Following Row With France

Air Services In Record Mess Following Row With France

The aviation row between Australia, New Zealand and France, which began in December with the cancellation of TEAL and Qantas traffic rights in Tahiti ( PIM, Jan., p. 9), grew worse in January when further disagreements led to the cancellation of air services between Sydney and Noumea.

CHE row has caused incalculable inconvenience, expense and loss f income to Islands people, as avellers have had to make costly, mnd-about trips to get to their estinations; profitable air-freighted ade has been lost; and people in le tourist industry have lost many f their customers.

The services that have been mcelled were all weekly. They ere: • TEAL’s service from Auckland » Tahiti via Nadi (Fiji) and Pago ago (American Samoa). • The Qantas service from /dney to Tahiti via Nadi. • The UTA (formerly TAI) rvice from Sydney to Noumea, hich was part of UTA’s round-the □rld service. • The Qantas service from 'dney to Noumea. • The UTA service between oumea and Auckland.

Two of the airlines affected— EAL and Qantas —are owned by e New Zealand and Australian overnments respectively. UTA is privately-owned French airline bsidised by the French Govern ent.

The cancellation of the TEAL id Qantas services to Tahiti is a tback to people in Tahiti engaged the tourist industry. TEAL, lich had operated the service since '5l, carried something like 100 ssengers to that island a month, d most of them spent at least a ;ek there.

On the other hand, the Qantas rvice to Tahiti, which was only augurated on November 22 and lich only lasted until the end of

Noumea Services Soon:

As PIM went to press, it was an nounced that weekly air services between Sydney and Noumea would resume “within the next few weeks”. Qantas will operate a turbo-prop Electra on the route, and UTA will charter space on it.

the year, had not had time to have much impact on Tahiti’s tourist trade. But its potential as a carrier of tourists to Tahiti was consider able.

The cancellation of the Sydney- Noumea services means that people in New Caledonia dependent on the tourist trade for a living have been cut off from many of their potential customers.

It also means that people in New Caledonia wishing to travel to Aus tralia and NZ must fly via Vila (New Hebrides) and Nadi (Fiji). New Hebrides people must also go via Nadi.

How long Islands people will have to put up with the present situation is anyone’s guess as there is no sign yet that Australia, New Zealand and France can find a formula for patch ing up their differences.

Particularly in New Caledonia has there been a strong reaction to the cancellation of air services, with criticism being levelled equally against French and Australian Gov ernments. It is felt there that the Territory has to suffer because of political disputes in high places.

However, the trade involved for all concerned is too great for the row to go on indefinitely.

The main reason for the row is that Qantas was never happy with agreements made between Australia and France in 1960 which gave UTA an unequal share of trade into and out of Australia compared with the trade Qantas obtained into and out of French territories. Some observers criticise Australia for concluding the agreements in the first place and say the French were not to blame for this state of affairs.

Between 1960 and the end of 1962, UTA’s Australian traffic was worth £2 million sterling while Qantas earned only £250,000 in French territory in the same period.

Australia therefore pressed for a more equitable arrangement and France, after much delay, suggested that this should be done at the beginning of 1962. (Over)

The result was that in September last year France and Australia agreed provisionally that UTA should not have the right to pick up or set down passengers in Sydney on its Noumea-Paris service via Saigon. And Qantas was given traffic rights in Tahiti.

In a matter of weeks after the September agreement, France realised that UTA’s loss of Aus tralian traffic meant that its round the-world service was uneconomical.

It was, in fact, France’s turn to realise that it had got the worst end of the deal.

Tahiti Rights

It therefore cancelled TEAL’s Tahiti traffic rights partly, it seems, in the hope that this would induce Australia to come to TEAL’s aid, and that when it did, UTA would be able to bargain for the return of traffic rights in and out of Aus tralia. (The French action was also inspired, no doubt, by its desire to have something to exchange for trans-Tasman rights when Auck land’s international airport at Mangere opens in 1965), As Australia did not lift a finger to help TEAL, France (having learned that Qantas aimed to go through to Mexico) then cancelled the Tahiti rights of Qantas in the hope that a promise of their restora tion would get UTA back into the profitable Sydney-Noumea trade.

But this move did not come off, either, for although Australia was willing to let UTA participate in the Noumea-Sydney trade, it was only on certain conditions.

The conditions were that both Qantas and UTA should maintain the Noumea-Sydney service with non-jet aircraft.

France agreed to this plan, but later stated that UTA did not have any non-jet aircraft to use. It there fore proposed that UTA should con

tinue using jet planes, but with the number of passengers between Sydney and Noumea restricted to 35.

Australia turned this plan down as it would have meant that UTA would have continued its Sydney- Tahiti round-the-world service while France denied rights to Qantas in Tahiti.

But in an effort to keep the Sydney-Noumea service going, Aus tralia put forward two new proposals to France. These were that: • The September, 1963, air arrangements between Australia and France should be reinstated. • Qantas should charter a non jet aircraft to UTA so that both companies could operate a regional service between Sydney and Noumea with non-jet aircraft.

Pending a reply to these proposals the French authorities told Qanta on January 15 that no more Qanta flights were authorised betweei Sydney and Noumea.

At the same time, UTA’s flight into Sydney were cancelled. How ever that airline is continuing it round-the-world service by calling a Darwin to refuel en route fron Paris to Noumea.

FOOTNOTE: The Mexicai Director-General of Civil Aviation Mr. A. Acuna Ongay, said ii Sydney on January 20 that Qanta; had been granted the right to operah a service through Mexico t( London. At the same time, a Qanta; spokesman said his airline expectec to start the service in September— preferably through Tahiti. If thi; was not possible, it would go througl Honolulu.

Border Survey Not Yet Resumei

The Australian Minister for Terri tories, Mr. C. E. Barnes, said ii Port Moresby in January that th< Australian survey of the P-NG West New Guinea border would no be resumed until it was knowi whether Indonesia would co-operate He said there had been two recen incidents. On the first occasion In donesians removed border marker put up by Australians, and on th( second, an Indonesian patrol resistec an Australian attempt to restore th( markers.

Built For Two:

These two girls, Ann Hoare (left) and Beryl Christian, are riding what is be lieved to be Nor folk Island's first tandem. It was built by Ann's father from two old bikes.