USUAL ROUTE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20017, 16 August 1939, Page 16

USUAL ROUTE

CALLS ON JOURNEY AUCKLAND TERMINAL * _ Leaving England to-morrow, the .ly.ng-boat Aoicaroa will follow the same route to Australia as that usually taken by machines on the Empire service. .Her schedule, however, is 'in no way related to that of the craft actually on the service, as the machine will be on a delivery flight. The schedule of the Aotearoa is as follows: — Statute Miles August 17—Southampton to Athens 1644 August 18—Athens to Basra . . 1742 August lit —Basra to Karachi . . 1384 August 20—Karachi to Calcutta . . 1397 August 21 —Calcutta to Bangkok 1032 August 22 —-Bangkok to Singapore 9C>7 August 22 and 23—Check over at Singapore August 23 or 24 —Singapore te Sourabaya . . .. .. 973 About August 2. r > —Sourabaya to Darwin . . . . . • 1304 About August 20—Darwin to Townsville . . . . . • 1204 About August 27—Townsville to Sydney .. .. •• 1200 About August. 29 —Sydney to Auckland . . . . ■ • 1300 14,109 It is planned to fly from Southampton to Sydney in 11 days, and from Southampton to Auckland in 12 days, over the longest air route in the world. The Aotearoa will make a direct crossing from Sydney to Auckland. She will probably land on the Waite* mata Harbour on the afternoon of August 29, and will moor in Mechanics’ Bay.

When the trans-Tasman service is in operation, each of the three machines specially built for the rou*e will carry a crew of five, consisting of captain, first officer, second officer, radio officer and flight steward. The pilots, in addition to their qualifications as fliers, are also both navigators and engineers.