PACIFIC AIR TRAVEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1940, Page 3

PACIFIC AIR TRAVEL

PAN-AMERICAN AIRWAYS PLANS FURTHER SURVEY FLIGHTS TO BE MADE. NO PASSENGERS MEANTIME. (By Tclcgrapli—Press Association.) AUCKLAND. July 19. Though the schedule has yet to be announced by Pan-American Airways, it is expected that the single passenger fare from San Francisco to Auckland on the South Pacific air service will be about 600 dollars. This is equivalent to approximately £lB4 in New Zealand currency on the basis of the present rate of exchange. A number of survey flights have to be made before the civil aeronautics authority in the United States sanctions passenger transport on the new route. The flight this week of the American Clipper is officially regarded as the first over the South Pacific air line, and it is probable that passengers will not be carried till the third or fourth trip. Some time ago more than 30 Americans had booked accommodation on the first few flights, and it was stated today that the number had since increased on the short trips. The Honolulu, American and California Clippers, which are the machines to be used on the route to New [(Zealand, can accommodate up to 72 iiassengers. However, the 2500-mile hop between Los Angeles and Honolulu limits the capacity to between 15 and 20 people with the result that, unless there is an influx of passengers at Noumea, this will represent the maximum load arriving at Auckland. On her next flight to New Zealand the Clipper will bring a Pan-American •'Airways' traffic manager to be stationed at Auckland. He is Mr P. S. Delany. who for three years has been traffic representative at the Hong Kong terminal of the company s China line. He is at present on leave in the United States.