Air Services

Changes in Pacific Air Services

hppn nroceeding on ORK has been P™ceemng Tontouta aerodrome, in^en donia, with the mten tion of makmg it fit ft>r 6 American Stratocruisers.

According to our Noumea corre spondent, Pan American has sigm- Sul New Caledonfa 8 In® its teans- Pacific services if Tontouta is brought up to international standard.

When Pan American resumed its trans-Pacific services after the war, Tontouta was included in the ser vice The Company then used Sky master aircraft.

In the last 12 months, drainage of the main runway has been under taken, surface has been improved and the French aerial technical ser vice now considers that it could take Super Constellation aircraft.

Stratocruisers are about five tons heavier. ...

It is believed that it w ll * be some time before Tontouta wlll be classed as up to Stratocruisei■ standaid due ’n ol i r corr - eS 1 p0 ri den f- S^te^o t < ? o tl ?n small financial allocations made to the French Civil Aviation service. It is believed that the same trouble is causing delay in reconditioning of the airstrips at Palikolo (Santo) and Vate (Vila) which are required be flyTng?boal a ser C 4 n e tothose areas to land-planes.

Sydney-New Caledonia-New

Hebrides-Fui Service

At present Qantas Empire Airways are accepting no further bookings for flying-boat services to Noumea, New Hebrides and Suva after May 31 It is possible, however, that the flying-boats may continue in service for some weeks after that date if airstrips to serve Vila and Santo are not in satisfactory condition.

This service eventually will be operated with Skymaster aircraft and the present shuttle service to Fiji (but to Nadi instead of Suva) will be maintained once fortnightly from Noumea in between the return flight from New Hebrides to Sydney.

This will still give New Caledonia its direct link with Fiji—but will land passengers 140 miles away from Suva, of course.

Lae Still Closed For

Skymasters

Lae aerodrome in New Guinea, which was closed for Skymaster air craft last November when ex cessive wet weather made the sur face unsatisfactory, is still “out” for these planes. The Sydney service terminates at Port Moresby and a DCS aircraft flies between Moresby and Lae.

DCA plans for New Guinea in clude a new airport for Lae at Malahang, several miles from the present site. It therefore would be uneconomic to spend too much on improving the existing strip. Take off and approach is over the sea at Lae and it is impossible to do much to lengthen the strip which is too short for modern aircraft.

However, something is being done to improve it in other respects and it is hoped that it will be back in service for Skymaster aircraft shortly.

East Samoa To Replace

Canton Is?

Our Pago Pago correspondent re ports that the President of the US has approved an application of Pan American World Airways eventu ally to set up active business at the Tafuna airstrip in American Samoa, and that this is only an early phase in a plan that will shift the PAA group from Canton Island to Tutuila. Preliminary plans call for a Hawaii to Eastern Samoa to Australia run.