Transport: P. A. A. to New Zealand

Two years ago the Dominion of New Zealand granted exclusive landing rights to Pan American Airways, providing that regular service was established between Auckland and Honolulu before 1938. Basing at Honolulu, P. A. A. last month sent its servicing “mother ship” 1,075 miles due south to Kingman Reef, first stop on the new route. Second stop was established at Pago Pago, Samoa, 1,538 miles farther south, where the clippers are prepared for the 1,798-mile jump into Auckland. Last week, flying his 19-ton. Sikorsky Samoan Clipper a steady 135 m.p.h., P. A. A.’s taciturn, 43-year-old veteran Captain Edwin C. Musick uneventfully traversed this route. This week he will begin scheduled fortnightly service (mail & express only) between New Zealand and Hawaii just in time to save the franchise. Airmail time between the U. S. and the Antipodes will be four days. Steamships take 18. In six months Imperial Airways will fly 1,280 miles across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, and when P. A. A. puts passenger planes on the Auckland run, passengers will be able to fly on regular schedules from New York to London via the Antipodes—a variation of the present possible route via Hong Kong.