarantee of sta bility and of safe operation, should be licensed to operate on freight and pas senger rates fixed by the Government.

Rate cutting—which is held to menace the safety of air transport in New Guinea ■ —would thus be eliminated; but the vital element of competition would remain, competition being provided in the matter of supplying good service and safe trans port.

We believe that the Civil Aviation authorities in Australia are inclined to support the latter plan.

Weekly Airmail Service

Sir Walter Carpenter, head of the Car penter Airways, has .announced that he will inaugurate a weekly aerial service between Sydney and Rabaul, via North Queensland, Port Moresby and Wau, just as soon as he receives the approval of the Federal authorities and as soon as the aerodromes along this route —especially at Cooktown and Rabaul—are put in order. Sir Walter Carpenter is not seek ing a subsidy, but he does expect to re ceive a proportion of postage fees on postal articles carried.

We understand that in discussions with the Federal authorities the latter have opposed the use of second-hand machines in this service and that Sir Walter has stated that he will use new Australian made aeroplanes capable of 180 miles per hour.

It was announced on April 15 that the Carpenter Airways had purchased the famous big monoplane “Faith in Aus tralia,” in which the late C. T. P. Ulm made many of his great flights, notably the flight from Australia to New Guinea.

Sir Walter Carpenter stated that the “Faith in Australia” would be used mainly for freight transport between Salamaua and Wau.

New Guinea On Main Airways

Route?

Plans for a Sydney-Rabaul service are complicated by a report (refer to page 56) that a reorganisation of the air-mail route between Australia and London is under way, and that this may result in Imperial Airways’ new flying-boats tra velling to Brisbane from Singapore via North Borneo and New Guinea, instead of along the present route (Dutch East Indies and North Australia).

The Commonwealth Government, at the

moment, knows nothing of this suggested plan, apart from the newspaper reports, but it is thought that there is something afoot. Imperial Airways some time ago, when planning the new service by flying boats, made surveys in the Gulf of Car pentaria, and especially at Normanton, with a view to finding a secure base for flying boats. It was found, however, that this region is entirely impracticable.

Therefore, it is likely that the possi bilities of the North Borneo-New Guinea route are being explored. An examination of the map, however, shows that if the flying boats, in order to serve British territory all along the route, were to go northwards of New Guinea and then southwards, via Port Moresby, they would add considerably to their flying time; whereas if they kept southwards of New Guinea on the journey from Borneo to Australia, they would travel on almost a straight line, but they would not serve any important territories—they would go along the southern shore of undeveloped Dutch New Guinea, and through Torres Strait.

If the new Imperial Airways route should be via Northern New Guinea, it is presumed that it would in some way link up with the important services already operating in the mandated territory. In this case, of course, the interests of Quantas Limited would have to be con sidered. Quantas now operate the route from Australia to Singapore and, natur ally, they would want to operate the new route, if that were decided upon.

It is all very complicated: but the nett result of it all is that New Guinea’s avia tion industry is receiving a great deal of attention—and that, of course, is a good thing for New Guinea.