Australia, New Zealand Encyclopedia 2. (töredék) [antikvár]

aviationFew places have benefited from aviation more than Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Not only have the people of Australasia been brought within hours of each other but, more important, their remoteness from the rest of the world has been ended. Australia is linked with other countries by 18 foreign airlines, and NZ by five. A Dutch company, KNILM, was the first foreign airline to fly to Australia. It began a service from what is now Jakarta in 1938. The airline, now known as KLM, is the world's oldest.The Australians and New Zealanders are among the greatest users of air transport in the world. More than eight million passengers arc carried on scheduled air services of the three countries each year. Most Austrahans travelling overseas go by air.Within the region, aircraft fly about 125 million km a year. Australia has 474 airports, NZ 131 and PNG 241 (mainly airstrips). Sydney is the busiest passenger airport, with 1400 aircraft taking off and landing each week, but the airport with most aircraft movements is Bankstown (Sydney) which is used by light aircraft. Aircraft take off and land at Bankstown at the rate of one a minute on many days.Australasian airlinesAustralia's international airline, qantas, is the second oldest airline in the world after KLM. Qantas, founded in November 1920, as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service, began its first regular service between Charle-ville and Cloncurry, Queensland, in November 1922. It became an international airline in 1934 when a route was opened between Brisbane and Singapore. By the mid-1970s Qantas operated regular services to Britain, the United States, Canada, NZ, Hong Kong, Japan and many other countries. Two airlines provided services between the Australian States: ansett airlines of australia (owned by Ansett Trans-pO|-i/Mi/Mifri);TAA(TRANS-AuSTRALIAAlRLINEs), owned by the Australian Government. Other airlines operated services within the States.NZ's National Airways Corporation (nac) operates flights to 26 places throughout NZ. air new zealand flies to Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and several Polynesian islands. Both airlines are owned by the NZ government.Papua New Guinea set up its own airline, air niugini, in December 1973. It took overA huge Boeing 747B Jumbo Jet circles Sydney. These giant aircraft can carry more than 400 passengers.services previously operated in PNG by TAA and Ansett. Air Niugini charters its aircraft from TAA and Ansett Airlines. The new airline expected to carry 500,000 passengers in its first year. It was planned that, after independence, Air Niugini would fly between Australia and PNG.Planes in serviceAirlines in the region use mainly Boeing 707, Boeing 747, Electras, Douglas DC9s and DC8s and Fokker Friendships. Boeing 707s and Boeing 747s can travel at average speeds of750 to 800km an hour. Australian and New Zealand airlines have a good safety record. This is partly due to the lack of very high mountains and turbulent weather in the area and to strict government safety controls.Special uses of aircraftPrivate planes in Australia fly more than a million hours a yearmore than twice as long as airline aircraft. Many Australian sheep and cattle stations and remote New Guineán villages have their own airstrips. Some outback homesteads depend on air transport for frequent mail and food supplies.In 1971, more than 12,000 Australians held private pilots' licences and over 10,000 held student pilots' licences. For NZ the figures were 3146 and 3427.Aircraft were used extensively in Australia and NZ to improve agricultural land. Fertilizing, seeding, spraying and dusting of crops arc done from the air. Poisons are also dropped from aircraft to kill rabbits and other pests.