Lord Howe Without An Air Service
p. 113 · Read in the full issue
The flying-boat service to Lord Howe Island will be discontinued some time this year, Mr P. Steadman, general manager of Airlines of NSW, told PIM on February 14. “This is the first positive statement we have made so far,” he said. “Previously we have said ‘may be discontinued,’ or it was possible it would be discontinued.”
He said the Commonwealth Government had been warned as far back as 1966 that the flying-boat service from Rose Bay, Sydney, to Lord Howe Island, would end.
Meanwhile, plans to build an airstrip on Lord Howe Island, capable of handling Fokker Friendship turbo-prop aircraft, have bogged down.
The latest estimated cost of laying the strip is $2.6 million. The Com monwealth offered $1 million, provided the NSW Government paid the rest. The NSW Government says it hasn’t the money for such a
project. , , T
On top of all that there is concern among ecologists and Lord Howe Island residents that the strip would harm the environment.