Neu: 2001-10-05 Contents of this issue:
1. Please Help 2. Flight Reductions 3. On Location 4. WEATHER WATCH ======================================================================== October 5th, 2001 1. Please Help: Businesses on Niue have asked Royal Tongan Airlines if they can assist with providing a more regular mail delivery service to Niue. Recently there have been lengthy delays in mail, freight and courier packs due to weight restrictions on a Shorts 360 which provides a twice weekly service from Tonga to Niue. "Mail and freight is flown from New Zealand to Tonga but up to this week there was a huge backlog of mail and freight in Tonga waiting to be delivered to Niue," said one businessperson. "We rely on mail and courier services for the delivery of urgent items and so some of us have approached Royal Tongan Airlines to see if they can assist with a quicker clearance of goods through Tonga," said the businessperson. Up to four weeks mail has been involved in the delays. At one stage air mail was being shipped from Auckland to Niue. 2. Flight Reductions: Air New Zealand began cancelling flights to the United States last night in response to reduced demand after last month's terrorist attacks. The airline said seven daily return flights to and from Sydney and Los Angeles between October 13 and October 30 would be axed. Those flights are on October 13, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27 and 30. Flights between the two cities on the other days in October would continue.The airline operates two flights a week to the US through Tonga but there has been no indication if those will be reduced. Passengers would be rebooked on the same flight the next day and additional accommodation costs would be covered. Financial analyst DF Mainland's head of research, Bruce McKay, said Air New Zealand was unlikely to cut back on routes, particularly on its international service, but would reduce the frequency of flights as part of cost-cutting to return the airline to profitability. "The issue is, the airline's got to maintain a lot of flexibility, because demand can move reasonably quickly - demand could come back in six months' time and people will say, now we've got rid of too many aircraft, we've got under-capacity and you're watching profits walk past the door," he said. Mr McKay said it was too early to predict how many jobs would go in restructuring. 3. On Location: The "Survivor" TV show screened weekly on TV Niue will soon be filmed in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, in the northeastern part of French Polynesia. A crew from the TV show already is in Tahiti checking out production requirements. About 250 U.S. technicians are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. The "Survivor" TV shows reach about 80 million viewers. Previous productions have taken place in Indonesia, Australia and Kenya. Sixteen people will participate in the first Marquesas Islands "Survivor" broadcast. After 39 days, the final "survivor" will receive a US$ 1 million prize. In Taihoae, Nuku Hiva, the population is reported to be delighted with the "Survivor" project. Four island valleys are expected to be used in producing the TV show. (TahitiPresse) 4. WEATHER WATCH THIS WEEK a huge pile of late winter air lumbered slowly east from New Zealand across the Southern Ocean. The counter-clockwise wind flow off of the NW side of the giant dome swept near gale force trades in a broad band from Tahiti to the Northern Cook Islands to New Zealand. Over Niue, frequent low clouds kept a pleasant filter on the strengthening springtime afternoon sun. Outdoor activities were unaffected by occasional minute light showers totaling less than 10 mm for the week. Seasonal temperatures of near 20 at night and 26 to 27 mid afternoon combined with fairly low humidity to produce quite comfortable conditions. Flame trees in bright red-orange early bloom signaled the arrival of Spring. THE WEEKEND weather forecast models continue the very slow eastward drift of the strong High to our southeast along 40S. The western edge of the High maintains good definition from Samoa to Fiji to east of Norfolk Island. Over Niue, strong easterlies gusting to gale force gradually diminish to about 15 kts by Sunday afternoon. A weak N-S trough of Low pressure near Fiji slowly fills as a small Low (1008) forms and drifts south to New Zealand. Clouds from the trough occasionally look to blanket us through most of Sunday. Little precipitation is forecast. NEXT WEEK the computer prognostication is for an inverted trough to drift quickly eastward over New Zealand and to the north of the trough, over Niue, a return to west to east zonal flow, bringing a gradual strengthening of High pressure from Australia eastward, north of 25S. Niue should continue in easterly trades, becoming moderate to fresh in the afternoons by mid-week with mostly fine weather through Wednesday.(Thanks to Darrell Spatz private forecaster resident on Niue __END__
