RAPID EXPANSION

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 145, 15 March 1939, Page 10

RAPID EXPANSION

New Zealand’s Network Of Airways

FURTHER EXTENSIONS TO BE INAUGURATED

Further extensions to the Dominions expanding network of commercial airlines will be made today when CookStrait Airways inaugurate a daily seivice between Wellington and Greymouth, via Nelson and Westport, and on Monday next, when Union Airways of New Zealand, Limited, begin a triweekly service between Auckland and Gisborne, via Tauranga and Opotiki. The new daily service to the West Coast of the South Island will enable business men with urgent engagements in West port or Greymouth to leave Wellington at 7.35 a.m. and be back in the capital by 2.15 'p.m., a saving of several days when compared with the steamer service of a few years ago. The service will also mean additional facilities for the rapid distribution of New Zealand inland airmails. At present Union Airways provide connexions between Wellington and Napier trnd Glsbore s bur the new service between Auckland ami Gisborne, which is to be inaugurated on March 20, will enable Tauranga and Opotiki residents to have speedy transport to Wellington, Auckland and tlie South Island. “The new service between Auckland trnd Gisborne will be operated by D.II. 80 airliners, and is being introduced as a tri-weekly one for the winter months,” said an official of Union Airways yesterday. ''Airliners are scheduled to leave Auckland on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, am! Gisborne on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. If traffic is sufficient to warrant the change, this service will be altered to a daily one in each direction.”

The journey between Gisborne and Auckland now occupies a complete day's travelling by road, but when the new air service is inaugurated next week, the travelling time between the t.wo centres will be reduced to two hours and a half.An indication of tlie rapid growth of Union Airways’ operations in New Zealand i s to be gained from statistics made available yesterday, in 1936, the company operated a daily service between Palmerston North, Blenheim, Christchurch and Dunedin, and covered a route mileage of 500 miles. By Monday next, the company will be operating seven different services in both islands, and the route mileage covered each day will have been increased to 18-10 miles.