Airline co-op

mooted

A report just sent to Forum Island governments into the development of regional air transport recommends the set ting up of a Pacific aircraft leasing company, tentatively dubbed Pacific Air Leasing (P.A.L.), to service the needs of regional airlines.

The study was commissioned by the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation (SPEC), after a meeting of the ministers of civil aviation of Forum countries, and is re ported to be a particular project of the bureau’s executive director, Mr Mahe Tupouniua.

The survey, funded by the United Nations Development Program and the New Zealand government, recommends a cooperative effort to improve air transport in the region. It suggests setting up a holding company to lease aircraft and other equipment to service the routes covered by the national airlines of the region.

The report recommends that

the leasing company should plan an integrated network of air services to meet the require ments of all island states.

In the second stage, the report recommends, the com pany should introduce the new generation of turbo-prop air craft in order to enhance the efficiency of the services and to cut fuel bills. It also proposes that P.A.L. should organise training courses for island air line personnel, from top man agement downwards.

The report has been considered by the civil aviation

ministers of the Forum Island countries and was to be tabled at the Forum at Rarotonga on August 5.

Opinions among island air line managers vary quite wide ly, but the larger companies are disposed to be wary of such a scheme, seeing more disadvan tages than benefits for them selves in a very tough business.

They say that all sorts of theorists have proposed multi national regional airlines for all manner of areas of the world.

None has yet worked properly, they say, almost all of them suffered from political interfer ence, national rivalries, and other maladies, and few of them have survived. From our Suva Correspondent.

A Qantas Boeing 747 wearing Air Pacific colors.