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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2060.PDF
October 1951 479 ou'd develop and nourish that association. The spirit whichsp red the Commonwealth was and must be, co-operation; that was reflected in its aviation policies, particularly in the specialassociation with the United Kingdom and Australia in the opera- lion of Tasman Empire Airways and the trans-Pacific servicesoperated by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines. Not only was there this insistence upon co-operation but on orderly and eco-nomic development of international air transport. While New Zealand had conceded Fifth Freedom rights to the trans-Pacificoperators on the direct route to New Zealand—and this affected traffic between Fiji and New Zealand—she had neverthelessjnsisred on protecting the regional air services. New Zealand had a feeling that, in the negotiation of the Bermuda formula, in-sufficient weight had been given to the position and needs of the regional air services, particularly those that must be operated overlong distances with limited traffic potential. This was the position in the South Pacific. It was felt that it would be a short-sightedpolicy to sacrifice or prejudice the interests of regional air services, which had great importance in their own right, for those of long-distance operation. In the event of any emergency, great import- ance would attach to the regional air services and, in the effort tostrike a balance between the needs of long-route trunk services and the regional services, more emphasis must be placed in futureupon the needs of the latter. The lecturer then traced the negotiations which led to the estab-lishment, in 1940, of Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd., an airline in which the Governments of the U.K., Australia and New Zealandall have interests. He continued, "Another noteworthy event in co-operation between Commonwealth countries in civil aviation matters was the conclusion of the Australian-New Zealand agreement of 21st January, 1944, the so-called Canberra Pact, in which it was agreedj inter alia, that the air services using the international trunk routes should be operated by an international air transport authority." Commonwealth Co-operation He mentioned also the work of the Commonwealth Air Trans-port Council, formed in the same year as the Chicago Conference, 1944, to deal with maners affecting civil aviation of commoninterest to Commonwealth countries. The lecturer continued, "The members decided that a jointoperating organization comprising interests of the U.K., Australia and New Zealand should operate the route from Australia andNew Zealand to Canada, operating in parallel with a Canadian airline .. . Recommendations for the establishment of a trans-Pacific joint operating airline were again adopted at a meeting of the C.A.T.C. held in London in 1945 and at a conference held inWellington early in 1946. The latter conference decided upon the establishment of a tri-partite organization, to be known as BritishCommonwealth Pacific Airlines, to be established for the purpose of operating the trans-Pacific air services between New Zealandand North America. This company was to be registered in Australia, and the capital was subscribed—20 per cent by theU.K., 50 per cent by Australia and 30 per cent by New Zealand. Thus began the second venture in inter-Commonwealth aviation; enterprise. "The Wellington Civil Aviation Conference (1946) also agreedupon the establishment of the South Pacific Air Transport Council, a regional organisation under the aegis of the C.A.T.C."Membership of the Council was open to the U.K., Australia, Canada, Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission and NewZealand, but Canada did not join until 1948. It later became necessary to modify the constitution of the Council and to assignall matters concerning B.C.P.A. and T.E.A. to special and separate Policy Committees. The present functions of the Councilare as follows :- "(a) To keep under review and to promote the progress anddevelopment of Commonwealth civil air communications in the South Pacific, and on the main trunk air routes traversing that area."(b) To advise member governments regarding the development, installation, operation and maintenance of such technical and otherfacilities, including aerodromes. "(c) To serve as a medium for the exchange of views and in-formation between member governments. "(d) To maintain liaison and to Co-operate with the Common-wealth Air Transport Council. "Permanent chairman of the Council is the Minister for CivilAviation in Australia, and the Australian Department of Civil Aviation provides a permanent secretariat. "The Council has performed valuable work in the planning offacilities and services for international and regional air services in we South-West Pacific, including the establishment of Nadi air-port in Fiji." . Airline Operations.—Going on to consider this aspect, thelecture said that New Zealand's ground communications—by road, rail or coastal shipping—must be considered good, but therewere topographical features that loaded the balance in favour of we air This was particularly true of the division of the two Islands by the turbulent Cook Strait, which necessitated a sea crossing ofsome 50 miles, or travel by air. Trains travelled at considerably slower speeds than in Europe or America, because of their narrowgauge and the mountainous country. The urban population was settled chiefly in four main areas—Auckland (309,000), Welling-ton, (193,000), Christchuxch (172,000), and Dunedin (91,000). N.Z.N.A.C.—When the Government decided to nationalize theinternal services in 1945, there were three main companies operat- ing : Union Airways of N.Z., Ltd., providing services between themain centres of population; Cook Strait Airways, Ltd., which held a licence to operate services across Cook Strait; Air Travel, Ltd.,a company operating services on the West Coast of the South Island (an area usually described as "wild and woolly") and whosework was similar to that of the bush pilots of Canada. Surface transport had suffered through the war years, and to supplementthis the R.N.Z.A.F. transport squadrons were engaged in public transport of passengers and also in operating an air freight serviceon behalf of the New Zealand Railways between the rail terminals of the North and South Islands. Prior to 1939, there was little regular airline operation in NewZealand. Airfields were small, route facilities were limited, and operations were based on contact flying. During the 1939-45 war»there was a big expansion of military flying; the Air Force strength expanded from 3,000 to 45,000, and many airfields were con-structed. Unfortunately they were not sited with a view to post- war commercial use—at that stage, speed of construction was thegoverning factor. These war years saw the introduction of traffic control and navigational aids. It was against this background in1946, that the Corporation began operations. Some airfields passed to civil use, while others were combined for dual use bymilitary and civil authorities. Aircraft available in New Zealand (taken over from the companies absorbed) were put into service;fourteen DC-3S and Lodestars were taken over from the Air Force and convened for the carriage of passengers and freight. The policy of the Corporation was to expand services to meetthe traffic demand, and to operate such additional services as were warranted to meet the needs of isolated areas. Development wasrapid, and the aim was to operate a timetable to enable a passenger to move between any two towns in New Zealand on the same day.Facilities were improved, but it was not until 1950-51 that night flying became possible. Within New Zealand an unduplicatedroute-mileage of 2,947 was now operated on a frequency to meet normal demand, with a daily average Of 15,500 miles. The services had been described as "austere." There were notthe usual amenities; neither hostess nor steward was carried, nor were meals served during trips of two hours or less. But theservices did operate on time, with a high factor of regularity and markedly increasing popularity. From the point of view of financial return, the four years oper-ations could not claim to have been successful, but the steady growth of passenger and freight traffic and the financial result ofthe immediate past year's operations indicated a satisfactory position. The New Zealand National Airways Corporation completed itsfirst full year of operation March, 1948. The following figures showed the traffic increases :- 1948 1951 Passenger-miles ... 33 millions 59 millions Freight ton-miles ... 478 thousands 1,618 thousands Mail ton-miles ... 97 thousands 125 thousands Operating with a capital of £1,200,000, N.Z.N.A.C. had shown an accumulated loss of £600,000 and had established obsolescence reserves of £500,000. The year ended March, 1951 showed an operational profit of £8,500. * Pacific routes operated by carriers in which New Zealand has interests. HONOLULU ' KfNCMAN REEF ISTMAS I TONGA / \ jfRAROTONCA j^ AUCKLAND ^-WELLINGTON " CHATHAM IS. . SALA-Y-COMEZ, EASTER ,f CHRlSTChURCH
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