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service guaranteeing a letter goes by air and giving it priority over all other mail. As noted by the Postmaster General, air mail will continue to receive preferential service until the new priority program is actually adopted.
--The airlift of first class mail on a space-available basis accounted for 379,475,000 ton miles of service, a gain for the year of 82.7 per cent.
--Communities of all sizes benefitted from mail's transition to the air. This was largely as the result of introduction of more jet aircraft into local service airline fleets. The growing role of these carriers in mail service is evidenced by the fact that 500 U.S. cities are now interconnected in an air transportation network for mail. Of the 588 cities receiving airline service, 418 are served exclusively by local service carriers. The movement of first class mail by these carriers grew by 225 per cent last year, from 1,050,000 ton miles of service performed in 1966 to 3, 406,000 performed in 1967.
The transition to air in mail service follows a similar transition in intercity passenger service and is accompanied by growth in air freight. All three services are being performed at lower rates.
Airline mail volumes will grow tremendously, as will passenger traffic and air frieght. Technologically these new airlift requirements can be met. They must also be met economically.