On Ng Services
p. 51 · Read in the full issue
At Last, Airlines
Let In The Daylight
By a staff writer
The introduction of pure-jet
Boeing 727 s on the Australia-
New Guinea route cuts the re turn flying time by three hours and enables travellers, at last, to visit New Guinea and return to Australia in daylight hours.
IN addition, on some days each week the New Guinea service will begin from Melbourne. Until now all NG services have originated and ended in Sydney.
From May 11 the two Australian airlines, TAA and Ansett-ANA, will replace their Electras with the 727’5, which carry up to 116 people.
The 727’s will terminate in Port Moresby instead of Lae; and onwards passengers will travel either by Viscount or Fokker Friendship. This is a backward step for Lae travellers, made necessary by airport restric tions.
Flying time of an Electra on a single trip from Sydney to Port Moresby will be cut from five hours 35 minutes to about three hours 55 minutes with the 727’5.
For example, the 727 will leave
Sydney at 7 a.m., arrive at Brisbane at 8.10 a.m., leave Brisbane at 8.50 a.m, and arrive at Port Moresby at 11.35 a.m.
After over an hour’s break, the 727 will leave Port Moresby at 12.45 p.m., arrive at Brisbane at 3.30 p.m., leave Brisbane at 4.11 p.m. and return to Sydney at 5.20 p.m,—only a couple of hours more than a day’s work.
Ansett-ANA will make 727 flights to Port Moresby from Melbourne, via Sydney and Brisbane, on Mon days, Wednesdays and Saturdays; on Fridays the airline will fly to Port Moresby from Sydney via Brisbane.
All flights will return to Sydney or Melbourne the same day.
TAA will make two flights a week to Port Moresby, starting at Mel bourne (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and two from Sydney (Saturdays and Sundays).
From May 11 both airlines will introduce Viscounts on their Queens land-Port Moresby runs to replace Fokker Friendships. The Viscounts will cut flying time on the Cairns-Port Moresby hop by about 20 minutes.
The new daylight schedules between Australia and P-NG have been long awaited, and are long overdue.
Present services make it necessary for midnight departures from Sydney, and flights through the night ending in dawn arrival at Port Moresby.
All very well for airline traffic scheduling offices, but plane-hell for NG travellers, whose needs have been made subservient to the glamour inter-capital runs.