They called it the Coral Route, surely the most romantic commercial flying route in history. In 1940, a chain of Pacific islands from Fiji to Tahiti that took weeks to reach by tramp steamer were linked by air. Mammoth Solent and Sandringham flying boats carried only three dozen privileged passengers per flight. On board there was miniature golf and a chef with a fully equipped kitchen. Until the service ended in 1960, images of flying boats landing on blue lagoons, cocktails under swaying palm trees and half-naked women were mercilessly exploited to create a legend that lives on.
The lure of turquoise waters has not gone away, and you can still fly the Coral Route, though Tasman Empire Airways Ltd has metamorphosed into Air New Zealand, and the flying boats have been replaced by faster and less exotic Boeings. Today the islands are among the most prosperous in the Pacific, while others languish in Third World penury. Such is the power of tourism.
In the Cook Islands I joined an Air Rarotonga flight to an atoll considered one of the South Pacific's loveliest: Aitutaki. The view from the cockpit on descent was heart-stopping, a chain of emeralds set in concentric rings of turquoise and sapphire. I hired a moped and at dusk I toured the island, where people sat in their gardens under paw-paw trees, and girls lay on their stomachs with their heads cupped in their hands as though in conscious evocation of Gauguin paintings. Everyone waved as I went by. The next day I took a speedboat to an island where they are transforming the old flying-boat jetty into a tourist attraction, due to open in autumn, which will be called the Coral Route Nostalgia Cruise. Visitors will be whisked to the island, shown films of the flying boats and enjoy a meal of lobster and Champagne from TEAL crockery and crystal.
In Auckland, I'd visited the city transport museum where a flying boat, the Solent, has been immaculately restored. The scene of the quintessential Coral Route legend was Aitutaki atoll, where 40 pampered passengers were marooned when an engine failure forced a Solent to return to base empty. They slept on the beach, and lived off coconuts and fish. As the Captain recalled: 'At first they wanted to lynch the crew. By the second day they'd all calmed down. By the end of eight days, when a relief plane arrived, it was impossible to get any of them to go aboard.'
• Air New Zealand's Coral Route service flies from London via Los Angeles to Tahiti, Rarotonga and Fiji and on to New Zealand, for £932. Call 020 8741 2299; www.airnewzealand.com.Details of the Nostalgia Cruise from Air Rarotonga: www.airraro.com
