Poster, 'Three Trans-Tasman Air Routes'

This poster promotes TEAL’s popular flights between Australia and New Zealand. The airline's first flight from Auckland to Sydney was in April 1940. It started as a weekly service, but soon rose to three flights a fortnight. In 1940, its first year, TEAL made 130 trips across the Tasman, carrying 1460 passengers. By the time this poster appeared, it had added Christchurch, Wellington and Melbourne to the route.

The poster was designed by Arthur Thompson (1915 – 1997). In the 1950s, Thompson worked for TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited), the forerunner of Air New Zealand. Exotic, colourful designs enticed travellers onto TEAL’s flights to glamorous destinations across the Pacific.

Thompson was a commercial artist who worked in New Zealand and Britain. He studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts and in the 1960s had a successful career as a costume and set designer for film and television.