Islands Airways

[?] Expert’S Plan

Fiji Could Be Hub of Islands Airways

i FTER visiting Fiji to prepare air navigation regulations for le Colony, the Advisory Officer technical) of the New Zealand ivil Aviation Administration (Mr. . T. Young) has made a report in hich many aspects of Fiji’s future ternal aviation are discussed.

Dealing with re-equipment lestions, Mr. Young suggests that i most routes in Fiji, 10-passenger rcraft would meet requirements, it he points out that very few ch aircraft are being built today.

A possible answer is the pansion of the Colony’s internal r service to other territories.

The report states that there •pears to be no reason why an rline in Fiji should not provide adplane services to Tonga estern and Eastern Samoa, the •°k Islands, and, when airfields e available, New Caledonia and ihiti.

Tf suitable aircraft are employed d the operations co-ordinated th domestic services, relatively ?h aircraft utilisation rates ould be achieved,” says Mr •ung. fie recommends that Fiji Airways ' its successor) and any officer pointed to administer civil lation in Fiji should jointly jpare long-range plans for the yelopment of domestic air ■vices and possible future regional tensions. fn the course of the report iblished as a Legislative Council per) the unlain ghost of the va Point airport scheme re- Dears. ?he scheme for constructing an ernational airport near the tip Suva Peninsula was knocked on 1 years ago, mainly on the unds of the tremendous ex iditure involved. At intervals vever, the suggestion of an air ip for local services has bobbed its supporters alleging that the iense would be justified by the mnation of the 12-miles gap ween Suva and the Nausori air t at Luvuluvu. n Mr. Young’s opinion, en eering problems or obstructions ild eliminate the development of airport at Suva Point with ways long enough to meet mate needs. He suggests that ds would be spent more wisely improving Nausori. [t would appear desirable,” tho )rt adds “to stabilise and seal least a portion of the runway an area adjacent to the itmg hard-standing if operations

are not to be restricted during the wet season.”

DEALING with the administration of the air navigation regulations, Mr. Young recommends that the duties at present carried out by the Assistant Colonial Secretary (Development) be extended to include civil aviation and that an officer be appointed to his staff to administer the regulations. This officer, the report adds, should have a good background in the administration of civil aviation and preferably a general knowledge of the technical facilities and services employed in civil aviation.

if the growth of Fiji’s civil aviation justified it, the appoint ment of a Director of Civil Aviation might be considered, While highly praising the work done by the Acting Controller of Customs (Mr. T. W. Davis) as Registrar of Aircraft, and his deputy (Mr. A. N. Brown) the re port states that it is unfair to burden with these duties officers whose primary functions are not related to civil aviation,

Frlitonal Nnfp

cuiiUMdiMUlc Mr. Young appears to have covered everything and said little. One may read into his

sport what one likes and, no oubt, plenty of people in Fiji will.

In the summary we have received f his remarks, Mr. Young does ot say anything specifically gainst the present air services rovided in Fiji, but the implication ppears to be that internal airways i the Colony should be run by )me big air company in con mction with its overseas opera ons. The only big air companies i the South Pacific who could mceivably combine those opera ons are Qantas or TEAL. It is arcely likely that TEAL is ixious to add internal airways in :ji to its other headaches on the Dral Route, although it is possible iat a “big” private company ight be induced to take over EAL’s Coral Route and run the ji end as well. Any company at attempted such a set-up would faced with the old problems of [equate airfields and long hauls er areas of low-passenger density.

It is probable that a plane of e capacity of a DC3 would be irranted on the Nadi-Nausori ction of Fiji Airways’ present utes—at times, anyway. But lat of the other parts of the FA twork, where a much more luable contribution is made by Dviding out-port communications the Colony? Does the Fiji jvernment want the expense of ilding and maintaining airstrips Dable of taking larger planes m those at present in use in * out-ports? And does the air flic to those places warrant it? dr. Young’s premise seems to that these places should be viced by larger planes than at ;sent, even though the operating npany would have to run vices outside the Colony in ler to pay for them, my suggestion that Fiji should /e a full-time Director of Civil iation (presumably with a salary match the title) can be con ned, at the present time, as a ce of bureaucratic nonsense— i we are relieved to find that . Young tentatively agrees.