Fiji Merely Owns Land at its International Airport

Nadi Has A United Nations Flavour

WHETHER Nadi or Nausori will be Fiji’s internatonal airport has not yet been resolved, but the airline companies seem to have solved the diffi culty, at least temporarily, for themselves.

They are running a sort of United Nations establishment at Nadi, and are likely to be located at that airport for the next 12 months. Nausori has no tar sealed runways and is therefore out of commission during the wet season.

White’s Aviation for December, says that while the United States Army con trols the camp at Nadi, the RNZAF handles flying-control and radio —a US plane cannot land unless the RNZAF say so, yet on the ground RNZAF personnel live with the Americans. Furthermore,

civilian and service aircraft get mainten ance from Pan American Airways while the New Zealand Public Works Depart ment is makng additions to the aero drome.

Australian National Airways, who are operating a trans-Pacific service on be half of the Governments of Australia, New Zealand, and Britain, also use Nadi.

Their planes are serviced by Pan Ameri can and their passengers are billeted in native houses by the United States Army —and, according to reports, they like the experience.

As Whites Aviation remarks—everyone seems to have a hand in the direction of Nadi except the people of Fiji, who -merely own the ground and live there.

AFTER the near-war that raged between Nadi-Lautoka and Nausori- Savu citizens a few months back over the proposed site of the international airport, this seems rather an anti-climax; but the fact is that until the international agreement on reciprocal landing rights is signed between America and the British Commonwealth, the international airlines, which make of Fiji a mere staging-point, are of relatively little importance to Fiji itself.

Pan American cannot pick up or land passengers in Fiji and ANA cannot pick up or land passengers in American terri tory. Technically, ANA can carry pas sengers between Australia and Fiji but this has not been done to date, and book-* ings between Sydney and Fiji are effected only when a booking has been made from Fij| to Vancouver.

Fiji has become, for no reason other than geographical position, the main in ternational airways cross-roads of the Pacific. But Fiji residents themselves are more vitally concerned with the air ser vices which link them with New Zealand and Australia.

The RNZAF on behalf of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation runs a weekly service between Auckland and Nausori (and on to other Pacific islands) with DCS aircraft, and a flying boat service between Auckland and Suva (see Magazine Section of this issue).

Qantas Empire Airways run a fortnightly flying-boat service between Sydney and Suva, with an overnight stop midway at Noumea.

These two services are of much more practical value to Fiji at present than the more publicised trans-Pacific services which bring to Fiji only a limited amount of tourist money.