New Zealand News

This action follows claims by the Airline Pilots’ Association (ALPA) late last year that only 26 of the 60 NDBs in this country had been checked since 1987. ALPA also claimed that as a result of local administrative changes, the instrument landing system could run for up to 210 days without being checked.

The communications and road safety select committee also said comment should be sought from the international airline safety body ICAO, on whether periodic checking of the NDBs on the ground was sufficient for aviation safety and, if so, what were the appropriate international standards and guidelines for equipment and procedures.

If changes were required to improve safety then such measures should be implemented without delay by the Airways Corporation. Inspection procedures should also be put in place by the Air Transport Division of the Ministry of Transport. Just over a year ago the Wellington ILS was found to be faulty during a routine check from the air, despite having been checked and passed on the ground.

The select committee said it was greatly concerned about poor communications between ALPA, the Air Transport Division and the Airways Corporation.

It questioned why, in particular, ALPA had not approached either the Minister of Transport or Airways directly about their concerns before making them known to the select committee last September. Keith Pattie, ALPA’s president, said his organisation had written to the government about its concerns before raising them with the committee. A Member of Parliament, Trevor Rogers, who resigned from the select committee late last year following an internal disagreement, said ALPA had been “totally vindicated” by the interim report.

Mr Rogers accused Airways of scaling down its checking of navigational aids to save costs. He said it was ironic that tender documents released by Civil Aviation Authority of Australia called for tougher checking than required in this country.

On Profit Target Says Air NZ

Air New Zealand is on track to achieve its forecast profit of $NZ85 million for the year ending June 30, the airline’s chairman, Mr Bob Matthews, says in the interim report.

Mr Matthews said while there was some way to go before profitability represented an acceptable return on share holders’ funds, the group’s profits for the six months ended December 31 was significant progress. Air New Zealand earlier reported a $NZ56m bottom line profit for the six months to December 31 compared with an $NZ11. 31m profit for the corresponding period in 1990.

The group’s operating profit was $NZ5 4 . 6m (previously $NZ7. 3m loss) but the overall result included a $NZ7. 3m abnormal item which related mainly to staff redundancies. . Shareholders funds increased $NZ20 9. 6m in the half year to December 31 to $NZ951. 3m.

Mr Matthews noted that Air New Zealand’s aircraft are denominated in its accounts in US dollars, so shareholders’ funds benefited. The chairman also said several long term debt facilities were being negotiated to take advantage of favourable fixed interest rates.

“The resulting improvements in the company’s overall debt structure will enhance its capacity to participate in the substantial market growth predicted to occur from 1993, particularly within the Asia Pacific region. ”

As well as financial comfort, Air New Zealand National has brought international comfort standards to domestic travel with the introduction of new seats in its four abreast business class. The sheepskin-clad seats match international business class design standards, offering more room and comfort.

Mr Norm Thompson, general manager of Air New Zealand National, said: “Our product is the first genuine business class seat available for domestic travel. ”

(I would like a dollar for every time an airline has said this. Ed). The 47cm wide seats are 5cm wider than economy class seating and offer a 10cm increase in pitch at 90cm.

Mr Thompson said the seats complemented the new international standard meals and inflight services introduced on all business class services late last year. “With the meals, enhanced in-flight services and new business class· seats Air New Zealand is now offering an international standard business class which few domestic airlines would be able to match anywhere in the world. ”

False Passp Ort Detections up 700%

False passport detections increased 700% at Auckland airport last year, compared with 1989-90, says the Customs Department. Eighty false passports had been detected at the airport last year, a parliamentary select committee was told. The committee asked if travellers were now using Wellington and Christchurch airports to try to avoid detection, but Customs officials said the probability of detection was the same. Passport or visa offences were mainly committed by travellers from Iran and the People’s Republic of China, mostly enroute to Canada.

Three offenders were caught last year at Christchurch international airport, a top Customs official said later.

Customs staff at Christchurch airport recently tested equipment for the electronic reading of passports.

If the Canadian made equipment is a success, more will be ordered for Auckland and Wellington airports. CHAR GE AGAINST NOTED PILOT DISMISSED

Well lrnown pilot Tim Wallis, 59, did a victory roll in a Spitfire over a Christchurch hospital’s spinal unit, where he had been a patient, to show disabled people a piece of history.

Unfortunately the victory roll got Mr Wallis, of Wanaka, 450km south west of Christchurch into trouble with the law. He was charged with flying the Spitfire aerobatically in controlled air space without permission.

Mr Wallis was charged after a woman complained in December 1990, about the Spitfire looping above her house. Judge Hattaway said in a District Court judgement that Mr Wallis saction should never have led to a prosecution. The judge said a warning to Wallis, a first offender, was all that was needed. Wallis had denied the charge.

Mr Wallis had earlier been granted interim suppression of his name. The judge said this suppression should be lifted as not too many people flew Spitfires.

More Dollars to Leave Us

Travellers leaving this country from Auckland are now paying $NZ4 more in departure fees. The fee recently rose to $NZ20 and the money is helping to pay for the $NZ300mairport expansion project.

But there is a “sweetener” for travellers with young families.

The age limit of exemption from departure fees has been raised from 5 to 1 2. The increase is estimated to raise departure fee income by about $NZ4m. Close to travellers passed through the airport last year to overseas destinations.

The chief executive of Auckland International Airport Ltd, Mr John Goulter, says the new fee is still lower than similar charges in Australia ($NZ28) Japan ($NZ30) and the United States ($NZ33). Transit passengers staying under 24 hours do not pay the departure fee from Auckland.

The runway at Auckland is now the second longest in the South Pacific – it stretches 3. 68km following a recent 380m extension at a cost of $NZ4m. Only Sydney’s main runway is longer – 3. 96km. Auckland handles more than 40,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

Briefs

• New Zealand based carpet maker Feltex has won a contract to supply carpet worth $NZ3m for the extension of Sydney International Airport’s terminal. The carpet, made in Christchurch, will arrive by sea in the next few months. The order is the largest contractfor Feltex, which is owned by an Australian company, BTR Nylex Ltd.

• A Lufthansa 747 cargo aircraft recently took 100 tonnes of lamb, worth $NZ1. 5m, from Christchurch to Brussels.

• A Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules flew bitumen-laying machinery to Norfolk Island after the island’s Legislative Assembly sought help. There being no shipping to Norfolk for several weeks while a vessel was in dry dock.

• The New Zealand Airways Corporation won a contract to supply four air traffic controllers to Port Vila, Vanuatu. Several times in the last two years the Corporation has sent a controller to do relieving work at the airport. Vanuatu Civil Aviation called for tenders following the expiry of a contract with Britain.