MORE AIR SERVICES STARTING TODAY

Chronicle (Levin), 1 November 1947, Page 5

MORE AIR SERVICES STARTING TODAY

Press Assdcidtion)

(Per

WELLINGTON, oct. 31. A big advance in New Zealand aii services is to be made' tomoxi'O «v. There will be more frequent services' pn some routes and aireraft with largeis passengef and air freight eapacity wiJi be mtrodueed on Other routes. This is ina-de possible- by the delivei., of aireraft re-conditioned to modern. standards of passenger conifort, inciud ing the 2l-seater Douglas aifiiners, the chairman of the National Airways Corpdrtation (Sir Leonard lsitt) stated deday. . The eorporatio'n Will undertake three new services beyond Nevv Zealand. Whort Bunderland flyxng-boats will operate once weekly betvveen Auckland and Snva and fortnightly between Suva and Labassa (Vanua Levu,- Fiji Islands), Douglas airliners will opefatea returft fiight each Suuday betWeen Auckland and Norfolk Island, and a further service every se'cond Bunday from Auckland to Norfolk, Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, and the Cook Islands. An additional return fiight will be made fortnightly between Rarotonga and Aitutaki to- meet traffic requirements. Internal Services Improved. From November 17 a number of important amehdments will be made to the internal services. The present main trunk Lodestar service between Auckland and Dunedin will be supplemented thfoughout by a second service, with a. third between Wellington and Dunedin, and the service between Dunedin and Invercargill will be replaced by a service operated by Dominie aireraft with three return services daily. This will provide a daily service between Invercargill and Auckland while the existing through fiight between Auckland and Invercargill will be maintained. A further service between Invercargill and Wellington, and Wellington and Invercargill is provided in the afternoon. The uncomfortable wartime Dakotas on the Auckland-Chi'istchurch direct service will be replaced by full civil Douglas airliners. They will leave Auckland in the mornings with through connections by Lodestar to Dunedin and Invercargill, and Christchurch in the afternoons, with connections from Dunedin and Invercargill. Anotlier service will leave Christchurch in the iqornings for Wellington and auckland, and Auckland in the afternoons -for Wellington and Christchurch. Cook Strait Planes. Electras will be re-introduced to the Cook Strait and the Nelson-Westport services with connections to and froni Hokitika. They will fly twice daily between Wellington and Blenheim, once daily between Wellington and Nelson, and' once daily between Wellington, Nelson, and Westport, These services will be supplemented with schedules Py Dominie and Rapide aireraft. The corporation is awaiting the „delivery of further aireraft, when all services throughout its network will be increased progressively to meet the full demands of traffic.