AIR TRAVEL POPULAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 70, 8 January 1947, Page 6

AIR TRAVEL POPULAR

SERVICES BUSY BEFORE HOLIDAYS

OVER 1600 PASSENGERS IN EIGHT DAYS

Taking advantage of the rapid post-war growth of the Dominion’s internal air services, more people travelled by aeroplane to the larger centres in order to spend Christmas at home or with friends than ever before. To and from Auckland alone aircraft of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation and No. 40 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force carried a total of 1684 passengers in the eight days from Monday, December 16, to Christmas Eve, inclusive. Of this total 898 passengers left by air from either Whenuapai or Mangere and 786 arived at these stations from various parts of the North and South Islands. To transport the same volume of traffic the Railways Department would have been required to provide accommodation equivalent to four limited expresses, each consisting of three first and five second class carriages and three sleepers. Some of those whose holiday was restricted to a few days would have been debarred from spending Christmas at home had they been obliged to rely on surface transport. All Arrive Safely

All the passengers arrived safely at their destinations. The only semblance of a mishap occurred on December 23, when a No. 40 Squadron Dakota made a precautionary landing at the Clarence Bridge emergency strip while en route from Papaparaumu to Harewood. Its complement of 24 passengers was taken to Christchurch by motor bus. The trouble was not serious, and. the. aircraft have reached ~i ts destination safely, but the pilot decided not to take the risk. The following figures show the number of passengers who used the services to and from Auckland operated by the National Airways Corporation during the eight days preceding Christmas Day:—To Gisborne, 80; from Gisborne, 78; to New Plymouth, 78; from New Plymouth, 75; main trunk- inward, 175; outward, 166. Five special flights inward and outward were made on the main trunk route.

Passengers who used the services conducted by No. 40 Squadron were as follows:—Whenuapai (Auckland) to Harewood (Christchurch), 324; Whenuapai to Papaparaumu (Wellington), 238; Paraparaumu to Whenuapai, 238; Paraparaumu to Harewood, 273; Harewood to Whenuapai, 220; Harewood to Paraparaumu, 150. From December 18 to December 24 four aircraft flew north and south each day.