Services

South Pacific Air

TEAL’S Plans For Fiji- Tahiti Route

Tasman empire airways LTD. announced in mid-May that they plan to continue their Coral Route Service to Tahiti “for many years”, using one or more of the present Mk.IV Solent flying boats, and retaining the others, re leased from the Trans-Tasman ser vice, as a source of maintenance spares for the operational aircraft.

Immediate plans call for a re arrangement of Coral Route schedules, with the possibility of a more frequent service. During July- August, weekly flights will take place to cope with increased winter season traffic to Tahiti.

Details have not yet been worked out, but the following are under consideration;

Pick-Up Point In Fiji

With the immediate discontinu ance of all but an occasional flying boat flight between New Zealand and Fiji, passengers on that sector will be diverted to the land-plane service which will terminate at Nadi. This will raise a problem insofar as Suva and Coral Route passengers are concerned, and it will have to be decided whether Suva passengers are (a) to be motored round the island on a tir ing and dusty trip; or (b) whether they may be flown cross to Nausori by Fiji Airways, or (c) whether they may be flown across from Lautoka to Lauthala Bay by TEAL flying-boat.

In the case of the Coral Route, a decision will have to be made as to whether the passengers ex- Nadi will be picked up at Lautoka (a 20-miles taxi-run from Nadi air field) or, again, whether they will be transported by other means to Lauthala Bay to connect with the Coral Route service. It appears likely that ex-Nadi Coral Route passengers will be picked up by the Solents at Lautoka instead of at Lauthala Bay.

Costs On Coral Route

Under this heading it is known that the possibility of establishing overnight accommodation at Akai ami Islet, in Aitutaki Lagoon, is be ing seriously considered. Solents would then fly through from Fiji to Akaiami in one day, with only a brief refuelling and passenger touchdown at Satapuala, which is over 20 miles from Apia, Western Samoa, which now is the semi-night stop, going, and an all-night stop, coming, After an overnight stop at Akaiami the aircraft would fly to Papeete and return on the second day, again remaining the night at Akaiami. On the third day the

flight would continue through to Fiji whh only a brief stop at Satay Under this arrangement it is possible that operating expenses might be considerably reduced, and eastbound passengers to Tahiti could be better served. f . h y nd . er Present arrangement S r ?£, aft .? rnves at Satuapuala lvc C m , the afternoon, and passengers , a " d crew are carried by taxi An?a S P k V f 6 20 miles in t 0 Apia hotels for dinner. At 11 p.m. tnrn prepare to re- Sin to af o 6 aircraft which takes off a f aln a *- 2 am Tor Akaiami. On the run Q a full overnight stop is tw 6 ” 1 Samoa but there is no time for any sightseeing and, from

the passenger’s noint of view thcrp

is ifttk Tn the TpTa 'call

Akaiami, with no road journey to be undertaken, could be a popular and re stful stop-over, with swim- F from a perfect lagoon beach ln a trul y unspoilt setting, operating a°lmt r el 1 at n Aka t £rni C^ might be rather high. It is believed that tourists might be encouraged to holiday there, so a substantial amount of accommodation would'be called for, with a manager and probably a chef brought in from outside. A mechanic probably would be required to operate the electric power plant. Cost of food which would have to come from NZ or elsewhere by air or s™ (with

probably transhipment charges at Rarotonga if by sea), would cer tainly prove high.

Connecting Link To

Rarotonga

TEAL may be prepared now to operate the Rarotonga link —evidently with some type of landplane —on a shares or subsidy basis with the Cook Islands Administration. A sum for such a subsidy is reported to be allocated in the current Cook Islands Estimates. But this may not happen in the near future.

Other Air Lines

There are some other air de velopments in Polynesia, not asso ciated with TEAL.

From Tahiti it is reported that Air Tahiti (which appears now to be virtually a Government-owned concern, operated by the Public Works Department of French Oceania) will shortly purchase a larger aircraft than the present small amphibians, for use on its French Oceania inter-island ser vices.

In mid-May, Mr. Don Beach (who is associated with South Pacific Air lines of Honolulu), returning from a visit to Tahiti, said that the com pany’s Solents (formerly owned by TOA) had left Australia, via Fiji, for Honolulu. The Honolulu-Tahiti service would definitely start in the near future—either with Solents over the entire route, or with a DC4 south to Bora Bora and Solents on to Tahiti—and from

there to Fiji, or Canton Island, also.

In Samoa, though it is known that official approval has been given to Samoa Airlines to commence operations between East and West Samoa and elsewhere (Canton Island and Tahiti have been men tioned as ports of call) and the financial backing seems now to be there, nothing is known of how soon flights wiH commence. It is stated that Catalina aircraft will be em ployed by this company.