TASMAN AIRWAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20125, 20 December 1939, Page 13

TASMAN AIRWAY

ALL IN READINESS

PROPOSED FARE OF £25

NIGHT FLYING UNLIKELY Everything is ready for the start o f the Tasman air service if its commencement is sanctioned by the Governments . concerned, according to a statement by Captain J. W. ißurgess, commander of the flying-boat Aotearoa, in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club. He said that had it not been for the war a twice or thriceweekly service would Ibe in operation now.

■After tracing the history of commercial aviation since iI9T9, Captain Burgess referred to the survey flights carried out across the Tasman by the Aotearoa. He said these had proved that the proposed service was feasible in every way and they were now prepared to begin operations if the Governments concerned agreed. As an example of the advances in air transport, he mentioned that the proposed fare of £25 ,for the Tasman crossing was similar to the rate charged on the London-Paris service when it began in 1919.

A description of the methods of navigation employed in ocean flying

was given 'by Captain (Burgess, who said many .people were wondering why the Tasman service should not be run at night. This was, perhaps, an ideal, but unfortunately the distance between Auckland and Sydney did not make it .possible. The trip requited from eight tb 10 hours and. allowing for the 'two hours difference in time, it would be necessary to leave Auckland at 2 a.m. to make an early morning arrival at 'Sydney. Few travellers would wish to go on board an aircraft at that hour in the morning and, consequently, an early morning departure which would enable the flying-boat to reach Sydney in the early afternoon was more favourable.