New Zealand News

Moves To Ease Trans Tasman Flow

Moves to enhance the flow of travellers between New Zealand and Australia have been made in Queenstown at meetings between the Australian Customs Minister, Mr Chris Schacht, and NZ Customs Minister, Mr Murray McCully. They were in Queenstown for the annual review of customs procedures between the two nations. Mr McCully said 44% of New Zealand’s international visitors travelled on to Australia and it was important to ease the trans Tasman link. Having the two countries complementing each other rather than in competition made the clearance of passengers important to both nations, he added.

Australia is New Zealand’s number one trading partner while New Zealand is Australia’s third biggest trader. Senator Schacht said after the rounds of meetings with New Zealanders that there had been agreement on improving trans Tasman relationships, particularly in passenger information and clearance, bearing in mind the importance of tourism. Advanced passenger information meant one Customs check on departure with the information being sent electronically to the passenger’s destination. The Senator explained: “We will establish a better structure that is compatible in computer systems while jointly producing a set of rules of origin for the import and exporting of goods between the two countries.”

Dunedin Airport Goes International

The South Island’s second largest city, Dunedin, capital of Otago Province, hopes to have 50 international flights yearly by 1997. The airport company has plans for 12 international flights in the next year, the first being the recent Qantas 737 chartered by a travel agent to fly rugby fans to Sydney for the Bledisloe cup game. The airport’s chief executive, John McCall, says the airport company was negotiating with travel and tourist agencies for several more charter and one off flights between Dunedin and Australia. One flight from Dunedin could be to the Melbourne Cup next month. Special flights for Australian skiers are likely next winter, too.

Dunedin’s newly extended Momona runway can take a 240 seat 767. Fifty international flights annually from the airport is 1.3% of aircraft movements. Dunedin airport, 390km south of Christchurch, is also considering an air link between Dunedin and the major holiday resort of Queenstown, within a year. The airport company believes two return flights daily is a realistic target. (The Mount Cook Line, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, used to run a nine seater aircraft from Dunedin to the lakeside resort, but the daily link ceased in 1990 through lack of demand).

Mr McCall says the airport company has set up Customs and other services to process international travellers. A service to buy duty free goods by mail order is also planned. Part of the airport building has also been enlarged. The airport company’s chief executive also said: “We’re a wee way down the track from regular services but with deregulation of the aviation industry we will see more services by smaller aircraft across the Tasman.” Queenstown business owners and many local residents hope Australians looking for leisure time activities will fly into Dunedin and board another aircraft to Queenstown.

Quieter Skies For Queenstown

The skies above parts of Queenstown will be quieter now that airport users have agreed to alter the flightpath. The new approach path into Queenstown airport from Milford, another major tourist resort on Fiordland’s west coast, takes aircraft away from Queenstown. Queenstown airport’s general manager, Christopher Read, says incoming flights now take a right hand path down lake Wakatipu; in some weather conditions planes fly around the back of Deer Park Heights. Most of the aircraft noise occurred in the afternoon when the Milford operators flew home in quick succession. The outgoing flightpath now sees many aircraft veering away from the main Queenstown districts. Ansett New Zealand has agreed to the alteration as it does not conflict with its flight procedures.

Wing Commander Pow Dies

New Zealand born Wing Commander Laurence Edwards, believed to have been the first Royal Air Force officer to become a prisoner of war in World War 2, has died, aged 81. His Avro Anson was shot down by a German seaplane on September 5 1939, two days after Britain declared war on Germany following Germany’s invasion of Poland. The Anson, on Coastal Command missions, was shot down over the North Sea. Laurence Edwards spent five years in a POW camp before being repatriated to Britain in 1944 for health reasons. Mr Edwards was the only survivor of the North Sea crash; the seaplane landed and its crew rescued Mr Edwards. After joining the RNZAF he was adjutant at the Ardmore and Hobsonville bases. He was also an instructor at the Wigram, Christchurch, base. Mr Edwards retired from the air force when he was 63. He had previously served with the RNZAF at Defence HQ, Wellington. Mr Edwards, awarded an OBE in 1961, retired in Christchurch.

Aero Clubs Reach For Money

Aero clubs here have started a campaign to turn the relative cheapness of learning to fly in New Zealand into a foreign exchange earner. The average cost of gaining a private pilot’s licence is about $NZ7500, a lot less than in most foreign countries, says Don Weir, president of the Royal New Zealand Aero Club. Fees in parts of Asia could reach six figures, he adds. Would be pilots came to New Zealand for pilot training from the Middle East and Europe and the Aero Club is keen to increase numbers.

The Asian market is the main target this year. The aviation industry has promoted itself at a Singapore aviation fare and advertising campaigns in international aviation magazines are planned. “We have a lot more to offer besides just flight training. With competition from America — where training costs are similar — we have to sell the whole idea of coming to New Zealand,” says Don Weir. As a national body the Royal New Zealand Aero Club cannot suggest which member club potential trainees should go to, he adds. People who make inquiries are sent details of flying programmes and clubs receive information about the people so clubs could follow up potential trainees.

Jean Batten Medals Stolen

Thieves have stolen a collection of medals awarded to New Zealand born pilot Jean Batten, noted for several record setting solo flights in the 1930s. Sixteen medallions, brooches and badges presented to the Rotorua born pilot by aero clubs and air forces around the world were taken from a display cabinet at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland. Rodney Dearing, the museum’s director, says the medals epitomised world acclaim for a gallant aviatrix who captured the imagination of the world. The thieves, he adds, had plundered a part of New Zealand’s heritage.

Jean Batten, born in 1909, became a national hero for her flying achievements half a century ago. She died 12 years ago on the Mediterranean island of Majorca. Her most famous record breaking flight ended on October 16 1936, when she landed in Auckland after an 11 day solo flight from London. It was the first direct flight from England to New Zealand. On the same trip she established a new trans Tasman record of nine hours 15 minutes. She flew solo from England to India in 1933, England to Australia in 1934 and return, becoming the first woman to fly both ways, and England to Brazil in 1935. Her 1936 England/Australia flight, another record, took five days 21 hours, a solo record. Jean Batten’s first flight was with the famous Australian pioneer aviator, Charles Kingsford Smith, who took her for a joyride in the Southern Cross when she was 20. Among the items stolen from the museum were honours from the Royal Aero Club, the City of Paris, the Royal Denmark Aeronautical Society, the Uruguayan Air Force and the Brazilian Air Force.

British Airways Aircraft To Leave Nz

British Airways’ aircraft will disappear from NZ skies next April. The airline has arranged with Qantas for a new Auckland/London route which means an end to BA 747s to New Zealand. Under the BA-Qantas arrangements, BA’s two stop service, from Auckland through Australia and Asia to Heathrow, will be replaced by one stop — Los Angeles. British Airways will run a code-share service with Qantas, of which it owns 25%, and passengers who book with British Airways for London will fly in a Qantas aircraft to Los Angeles where London bound travellers join a BA flight.

The new one stop route will cut about four hours off the total journey. (Air New Zealand’s 747s depart Auckland, fly nonstop to Los Angeles and after refuelling and a crew change, takeoff for London’s Gatwick, with a total flight time of less than 23 hours). British Airways’ Neil Harrison says market research shows the airline’s customers preferred the Pacific route to London.

Ice Crash Monument Opened

Families of victims of New Zealand’s worst air crash recently attended a special blessing of a sacred burial site in west Auckland. A garden of remembrance for the 257 passengers and crew on the Air New Zealand DC-10 flight to Antarctica which hit the slopes of Mt Erebus (slightly higher than Mt Cook) in late 1979, was opened at the Waikumete cemetery. As well as family and friends of the victims, representatives of Air New Zealand were at the blessing. About 30 unidentified victims of the accident are buried in a mass grave in the garden. The mass grave is behind the three granite columns of the monument in the Erebus Memorial Gardens.

Airport Traffic Grows

Extra flights have boosted by 12% the number of travellers using Christchurch International Airport, figures for 1993-94 show. More than 3.42m domestic and international passengers used the airport – a rise of 357,558 on the previous June year. Latest figures show 720,914 international travellers used the airport, 88,275 more. Arrivals were up 48,600 to 364,000, departures increased 43,165 to 325,548.

Air France Departs

Air France, which last year lost more than $US2bn, withdraws its flights from New Zealand at the end of October. Air France operates a DC-10 to Auckland twice a week, providing a South Pacific link between the French territories of New Caledonia and Tahiti. New Zealand was originally served by UTA and its predecessor, TAI (Transports Aeriens Intercontinentaux), one of the pioneering airlines that began services to Auckland 37 years ago.

Airways Returns Profits To Customers

The Airways Corporation has increased the discounts for Instrument Flight Rules en route services for the second time. Airways Corporation chairman Rex Loach says the 15% discount was made possible by a combination of factors including stable revenue and lower costs. Profit after tax for the six months to last December was $NZ5.1m, already $NZ700,000 ahead of the Corporation’s target of $NZ4.4m for the full year. Mr Loach says that any profits should be returned to Airways Corporation customers. The Corporation paid an interim dividend of $NZ2.5m to the government. Another highlight for the corporation was the winning of several international training, consulting and service contracts.