New Zealand News

Mr Geary was sticking to his original assessment that the market was too small to maintain two domestic trunk carriers and that Ansett’s arrival had forced an over-investment in terminal buildings and ground facilities, in Air New Zealand’s case more than $10 million; which must eventually be borne by the consumer in higher fares.

Nevertheless, the novelty of style and luxury on main trunk services was being widely acclaimed, particularly the arrival on both airlines of a first class and the offer of full meal services – rather than a spartan coffee and a plastic-wrapped ‘bakkie’. To match Ansett’s Golden Wing lounges, Air New Zealand established its Koru Club -$140 a year giving access to the plush Koru Club lounges equipped with self-service bars (the legality of Club nips was being argued by both airlines with the police when this went to press). Other Ansett niceties included linen meal cloths and free valet parking for 48 hours for first class travellers. Throughout the early days, locals watched with some awe as the building spree by both airlines moved on from terminals to airbridges (hitherto unknown to domestic fliers).

While Ansett’s ferment attracted a definite leaning from wealthier fliers, Air New Zealand brought off a coup by appealing to the ‘scrapers’. Instead of converting all ten of its 737s to a 28-69 first class-economy configuration, it maintained three aircraft at full 127 economy seating. These have been flying about the country providing a ‘City Saver’ fare at 25% less than normal economy, and attracting a seat load capacity as close to 100% as is possible Just as would happen in Australia, given the opportunity! Ed).

Air New Zealand opted for a flat $22 extra for its business class fares, regardless of how long the flight, while Ansett charged 50% above economy. Elsewhere, both airlines’ fares are almost identical. However, both airlines agree there will be continued juggling and jousting as they find form. Ansett claims Air New Zealand’s big investment in business class aided the Ansett cause because in meeting the requirement, the local carrier shaved 20% off its total passenger capacity.

If any proof of market buoyancy is needed, says Ansett, it can be found in its own expansion. Within a month of beginning it was obliged to increase its capacity from 15,000 seats a week to 19,000. According to Keenan, Ansett New Zealand soon has to look at further capacity increases, an additional Boeing 737, or even a bigger aircraft. One aircraft constantly mentioned is the BAe 146 though new 737-300s are also a possibility given Ansett arge leasing pool of this type.

If Ansett did itself one PR disfavour, it was to equip itself with 737s of such ancient (though honourable) vintage. The pioneering pedigree of the refurbished aircraft has been constantly played over in the press, to the delight of the competitor. By same devious pipeline, every minor technical hitch and airframe crack gets luridly relayed to the more gullible media.

Air New Zealand was to expand its Boeing 767 fleet in late October by leasing a fourth aircraft from the Norwegian company, Braathens. The added capacity is needed on trans-Tasman and domestic networks, and especially for the reworked Singapore services beginning about the same time. The airline is replacing its twice a week Auckland/Singapore 747 service with four times a week 767 flights, flying non-stop. Capacity goes from 834 to 880 seats. The Braathens lease will last for 11 months, and during this time the machine will remain in its most recent livery, that of Varig of Brazil. A lease for another 767 was to be arranged after this, to last until the delivery of its sixth Boeing 747 late in 1989.

Major Airports to Get Atc Upgrade

After 15 years of delays and false starts a comprehensive plan is underway to bring the country’s air traffic control equipment into the latter quarter of the 20th Century.

International tenders are being called to supply and install secondary surveillance radar at major airports. Until now, primary radar of 1950’s vintage has been the main air traffic control tool. Despite the best efforts of engineers to transistorise and update the systems, they have never been totally free of some potentially disastrous quirks including velocity fade. To controllers, they have been a constant source of aggravation.

The new SSR will be installed at Auckland, Ohakea, Wellington and Christchurch and should be in place and functioning by 1990.

As part of the same package, new primary radar will be installed at the same places. Plans also include the beefing up of the SSR (Surface Surveillance Radar) so that its coverage will be duplicated soon after 1990.

Approval for the work was given by the new Airways Corporation in August – two years after the old Civil Aviation Division announced its NATS (National Air Traffic System). The NATS also planned for the installation of new radar and communications but with a view to eventually having one centrally based control point, probably Wellington. The central control idea was bitterly opposed by air traffic controllers who claimed that while it might save money it provided no back-up in case of failure. As the estimated cost of NATS approached $200 million and the schedule slipped into the mid 1990’s, the scheme was allowed to quietly die – amid the restructuring of civil aviation departments.

Controllers have hailed the new system as a triumph for common sense. The system provides for two main operations centres, Auckland and Christchurch. Ohakea will come within the Auckland centre and Wellington under Christchurch, and some 11O specialists will face relocation. Work will begin soon after the winning tenders are known next January.

At present, New Zealand is possibly the only western country not using SSR. Controllers use radio telephone and commit to memory altitude, direction, flight numbers, etc. “It will be like coming out of the Stone Age,” said the president of the controllers’ association, Tony Chapman.

ATC Problems Intensify

Despite the long overdue SSR announcement, the country’s air traffic control system is in a crisis with an alarming number of near-miss reportings over the past year.

Outdated equipment and personnel shortages have resulted in severe restrictions on numbers and speeds of aircraft in terminal areas, and convoluted routings are costing the airlines painfully.

Books

 THE LIGHT AIRCRAFT GUIDE: Stewart Wilson.

When Australian Aviation contributor Stewart Wilson handed the review copy of his self-published The Light Aircraft Guide to us, he made the comment that this was a book he’d been wanting to write for years, because this segment of flying is one that is often bypassed in favour of the more exotic airliner and military aviation themes.

The result of Stewart’s efforts is a book which should to find its way onto any aviation bookshelf and one which deserves to become a standard reference work. Over 100 types of light aircraft since 1945 (from Austers to Zlins) are described – their history, development and what changes were made from model to model – and all in a readable and informative style.

The words are backed up by over 300 photos and a large contingent of spec and performance data tables. At the end of the 180 page book is a feature on learning to fly based on the author’s own experiences, the idea being to encourage readers who don’t yet fly to take the plunge.

RRP is $19. 95 and The Light Aircraft Guide is available from most news agencies or direct from Dylowl P/L, 13 Cunningham St, Moorebank, 2170.

Ansett – The Story of an Airline:

Samuel Brimson. This is truly an excellent book. The reason is that it is not only very well produced and hosts a worthwhile assortment of historical photographs but in narrating the history of Australia’s most famous airline, the book actually serves to outline the full history of virtually all our domestics since the early twenties.

The object of the book of course is to fully document the history of Ansett Airlines and this it does admirably. In doing so it also outlines the history of Western Australian Airways, Holyman Airways, Adelaide Airways, ANA, New England Airways, Airlines of Australia, Butler Air Transport, Guinea Airways, Mandated Air Lines, MMA, Barrier Reef Airways and the early years at TAA. Getting easy-to-reference data on these long-gone carriers is always a difficult task so the cover price of this 164 page book certainly represents bonus value.

Also of interest are the chapters that tend to nicely document the emergence of Australia’s domestic airline system and in particular the chapters covering the postwar period through to the early sixties when the Two Airline Policy was in its infancy.

A good buy at $25. 95 (it is a reader special as advertised in this issue). Regular RRP is $29. 95, available from most bookshops or direct from Natbook, Room 207, 396 Kent St, Sydney, 2000.

Desert Boneyard:

Philip Chinnery. Everybody has heard of Davis Monthan though most of us have not actually been to this aeronautical marvel situated deep in the Arizona desert. Desert Boneyard takes you through the decades from the postwar period when DM was first established until the present when some 2500 aircraft still haunt its massive acreage.

DM is one of those incredible places that you must visit at least once in your life, just indeed to see if it’s real. It is difficult to describe the sight of over 220 B-528 parked wingtip to wingtip, nose to tail over hundreds of acres. Or hundreds of obsolete jet fighters from the fifties and sixties- 868, 100s, 1028, 1048, 106s, Crusaders, Skyhawks, Demons, Phantoms and hundreds of early model Iroquois and Cayuse helos parked side by side under the dry desert sun. Add to this hundreds of Constellations, KC-978 and C-118s and you have a giant air park of unequalled proportions. This book captures them all and tells the story of DM and her residents, half of which live to fly another day.

Available from Princeton Books, PO Box 24, Cheltenham, 3192 at an RRP of $29. 95. Incidentally, if YOU would like to spend a day inspecting DM, probably the world’s most fascinating air base, then we are hoping to make it one of the highlights of our forthcoming 1988 Oshkosh tour. You had better find a good reason not to be on it!! Foremost among the critics is a pilot safety expert, Captain Peter Rhodes. Rhodes, an Air New Zealand 747 pilot and former technical adviser to NZALPA is attached to the International Federation’s air accident analysis group. He warned bluntly that on an accepted international mathematical model there would be an aviation disaster in New Zealand in the next two or three years.

Rhodes told Australian Aviation of a study he’d made using ICAO formula involving reported near misses. He had taken only incidents from revenue earning flights and in controlled airspace, and in which pilots had been forced to take evasive action. The ICAO model suggested that if more than 7. 5 such incidents were reported over 10,000 flying hours, the chances of collision within the next two to three years were high. Rhodes says he was appalled by his findings. “The New Zealand figure was way above the 7. 5 level, and didn’t look within a bull’s roar of approaching it. Yet I’d been especially cautious in designating ‘near misses’. ” Rhodes supports the controllers’ claim that they have reached a limit in their ability to cope. A danger with both pilots and controllers was that they tended to be ‘macho’ about their work limits, and this could get them into trouble. He cites his own experiences in flying between Auckland and Wellington and in transcontinental flights out of Los Angeles. “On the short New Zealand trip you’d make about 18 navigational calls to air traffic control. Across the much longer US leg, you would make just one. ” Can the system safely weather the intervening three years of the technical update? Already main airport traffic is regulated to what Rhodes calls “Friendship levels”. Approach speeds to terminals are limited to 250 knots below 10,000 ft and 180 knots below 8000 ft. Controllers and pilots are cooperating in limiting the maximum movements handled by one controller to six.

Meanwhile, the Airways Corporation is shoring up the problem with an infusion of manpower. Thirty controllers have just been brought in from abroad and another 70 cadets are undergoing training.

Pilots Slugged With New Fees

The cost of a pilot’s licence could become a large part of the future training outlay. The valued piece of paper could rise in price eightfold if present proposals are accepted.

A shocked annual meeting of the Royal New Zealand Aero Club was told that the recently restructured Civil Aviation Division was under pressure from the Government to recover in total the $2 million cost of direct licensing services to individuals. At present it recovers only $278,000 a year. The Director of the division, Air Commodore Stuart McIntyre, indicated that a commercial pilot would be faced with a $320 bill for the licence, as against the present $30. On top of this he would pay out $100 for a flight test and $70 for each of five theory examinations. A CPL issue would thus cost $970, and a recount would cost $70, refunded if the candidate passed. The fee for an annual check or change of endorsement flight test was estimated at $260 for a ‘C’ category. $300 for a ‘B’ and $375 for an ‘A’. To replace or amend a licence, $100. The cost of a CPL renewal including instrument and multi-engine ratings would be $720. By mid-September, a decision on licence costs was still being awaited.

New Cpl School Operational

Up and running with its first trainee course is the Massey Aviation Institute, designed to graduate pilots with both the New Zealand and Australian CPL, with class 1 instrument and multi ratings.

The course, prompted by Jim Sparks of Cessnock’s Civil Air Training Academy is unusual in that it is integrated with Massey University. At the annual meeting of the Royal New Zealand Aero Club, Civil Aviation Director Stuart McIntyre countered criticism of the division’s support for the institute.

Opponents have argued that the system is elitist; that the academy was treated over generously in allowing its association with the university and they take issue with the reduced air time made possible by the use of a simulator. McIntyre said approval for the academy’s course was on a ‘rolling basis’. Its performance was subject to appraisal “at certain specified critical periods during the course.

“Eventually it is expected that specific standards will be laid down, so that other schools can conduct similar training. You will have to bear with us while we pursue this new approach and develop standards which we will apply across the board. ” The Director General praised the concept, singling out advanced levels of training, university study, pilot judgement as features. “For those who still harbour doubts about the future of pilot training, the industry still has the option of either supporting and adopting the fully integrated Massey programme; or, as before, allowing student pilots to qualify for a licence using his or her resources. In the end however, it may well be customer demand that dictates the type of training required. For my part I hope we go for the new approach. ”

Briefs

• A three-company consortium has been appointed to advise on the sale of 25% of Air New Zealand shares. The Government wants the transfer of the stock to private investors completed by the end of next March. The consortium, announced by the Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Mr Richard Prebble, will comprise the New Zealand sharebrokers, Jarden and Company, the United States bankers First Boston, and the US-Swiss bankers, Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr Prebble said they would look at ways of selling the shares which would ensure the best return for the Government while maximising the value of the 75% holding retained by the Government. Once the Government had decided how many shares would be sold, the advisers would be expected to complete the sale.

• After withdrawing all services to Fiji following the attempted hijacking of one of its 747s after the May coup. Air New Zealand planned to return on September 20. However, all its flights in the immediate future were to be staging stops on transpacific runs. According to the cabin crew union, the airline agreed to six points sought by the union: there would be no coercion on cabin crew individuals to crew the flights; crews would not stay overnight in Fiji, food supplies would not be picked up there, only X-rayed cargo would be loaded, the company would put in writing all its security arrangements and these would be constantly monitored by the union.

• Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology’s Avro Lan- caster bomber is finally under cover after 20 years of deteriorating in the open. It was moved into a specially built $500,000 hangar (money raised largely by public subscription) in August. Next to go under cover in the yet to be completed hangar will be the similarly corrosion-blighted Short Solent flying boat.

• New Zealand Warbirds latest acquisition, a DC-3, was expected to fly following a Civil Aviation survey later this year. The machine has been undergoing a CofA in Motor Holdings hangar at Ardmore. The aircraft’s syndicate reported that the veteran was in excellent condition, with no corrosion. In other Warbird moves, efforts were mounting to form a trust to purchase the P-51 Mustang owned by Mr Tim Wallis. Mr Wallis has stipulated that the aircraft remain in New Zealand, preferably at RNZAF Base Wigram. He is selling the Mustang to finance the purchase of a Supermarine Spitfire XVI, rebuilt to original Castle Bromwich specifications.

• Mr Bob Wallace, Air New Zealand’s manager public affairs has been appointed to a dual position. As manager corporate affairs, he will remain the company’s spokesman on corporate policy issue; but his other position as manager domestic passenger market will put him in charge of domestic services marketing. A new manager public affairs is to be announced.

• British Aerospace is leading the corporate jet market in New Zealand with the delivery of a third BAe 125 in July, and another two to be delivered later this year (refer Traffic this issue). The third 125, an 800 series, was delivered to Wilson Neill. To meet regional support requirements a maintenance base has been established in Auckland by Aviation Corporation.