Monaro
Air Service? 28
June 1949 The Tumut and Adelong Times |
New company being formed 'Snowy
River Airways', aerodrome planned for Tumut as part of network
of feeder services. When the 'Ski Flier' charter air
service between Cooma and Sydney was recently suspended it had operated
sufficiently long to show that apart from the demands of skiers and
visiting travellers there was a growing demand by district
residents for the use of this quick and modern service. No announcement was made at the
time of the reasons for the suspension of the service but it is understood
that the operators held that the restrictions imposed by the Department
of Civil Aviation on the interim Charter Service were capricious and
repressive and that it was a case either of abandoning the service or of
expanding it to a full scale schedule airline service. This latter procedure was decided upon
and it has been announced that a new airline company to be known as
Snowy River Airways is being formed. It will establish a network of
feeder airline services between Cooma, Bombala and Melbourne,
Cooma, Canberra and Sydney, Cooma Adaminaby, Tumut and Wagga. Hang-ars and workshops will be built at Cooma, which will
be the headquarters of the Company's operations. Aerodromes are planned at Bombala,
Adaminaby, Berridale and Tumut in addition to the present aero- drome at
Cooma. Owing to the mountainous nature
of the district and the average size of most of the aerodrome
sites, only medium size aircraft will be used. The service will be started with a
fleet of ten Avro-Anson aircraft similar to the Avro-Anson
'Ski-Flier' used on the Cooma-Sydney route during the last twelve
months. The 'Ski-Flier' Charter service will
be suspended until the new Company can commence operations, and it is
unlikely that air transport for skiers travelling to Kosciusko and
Kiandra can be provided this winter, although the situation has improved
with regard to one restriction - that of insufficient allowance of aviation gasoline. The Ski-Flier has been undergoing annual
overhaul during the past month for the certificate of airworthiness. Cooma 'Express'. |