TEAL 's Coral Route
p. 25 · Read in the full issue
Answers To
Samoa’S Criticism
TEAL 's Coral Route Troubles
r ERE has been savage criticism of TEAL in Western Samoa because the Solent flying-boat which flew from Suva to Apia on January 5, had to leave a good deal of mail behind. The cause was a combination of the facts that the mail awaiting transport far exceeded all expectations; passenger demand was heavy; and the weather was unfavourable.
The situation was further compli cated by some official muddling— mailbags had not been properly classed and addressed.
However, a good deal of the surplus mail was sent on by the mv Tofua, sailing next day.
TEAL, by special announcements, and by sending a special officer to Apia to study the situation and devise means of avoiding delay in similar circumstances in the future, reacted promptly to the criticism.
Their quite reasonable explanation of the unusual circumstances probably soothed the Samoan public.
There was a similar mail and passenger jam in Suva when the fortnightly Solent got ready to take
off again on January 19; but this time TEAL were all ready and, although there was some grim weeding-out, fewer innocents were slaughtered.
“Protecting” The Route
TEAL was on more comfortable ground when answering an infuriated Samoan charge that Samoa would not have to suffer these things if the higher powers would open the Coral Route (Fiji- Samoa-Tahiti) to Pan American Airways, instead of protecting it for
Teal,
Mildly, but firmly, TEAL reminded the public that this is a most uneconomic route—a very long distance, with cormmmities needing air-service very thin and few and far between. In other words, argue TEAL, Samoa could not get this safe and dependable air service unless TEAL’S Coral Route was heavily subsidised by the NZ Government.
“The future of this Service,” says TEAL, “must be affected by whether we have more traffic or less.
Sharply competitive conditions may be beneficial to the user of trans portation when the traffic is big enough to support more than one operator.
“In the case of Samoa, the traffic is not yet big enough to provide economical operations for even one airline.”