Delays Blamed

P-NG Air Travel Delays Blamed For Rising Costs Increased Services Have Not Kept Pace With Demands

CONGESTION and delays on Qantas Empire Airways ser vices from Sydney to Papua and New Guinea are at present causing considerable irritation in the Territory.

Although Qantas is now carrying twice the number of passengers per annum than it did in 1946, and an increased amount of freight, pre sent services are inadequate for the demands put upon them.

The Australian-New Guinea ser vices are maintained with Sky masters and Sandringhams. In May, one Sandringham was held up for three days in Cairns when an engine had to be replaced; and a week later, there was two days’ de lay in Skymaster services—due to too tight a schedule on other Qantas services to the Far East and else where. If one of these machines is held up—the company is said to have five Skymasters through mechanical fault or weather, the whole of the other trunk and feeder services as far as Rabaul or Honiara suffer in consequence. This causes, amongst other things, congestion in Territory hotels. At the Papua Hotel in Port Moresby, in mid-May, guests were been given shakedowns on the floor.

The answer obviously is more machines. New Guinea has waited months for these, but the situation does not appear to be getting better.

It is obvious that the inadequacy of service is not the fault of Qantas executives in New Guinea; or their executives in Australia. If they could produce extra planes, at will, then this they would have done.

The fault lies at political level.

It is impossible for Qantas to give a firm booking from Sydney to New Guinea now under about five weeks.

The usual method is for a prospec tive passenger to be put on a waiting list; if the traveller is of the per sistent or urgent variety, who will wait upon the booking office every day, then he will likely get a seat within two or three weeks. npHIS inability to get to New JL Guinea when required is par ticularly frustrating to con tractors and business people in the Territory. We have been told of one contractor who engaged six car penters in Australia for an urgent job in the Territory. All details were completed, except firm air bookings. Weeks went by before seats were available; then telegrams were sent to the men. Only

one replied; the others had dis appeared completely — apparently to other jobs, in Australia.

Delay in getting men onto the job in New Guinea is one factor in the high cost of contruction in the Territory. Delay costs money, and this cost is passed on to the person who is having the building con structed; or to the taxpayer.

The March meeting of the Port Moresby Town Advisory Council discussed the question of air ser vices at length, and decided to ask the Government Secretary to approach Qantas to see if more aircraft could be put on the route.

This was done, and the Qantas area manager for New Guinea, Cap tain O. Denny, gave a reply, which was read at the May meeting of the Council.

Captain Denny said that Qantas was aware of the increase in load ings, both in freight and passengers, and they were looking into it with the idea of improving the service to the Territory.

P-Ng Should Be In The Re

Organisation, Too

WITHIN the last month, due to a big re-organisation in South Pacific government airlines, Qantas has replaced BCPA on the Sydney-Vancouver service, and put £1,000,000 Super-Constellations on to the run. BCPA’s DC 6’s have gone onto TEAL’s trans-Tasman run.

BCPA has lost a lot of money for Australia in its half-dozen years of services across the Pacific; its main merit has been that of prestige builder.

However, in the general reshuffle, it might have been a good idea if New Guinea had received one or two of the DC6’s that have gone to TEAL. No country in the world is so dependent upon air services as P-NG. They are no luxury there but plain necessity. P-NG could do with more and bigger planes—the bigger the better; and the sooner the better.

New Guinea is treated as the poor child by Government airlines, while the Constellations, at a £1,000,000 each, go to the champagne service between Sydney and Van couver, which is already adequately taken care of by Pan American and Canadian Pacific.

New Internal Service

Qantas announced end of May that a new weekly internal service - Lae - Moresby - Lae - Finsch hafen - Rabaul - Finschhafen - Lae -would be inaugurated on June 18, and run every Friday thereafter.

The route will be run with DC3 passenger planes with full cabin service.

The service should be a popular one, providing as it does a link be tween Moresby, Lae and Rabaul all on the same day.

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They Just “Haven’T A Clue”

THE next grouch is personal. It probably springs from the fact that all people who have lived South for any number of years have an exaggerated idea of the impor tance o f keeping to schedules.

Nonetheless, the lack of information on aircraft movements that the prospective traveller must put up with at New Guinea outports is, at times, maddening.

A year ago I was in Kavieng and was to pick up a plane for Rabaul, late one Monday. The local Qantas agent could tell me nothing as to when or if the plane would arrive and depart that day.

My host attempted to keep track of it (it was doing a round-the islands flight from Lae via Madang, Wewak, Manus etc.) on his radio.

Towards dark we all gave up. The agent said that he “heard” (heavens knows where), that it had not left Lae, and that it would therefore, probably not be in Kavieng until about 2 p.m. the following day.

Next morning, when I was having a shower, the telephone rang: the plane would land within half an hour; it had night-stopped at Manus.

That was a year ago. On Satur day, May 22, 1954, I -was booked from Rabaul on that day’s plane to Lae. I was to weigh in at 9.30 a.m.

A few minutes before that hour, I ran into the hotel to pick up my luggage. “Oh, the plane’s not going,”

I was told.

Frantic ringing of Qantas agents followed. No, they hadn’t a clue as to when the plane was coming.

Maybe, Sunday; maybe Monday.

They awaited a signal from Lae.

What about my Skymaster con-, nection from Lae to Moresby on the Sunday? Well, it seemed the Skymaster wasn’t coming, either; at least that is what they had heard on the morning’s news broadcast from 9PA Port Moresby.

Somewhere towards noon I was told I could “relax” —there would be no plane out of Rabaul until Monday, at the earliest.

Relax was scarcely the word; but I was forced to take it.

On the Sunday evening I visited the Rabaul golf club and there met an acquaintance who was on his way to Honiara, BSIF.

“Off to-morrow?” I asked.

“Off nothing!” he said. “First, because they can’t yet tell me whether there will be a seat for me, or not. Secondly because I hear the plane won’t be going—not until Tuesday or Wednesday, as a result of the Skymaster hold-up.”

Next morning (Monday 24th) I casually mentioned to the man ageress" of the hotel that the Honiara plane would not be going

through that day. “What!” she yelled. “And me with all these roast ducklings packed for their Lunch and expecting them to pick them up any minute from now! If you know, why haven’t they told ne?”

More furious telephoning to the agents.

No, the Honiara plane was not mming until Tuesday. They vouldn’t need the cold ducklings that iay, but they would need night-stop iccommodation for Tuesday night ncluding accommodation for four Bishops on their way to Honiara for ,he consecration of a fifth.

Utter speechlessness of manage •ess follows. Then she clears the iecks and gets going on the next )roblem--accommodation. rHIS sort of thing is accepted in New Guinea. It is New Guinea fashion. Kick against it, and ’ou are regarded as slightly teculiar. And, perhaps, in the over -11 picture of air transportation, it 3 not very important if a hotel oasts too many duckings: or some ne cannot get to Moresby in time o carry out the work they had fanned. But it is frustrating and afuriating to the individual—and Itimately can do little good to the ountry.

The series of hold-ups around bat May week-end all snow-balled rom a Skymaster that was r eather-bound on the Melbourne hristchurch run, and another that ad engine trouble on the Tokio ?rvice. The end results must have een foreseen—yet there was no aiming given to travellers.

It would have suited me to have Dent that week-end in Lae, rather lan in Rabaul. If I had known of ie hold-up an hour and a half irlier, I could have caught that torning’s Mandated Airlines plane ) Lae. And a little earlier notice ight have saved the lives of half dozen ducklings.—J.T.