FRIENDSHIP CHARTER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30469, 17 June 1964, Page 16

FRIENDSHIP CHARTER

Return In January ■ (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, June 16. The Fokker Friendship which is on charter to EastWest Airlines in Australia will return to its owners, the Natiopal Airways Corporation, as soon as the sealed runway at Hamilton is completed. This means that N.A.C. will be without its services for the 1964-65. Christmas-New Year rush. The charter was originally to terminate on November 30 of this year, when Hamilton airfield was supposed to have been ready. It has now been learned by the corporation that the Hamilton runway will not be completed until next February or March. East-West Airlines is keen to continue using the.'N.A.C. plane on charter, and applied recently for an extended term.

It has been given an extra two months, which means that at the end of January, if the Hamilton timetable is not further delayed, it will return to the corporation. “Our use of this aircraft is closely tied up with the availability of Hamilton for Friendship . operation',” a corporation spokesman said today, “When that happens, we shall require all eight of our Friendships.”

Mr R. G. A. Tuspn, a member of the 12th Squadron (Invercargill) Air Training Corps, has been granted a commission as a pilot officer in the corps.—(P.A.)