Hew York Tiaea, August 1, 1939
AUSTRALIA AIRLINE
READY FOR SERVICE
Pan American Asks CAA to
Approve Four-Day Flight
From San Francisco
WOULD CUT TIME It DAYS
Course Laid West of the One
Blazed by the Clippers
in 1936 and 1937
Another   major   transoccan air
service for passengers, mail and ex-
| press is ready for operation as soon
| as approved by the Civil Acronau-
I tics Authority, Pan American Air-
f ways disclosed yesterday. Officials
of the company said that an appli-
cation had been filed with the au-
thority for the establishment of
scheduled service over an 8.000-mile
route to link the United States and
Australasia with four-day service.
This would cut eleven days from
the fastest existing transport time
to the countries "down under."
The application calls for a route
weet of the course blazed by clip-
pers of the airline's system in 1937
and 1938. It would extend from
San Francisco—with a terminal at
Los Angeles as well—to Honolulu.
The distance on this leg Is 2,561
miles. From Hawaii the new route
would turn south and west, running
1,193 miles to Canton Island at the
Equator. Here the line will estab-
lish its own hotel, as It has done at
Midway and Wake Islands on the
California-China route.
At Canton the steamer North
Haven Is stationed at present, of-
ficials said. Direction finders, pow-
er and water supply systems al-
roady nave been Installed, as well
as weahter services.
From Canton Island the route
would run 1,981 miles over the Fiji
Islands to Noumea, New Caldonla,
with a final leg of 1,124 miles to
Auckland, New Zealand. Total
mileage Including 366 miles from
San Francisco to Los Angeles, is
7,952. Flying time for the trip will
be forty-nine hours with one of the
Boeing 314 clippers such as are now
in,service across the Atlantic. The
schedule would include a full days
lay-over In Honolulu and overnight
stops at Canton and Noumes.
Announced plans for Imperial
Airways of Great Britain to extend
Its service from Australia to New
Zealand are expected to provide a
direct connection with the Ameri-
can service across the South Paci-
fic. At present fifteen days trip by
steamer Is required for the voyage
from San Francisco to Auckland.
Australia can be reached by air,
however, from the principal Indus-
trial centers in Europe in seven
days. The airline therefore expects
establishment of fort inghtly sched-
ules over the new route to be of
Importance to American trade.
Under present plans, the stop at
Los Angeles would be made on out-
bound flights only, with 'the clip-
pers returning from Honolulu di-
rectly to San Francisco. Only
through traffic would be carried be-
tween the IwbrCallfornlo" terminals.
At Noumea and at Auckland facili-
ties will be developed like those
serving the airline on the east coast
of South America, with special mod-
ern annexes for alr-llne passengers
at existing hotels.
A complete operating equipment
has been Installed at Auckland and
operating rights have been granted
to the American company by the
Government of New Zealand.
Rights have been granted by tfie
French Government to operate by
way of New Caledonia where the
line has established marine base
facilities and Its own weather serv-
ices. The complete base on Canton
Island was established following the
agreement of Great Britain and
United States for Joint administra-
tion of that small dot In thePaclflc.
The route outlined In the applica-
tion is west of that charted by
way of Kingman Reef and Amer-
ican Samoa where the Samoan
Clipper was lost at Pago Pago on
Jan. 11, 1938. In that acoldent,
apparently caused by explosion, for
which the cause had never been
determined, the veteran ocean pilot
of the line, Captain Edward C.
Musick, and his crew were lost.
Preliminary service was then die-1
continued pending delivery of the
larger four-englned Boeing clippers.
Officials of the airline said that It
was now In position to start service
upon the receipt of the necessary
government approval.