Qantas May Close The Sw

French and Australian Air Moves

Pacific Air Gap

• The overall effect of plans now being developed by French and Australian airline companies will be to bring all Pacific Islands’ residents closer to one another and to everyone else. A Pacific island can still be remote —but not very often.

i/fOST interesting air development rl of the past month is the sur vey flight carried out by antas in mid-January from Lae to oumea via Honiara (BSIP), Santo id Vila (New Hebrides).

A report is now being prepared ir the company’s directors, but iere is every possibility that this st link in the South-West Pacific r circle will be in operation with the next 12 months.

At the present time, anyone in e New Hebrides or New Caledonia 10 wants to visit the Solomons may r so by infrequent ship connection

or by flying via Australia and New Guinea. The air distance between Santo and Honiara is only a few hundred miles and what Qantas now proposes is long overdue.

The Solomons link with Australia is now by DC3 shuttle service be tween Honiara and Lae, where passengers connect with the Bird Of Paradise DC4 service, Qantas began this service about 10 years ago.

For several years, the Hebrides were served by flying-boats—first by Trans Oceanic Airways, later by Qantas. The Qantas service was an extension of the Noumea service and when Qantas flying-boats were withdrawn in mid-1955 and replaced with Skymasters the Hebrides lost their air connection with the out side world for about 12 months — until the French air company, Transport Aeriens Intercontinentaux commenced operations Noumea- Vila-Santo with DC3 aircraft in July, 1956.

Airstrips at Vila and Santo were not up to required DCA standard for the DC4 aircraft that Qantas pro posed to use. The new service ex tending from Honiara will, if it eventuates, be with DC3’s. The DCS used on the Lae-Honiara service is with the usual commercial aircraft amenities—unlike the rest of the DCS’s used in the Territory which are of the high-density type, furnished with tin soap-dish, back less seats along the sides of the fuselage.

The new service would be a boon to business people and others wish ing to make a grand-circle visit to the SW Pacific. At Noumea, the traveller could connect with the Qantas service to Sydney: and the TAI services to Auckland, Fiji, and Brisbane. Through TAI it would provide BSIP residents with an alternative route to Europe; and also through this airline with a link with the trans-Pacific services at Nadi, and with the Coral Route service to Cook Islands, Samoa and Tahiti.

TAI Proposed Service

No finality has been reached in the Noumea-Tahiti service proposed by TAI. Discussions are currently proceeding between the French air line and the New Zealand Govern ment.

It is proposed to run the service

from Noumea to Bora Bora (with a flying-boat shuttle service to Papeete) via Nadi, and either the Cook Islands or Samoa.

There is no official confirmation of the take-over of the regional French Polynesia air-service (RAI) by TAI interests—but plenty of un official reports of this and other matters.

Air Moves in Fr. Polynesia

From Our New Zealand Correspondent.

IN January, when a Catalina air craft from Tahiti flew to New Zealand, it was planned to reach Auckland via Suva. But the hurri-

cane which had battered Fiji on the previous day offered fair winds and a great saving in gasoline for a direct flight from Aitutaki (Cooks), which was completed in 12 h hours on January 8.

The aircraft skirted the extreme southern fringes of the hurricane, using the winds of its clock-wise circulation for a favourable boost of up to 26 miles per hour.

The Catalina, piloted by New Zealander Alexander Frame, and with Captain R. Seitre as co-pilot, and Messrs. M. Diard and J. Bataille as flight engineers, was one of the two owned by the local French Polynesia inter-island service.

This organisation, formerly known as Regie Arien Inter-insulaire—RAl for short—is, as from January 1, Messageries Arien Interinsulaire— MAI. RAI was a totally government owned organisation under the jurisdiction of the local Public Works Department. The new owners are an amalgamation of Messageries Maritimes—the shipping company— and TAl—Transports Aeriens Inter continentaux.

Plans are already afoot for the establishment of a regular two monthly flight from Papeete to cer tain Tuamotu islands, two flights per annum to the Austral Is., two to Mangareva, and later, for occasional flights to the Marquesas, in addition to the present regular services to the Leeward Group.

When a representative of TAI passed through Suva in mid-No

\ ember he said that TAI would com mence a service from Noumea to Borabora in January. Captain Frame said that he assumed that his ser vice would commence when the seal ing of the Bora Bora airstrip and the establishment of radio-beacon facilities were completed, probably in February. The work was pro gressing well.

Captain Frame said that plans for the establishment of an airfield cf international standard at Papeete appeared still to be at a standstill as far as actual construction was concerned, though there may be progress in the organisational sphere.

However, both TEAL and MAI have transferred their facilities to the intended site at Faaa, near the Hotel Les Tropiques. MAI has a maintenance workshop and passenger facilities there.

Captain Frame reported that Mr.

Richard K. Kimball, of Honolulu, who operated some “men only” flights to Tahiti in 1956 has now acquired a “luxury” PBY Catalina flying-boat which arrived at Papeete in mid-December with half a dozen passengers and was due again in mid-January, flying via Christmas Island.

The operational owners of this aircraft are the Friends of Tahiti Club of Honolulu. A privately owned “club” aircraft apparently is not subject to the American civil aviation licensing restrictions which hamper commercially-owned air

craft in their non-scheduled opera*: tions.

Captain Frame said that theis was also an unconfirmed story i Papeete that the French authoritid there had now granted South Pacifii Air Lines of Honolulu a license t base one of its Solent flying-boats 8 Papeete to maintain a connection with an service operated by lam ’planes from Honolulu to Bora Born It will be recalled that this corm pany was ready to commence regular Honolulu-Papeete Soleia flights when Britain suddenly dd cided to use Christmas Island, as intended staging point, for its H bomb test base.

A later report from Honolulu sa:js that South Pacific Air Lines migl. overcome this difficulty by usim land planes with greater flying range direct from Honolulu to Bora Bora with the company’s present Solenn maintaining the water sector on Papeete, where no airfield exists. .1 However, Captain Frame sail more appeared to be known in tIL outside world of plans in connectioi with air services and air facilitild associated with Tahiti than w;v known in Papeete. Most of his nevs of “what was cooking” in fact cam from PIM, he said.

The two MAI Catalinas, origin ally of the amphibious type, har been partly converted to straiglg flying-boats before going to Papees* several years ago. But the noo

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s were still there and it was ded to reduce a lot of dead it and maintenance costs by dng these and closing in the are into which these wheels :t. This work, plus a full sur f the aircraft by TEAL’s Auck workshops, w'ould occuply three ir months, during which period services would be maintained the other aircraft. )tain Frame and his men

were returning to Papeete per TEAL aircraft immediately.

Captain Frame was with Trans Oceanic Airways of Sydney prior to ■joining RAI several years ago at about the time that TOA ceased operations.

Nauru to Get a

Decent Airstrip

The island of Nauru is to have a modern aerodrome capable of tak ing long-distance, four-engined air

craft, but no details have been an nounced on when work will start.

The present DC3 airstrip was laid out after the island was reoccupied from the Japanese. There have been no legular flights because of the long distances from main centres.

The reconstructed aerodrome will conform with international standards and will accommodate aircraft of DC4 size.

The Nauru airstrip—like the hush hush Henderson Field, near Honiara, on which reconstruction is now T

tost complete—has always been irded as something of a mystery, ome observers see Nauru and iderson as stages on a new Pacific service that is still on the secret owever, as Nauru is to be only t standard, and Henderson like 1, it seems unlikely that inter onal air services will be using, n in the immediate future, auru is right out on the end of mb aerially; but it is an im ant and valuable territory and »od airstrip and charter air ser -3 should be an asset to both sphate Commissioners and Ad- Lstration.

Ansett in P-NG

ERE have been no developments following the January rumour that Ansett-ANA contemplated ading operations to New Guinea agh the purchase of Gibbes k Airways. te argument was that in this ner Ansett would be in a better ion to claim the right to run ces to Australia or the Solomons, e argument seems fallacious, blishment of a local air service ie Territory surely does not give right to run an “international” ervice to (BSIP); or a regional ce (to Australia).