Aircraft, airport problems make

New Guinea unhappy

By a staff writer

The new 727 jets which have been operating between Aus tralia and Port Moresby since May 11, bringing a daylight service to the territory for the first time, have brought some joy to Port Moresby people, but little for people in other large centres of the territory. The trouble is that the jets do not now fly through to Lae, formerly the main air feeder point in the territory, and the new feeder services from Port Moresby leave a lot to be desired.

PEOPLE in Lae, Madang and Rabaul are complaining that mail and freight deliveries since May 11 have been at least a day, or even two days late, when compared with the previous through-service by the slower Electras.

Previously mail from Sydney and Melbourne would arrive at both Port Moresby and Lae early in the morning and be delivered the same day. Now, they say, the 727’s don’t reach Port Moresby until up to 2 o’clock in the afternoon and by the time connecting Fokkers bring valuable freight and mail into Lae or Rabaul it’s too late to sort it out and deliver it the same day.

Newsagents in Lae, Rabaul and Madang have also received Australian newspapers two or three days late and sales have dropped considerably.

Mr. B. A. Gluyas, general sales manager for Ansett-ANA, said in Melbourne in June that the territory was “far better off” with the daylight runs to Port Moresby. He was familiar with complaints by Lae residents for through services and said Ansett didn’t go through to Lae because the Lae airport could not handle 727’5. If the airport were upgraded Ansett would fly a Boeing there tomorrow, he said.

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“Much of the fuss being kicked up in the territory is parochial,” Mr.

Gluyas said. uo ’ ...

P^°P le will never be sa ‘ ls , fied . w “h anything, no matter what we do We know there have been f ome . sl ,‘B ht hold-ups at the Moresby terminal in off-loading cargoes for ? th f r territory destinations but this 18 to ex P ecte d with the start of any new service “We a f e examining ways to over come this and are always looking mto our schedules.”

In Sydney a TAA official had “no comment” to make about improving feeder services in New Guinea. In NG a TAA official said “teething troubles and small difficulties” had been encountered with the first Boeing flights.

What both airlines didn’t say was that they are embarrassed with an equipment shortage in New Guinea, Their Fokkers are hard-pressed to cope with internal freight on many routes and both would like to be

rid of their DC3’s and buy more Fokkers or other modern aircraft, Ansett-MAL has had to cancel its original order for Skyvans, a fat $1 million export sale for British aircraft manufacturers, because, they claim, the Skyvans’ engines do not meet MAL’s specifications and pro vide power for guaranteed perform ance in the territory’s hot weather.

MAL ordered the Skyvans early last year ( PIM, April, 1966, p. 129) instead of following TAA in New Guinea and buying twin-engined Otters of about the same size and cost.

Both planes carry about 18 passengers but the Skyvan’s big front loading door for bulky freight made MAL plump for it.

Mr. Gluyas said that although the original order for the Skyvans was off, MAL could still buy them if an engine could be developed to cope with New Guinea’s heat.

“The manufacturers have told us they have an American-built engine called the Garrett 331-201 which when put in the Skyvan will do the job,” he said.

“If and when this comes along we will look at it.”

No Otters ordered

Mr. Gluyas denied reports that MAL would follow TAA’s example in buying Otters, although he did not rule out the possibility. “We have not placed any orders for Otters or considered them”, he said.

But obviously MAL will have to get something pretty quickly to re place their Piaggios and Cessnas in New Guinea because of increasing freight and passenger loadings on many routes.

It will be interesting, in the light of MAL’s cancelled orders, to see what Papuan Airlines will do with their two ordered Skyvans.

Ansett-MAL was a bit premature last year in releasing this picture of the Skyvan aircraft which it had ordered for New Guinea. The order has now been can celled.