A Flying Fiasco

Auckland Students to Lose Money

Auckland University Students Association has cost students dearly in its dealings with the Southern Charter Services group. After paying a total of $14,400 for travel to Easter Tournament in Dunedin, the flights failed to eventuate and AUSA was forced to purchase full fare tickets for about 80 sportspersons.

In the last issue, Salient's editorial outlined inaccuracies discovered after printing an ad from Southern Charter Services in the previous issue. These included that, contrary to assurances given by the advertiser, the Easter flights advertised as available were not booked at the time of the ad's placement. In addition, Southern Charter Services was presented as a limited company, when in fact it was not. The editorial concluded that the advertiser would no longer be welcome to buy space in Salient; and a note from the Exec that the Association would have no dealings with Southern Charter Services.

Geoff Novak, who heads Southern Charter Services, arranged the air travel with both AUSA and Mount Cook Airlines. AUSA paid a total of $14,400; $7,200 of which went straight to Mount Cook and the same amount to Novak. He then paid $6,000 to Mount Cook as a deposit for the charter flights. However, on the Wednesday before Easter, Southern Charter Services had not paid Mount Cook the remaining amount (a total of $25,000), and the airline was forced to cancel the charter — leaving Auckland students without $14,400, or flights to Dunedin.