NEW AIR SERVICE

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 157, 13 March 1939, Page 2

NEW AIR SERVICE

AUCKLAND-!- ISBORN E V r P “■ ' \ TRI-WEEKLY SERVICE . _____ •' '■'< : TRAFFIC-BUILDING PLAN" DAILY SCHEDULE LATER Commencing oai Monday, March 20 r Union Airways, Limited, will conducta- t-ri-weekly service- between Gisborne and Auckland, initiating what it is Imped will become, after a few weeks, a. daily service- between the Queen City and the leading provincial town on the East .Coast. . '

The first scheduled trip will be made bv one of the-De Havilland 8U machines, wliich pioneered the Auck-land-Dun edin sen-vice, on iMarch 20 from Auckland. Thereafter, until traffic reaches a volume- sufficient to justify the operation of a daily service, planes- will leave Auckland lor Gisborne, via. Tauranga and Opotiki, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays j and departures from Gisborne will be made on Tuesdays, Thursdays .and Saturdays. s Initial Timetable. Service considerations and the convenience of passengers have been consulted in the compilation of Jthe schedule for this tri-weeldv service/ which lias been fixed as follows: Leave Auckland 8.10 a.m.; arrive Tauranga’ 9 a.m. Leave. Tauranga' 9.10 a.in. ; arrive Opotiki 9.50 a.m. Leave Opotiki 10 a.m., arrive Gisborne 10.40 a.m. Leave Gisborne 7.30 a.m.; arrive Opotiki 8.10 a.m. Leave Opotiki 8.20 aua..; arrive Tauranga 9 a.m. Leave Tauranga 9.10 a.m., arrive Auckland 10 a.m. The fares- fixed by the company include a. Gisborne-Auckland fare of £4. From Gisborne- to Opotiki the fare will be 27s 6d, and from Opotiki to Tauraiiga- a, similar charge will be involved. The Gisborne-Tauranga fare will be £2 los.

At- each aerodrome the company will, tender the same surface-trans-port- facilities as are available on the longer-established runs, including free carriage of passengers between the depots and the aerodromes. At Tauranga a, short- launch trip will be inducted in the service l to passengers. Tune in Auckland. The Auckland aerodrome is an hour’s run from the city, and this fact has been given due weight in framing the schedule fo-r north-bound flights. If a later start from Gisborne bad been decided on, the time available for passengers reaching Auckland would have been cut down correspondingly, and it is the, experience of Union Airways that the early start is preferable from the passengers’ point of view.

AVlien traffic justifies the commencement of a daily two-way .service between Gisborne andi Auckland, the schedule announced in January will be adhered to, with the exception tluitthe trips front Gisborne will start earlier in the winter months.. The 1 original schedule- drawn up for daily service -provided for a '3.30 p.m. startfrom Gisborne, but during the winter this will he amended, and the. northbound plane will probably set out at: 1 p.m. or 1. p.m. daily.