Nostalgia for lost flights of fancy

By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK

International travel was not always long queues, deep-vein thrombosis and rubber-flavoured food.

Fifty years ago there was a glamorous and exotic alternative.

On Saturday, a group of former pilots, air hostesses and engineers gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Coral Route - labelled the most romantic airline route in the world by those who flew it.

Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (Teal), the forerunner to Air New Zealand, introduced the service in 1951, ferrying passengers from New Zealand across to Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti and the Cook Islands in luxury Solent flying boats.

Carrying about 45 passengers, the aircraft were more like high-class restaurants, with silver service, tables with linen table cloths, powder rooms and meals cooked to order.

They were the domain of the wealthy, including rich tourists from the United States and Europe and the occasional movie star.

"Flying was very glamorous back in those days," said Ray Gasparich, who heads Auckland's Flying Boat Society.

"The women were dressed in their finery, their hats and furs. It was just lovely."

The flying-boat service, which ended in 1960 when the aircraft were replaced by DC6s, operated with four Belfast-built Solents.

Today there is only one Solent left in the world, on display at Motat.

When in operation, the aircraft flew more than 4.8 million km over about 143,000 hours, skimming aquamarine runways in island lagoons.

They departed from Auckland, flying to Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti and Aitutaki in the Cook Islands over four nights.

Passengers, who were accommodated in elegant colonial hotels around the Pacific, were advised to carry their bathing suits as hand luggage so they could take a dip in a lagoon while the plane refuelled.

Former air hostess Jean Freer said she almost lost her job on the Coral Route during the 1950s, when the company accused her of "fraternising with the locals". An American film producer invited her to spend time at his Tahitian holiday home, where she dressed in a traditional Tahitian costume "for fun" with a girl who lived locally.

"A photo was taken of the two of us and it appeared in the Weekly News. I nearly got the sack."

About 40 former employees of Teal, including air hostesses and pilots, have been involved in the restoration of the last remaining Solent over the past 20 years.