A History of Teal. the Origins of Air New Zealand As an International Airline

University of Canterbury L. \ (' 1_.) THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY. by IoA. THOMSON 1968 A HISTORY OF TEALe THE ORIGINS OF AIR NEW ZEALAND AS AN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINEo 1940-1967 Table of Contents Preface iii Maps and Illustrations xi Note on Abbreviations, etco xii Chapter 1: From Vision to Reality. 1 Early airline developments; Tasman pioneers; Kingsford Smith's trans-Tasman company; Empire Air Mail Scheme and its extension to New and; conferences and delays; formation of TEAL. Chapter 2: The Flying-boat Era. 50 The inaugural flight; wartime operations - military duties and commercial services; post-war changes; Sandringham flying-boats; suspension of services; Solent flying boats; route expansion; withdrawal of flying-boats. Chapter 3: From Keels to Wheels. 98 The use of landplanes over the Tasman; TEAL's chartered landplane seryice; British withdrawal from TEAL; acquisition of DC-6 landplanes; route terations; the "TEAL Deal" and the purchase of Electras; enlarged route network; the possibility of a change in role and ownership. Chapter 4: ACquisition and Expansion. 148 The reasons for, and of, New Zealand's purchase of TEAL; twenty-one years of operation; Electra troubles; TEAL's new role; DC-8 re-equipment; the negotiation of traff rights; change of name; the widening horizons of the jet age .. Chapter 5: Conclusion .. 191 International airline developments; the advantages of New Zealand ownership of an international airline; the suggested merger of Air New" Zealand and NoAoC.; contemporary developments - routes and aircraft. Appendix A 221 Appendix B 222 Bibliography 223 Preface Flying as a means of travel is no more than another s forward in man's impulsive drive to discover and explore, to colonize and trade. The ship, the railway and the automobile have already made their contributions toward these ends, that of the aeroplane is currently being madeo However, in the field of r transport, progress has been so rapid and comprehensive that the aeroplane may possibly represent the last step; for, short of the development of travel by ballistic methods, long-distance journeys are becoming more and more the prerogative of the international airlineso On shorter s too, air journeys of less than 200 miles appear to be accepted as both practicable and reasonable, even in areas where surface transport is highly developedo Airlines and rcraft are today as much a part of our worid as the metropolitan bus and the suburban train. Fifty years ago rline life was just beginning; today suspension of its activity would inconvenience millions. Consequently the time has long passed when aviation ~as a subject exclusively for the enthusiasts and pioneers; today it is a subj which is of iv interest to everyone for it concerns everyone. New Zealand's concern with commercial aviation is probably greater than that of most nations since her geographical remoteness and exceptionally large volume of overseas trade combine to make the country dependent on r and sea transport. It is, therefore, hard to understand why successive governments in a country which has been so much to the fore in conceiving and developing its extensive social services and export pastoral industries failed to realize the importance of controlling New Zealand's export shipping. Fortunately, the grim circumstances of war revealed to New Zealand's policy-makers that this mistake could not be lowed to repeat itself in the field of commercial aviation, and so today New Zealand owns and operates its own external ai ine - Air New Zealand. Like everyone of the hundreds of companies which now form the airline world, Air New Zealand possesses a personality of its own and has had to solve a pattern of problems peculiar to its own environment. The aim of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, it attempts to trace and record the development of TEAL, the predecessor of Air New Zealand, trying v throughout to explain the causes and effects of various lines of development. Secondly, it endeavours to show why New Zealand ownership of an international airline was deemed essential and advantageous. I would like to stress that this is a study of the origins of New Zealand's international airline, not a study of New Zealand in international aviation, for the latter must, of necessity, include a treatment of all the airlines operating into New Zealand, and in addition an examination of New Zealand's attitude to international aviation as expressed at various conferences and in membership of various organisations. In the course of my research into TEAL's history, I came across few insurmountable difficulties in obtaining material, although I was surprised at the apparent lack of concern with the past on the part of the airline, a situation that seems to have ended with New Zealand's acquisition of total ownership. Nevertheless the company placed a great deal of information at my disposal and its staff revealed a pleasing willingness to recall events of the past with which they had been associated o vi Reference should be made to three extremely useful items in the company's possession - an untitled outline history, a chronological outline of the company's operations and a monthly news-sheet. The first of these is a typewritten manuscript which outlines the growth of the airline and also discusses specialised agencies such as maintenance and catering. This work which has no title, is divided into a number of sections and is footnoted as TEAL, luntitled outline history], with chapter and page numbers~ The second work provides a chronological outline of the airline's history between the years 1940 and 1961. As its pages are not numbered, it is footnoted as TEAL, Operational History, followed by the date of entry. The third work is a monthly news-sheet which was issued from 1940 until 1954 when it was superseded by a monthly bulletin, Tealagram, the name of which was changed to The Air New Zealander in 1965. This item has been footnoted as TEAL, Report for the Month. The other major primary source for this thesis has been the metropolitan newspapers, principally The New Zealand Herald and The Press. They were of particular value for their editorials and articles by aviation correspondents which, if not always impartial, vii were valuable guides in assessing the attitudes of the timeo Mention should also be made of the information contained in the files of Whites Aviation, Auckland. This company has, through the interest of its founder, seemingly assumed the role of archivist for New Zealand aviation and has in its possession a great deal of valuable information, concerning not only TEAL but all aspects of civil and military avi on in this countryo Secondary materi'al is not abundant; most of the references so classified in the bibliography deal with a much wider picture into which TEAL and Air New Zealand fit as one small part. However RoEoGo Davies' work A History of the World's Airlines (1964) is extremely valuable for, not only is it a source of reference, but it also provides a world-wide picture into which New Zealand developments can be placed and with which New Zealand can be compared. In compiling this the s, two major difficulties were experiencedo Firstly, I considered it necessary, in order to present a full picture of the rline's change to an international operator, to continue the period under consideration up to the end of L967. This is the point where history becomes the present and the present becomes history, and it means the viii inclusion of a period in which I had a personal interest in the development of aviation in New Ze and. This, I hope, has not been allowed to interfere with the assessments and judgements which I have passed. Secondly, in the treatment of a topic which spans more than a quarter of a century, many subjects must of necessity be summarily dealt with and others excluded altogether. Many of these concern sp alised agencies, maintenance, catering, cabin services, and are undoubtedly important in themselves; however, this importance usually diminished when the item was included in the whole and reluctantly these factors were excluded. To have given them the attention they deserve would greatly increase the length of this study and would so demand an intimate knowledge of these agencies which is to be gained only through a more considerable association with the airline than I, regrettably, was able to experience. * * * * * During my research I have incurred many debts of gratitudeo Undoubtedly my greatest debt is to the ix staff of Air New Zealand, in particular Messrs V. Mitchell, P. Davidson and D. Findlay; Mrs N. La Hood; and Misses J. Oliver and Go Laloli of the Information Services department, who not only accommodated me in their office for almost two months but answered every question and met my every request with patience and enthusiasm. I wish to thank the many librarians who have tended my numerous demands, in the Auckland Public Library, the General 'Assembly Library, the University of Canterbury ary, and I would e cially like to extend my thanks to Mr R.C. Lamb and the staff of the New Zealand Room, Canterbury Public Library, Christchurch. I am also grateful for the help of Mr DoP. Woodhall of the Aviation Historical Society who provided a number of the illustrations and valuable information on the various aircraft used by the company. Thanks are also due to a great number of people who have contributed, directly or indirectly, to the compilation of the information presented in this thesis. They are too many to name individually but my thanks are no less because of this.

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