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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2341.PDF
266 FLIGHT t: North Stars and Dakotas—one of each is pictured here at Dorval—have for several years carried practically all T.C.A.'s traffic. Super Constellations are now in service on the com pany's transatlantic route. COMMONWEALTH AIR SERVICES . . . Government in 1945 as the Australian National Airlines Com mission. The Commission began operations, under the title Trans-Australia Airlines, in September 1946. The T.A.A. fleet of 41 aircraft (five Convair 240s, four DC-4s, 24 DC-3s, four Drovers and four Dragons) serves 97 points dispersed over a network of over 27,400 miles. Last year T.A.A. carried more than 663,000 passengers and nearly 17,000 tons of freight. A fleet of six Viscount 720s, the first of which has been completed, is due to enter service on T.A.A's routes later this year. Between them A.N.A. and T.A.A. are responsible for about three-quarters of the scheduled passenger mileage flown within Australia. The Civil Aviation Agreement Bill of 1952 aims at providing for fair and active competition between the two air lines : it stipulates, for example, that they must receive equal allocations of airmail traffic. Butler Air Transport carried nearly 140,000 passengers last year over a 3,000-mile system of local services based on Sydney. Largest of Australia's intra-state carriers, Butler was formed in 1934 and operates a small fleet of Herons and DC-3s. It recently announced an order for two Viscounts, with an option on a further four. Local services in the Eastern states are operated by Ansett Airways, whose DC-3s carried 130,000 passengers last year. The company is reported to be planning the introduction of Convair 340s. South Australia's leading intra-state operator, Guinea Air ways, also operating DC-3s, carried 83,000 passengers in 1953. In Queensland and New South Wales the Dakotas of Queensland Airlines carried 48,000 passengers. The five Doves of Airlines (W.A.) carried nearly 15,000 passengers last year on local routes throughout the centre of West Australia. The airline known since 1927 as MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co. originated as Commercial Aviation Service in 1919, and is thus the oldest of Australia's airlines. The company's network of local services extends from Perth to Darwin and is operated with four DQ-3S and five Ansons; last year nearly 25,000 passengers were carried. Also prominent among local service operators is East-West Airlines which combined last year with South Coast Airways and which flies DC-3s and Ansons in New South Wales. New Zealand and Australia are linked by Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd., which was formed jointly in 1940 by the Govern ments of New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. Between April 30th, 1940, and June 27th, 1954, T.E.A.L. op- One of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation's four Herons takes off from Wellington for a flight across the Cook Straits. The first:~of T.AA.'s six Viscount 720s was completed recently at Hum. Threi Bristol 170s, as illustrated, operate all-cargo services for T.C.A. erated the Auckland-Sydney route entirely with Short flying-boats—successively, Empire boats, Sandringhams and Solents. The route has now been taken over by three DC-6s formerly used by B.C.P.A. At least one Solent will continue to operate T.E.A.L.'s "Coral Route" to the South Sea island groups of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook and Tahiti. The T.E.A.L. DC-6s also operate from Auckland to Nandi, Fiji (where they connect with the Qantas trans-Pacific service), between Melbourne and Christchurch, and between Sydney and Christchurch via Auck land. Well over 250,000 passengers have been carried without mishap by T.E.A.L. since its inception. The domestic airline of New Zealand, formed by the Govern ment in 1945, is New Zealand National Airways Corporation, which absorbed three private airlines with histories dating back to 1934. With the exception of the DC-3 service between Auck land and Norfolk Island, all N.Z.N.A.C.'s operations are within or between the north and south islands of New Zealand. The fleet consists of 22 DC-3s, four Herons (one of which carried H.M. The Queen during her visit), six Rapides and a Fox Moth. The number of passengers carried annually by N.Z.N.A.C. in creased from 147,000 in 1948 to 350,000 last year, and since the airline's inception the original route mileage of 1,600 has also
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