Viewing page 177 of 195

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-12-

suffered a six year drought  three years of heavy losses and three years of no return to equity under the contracts. They will be faced with an additional deficiency of $1,200,000 below minimum subsidy requirements for the next two years. Under these circumstances, the prospects of convincing investors to put up the amount of aircraft essential for a self-sufficient operation are not encouraging. (Tr. 505)

C: The Board Cannot legally Apply a Unique Standard to Helicopter Carriers.

As a matter of law, the Board is required to administer the Act in an even-handed manner -- to apply the statutory criteria consistently. City of Lawrence, Mass. v. CAB, 343 F.2d 583 at 587-8 (1965); Northeast Airlines, Inc. v. CAB, 331 F.2d 579 at 588-9 (1964); Melody Music, Inc. v. FCC 345 F.2d 730 at 732-3 (1965). For a period of years, it has authorized subsidy eligibility for local service carriers to insure the full realization of public convenience and necessity objectives of section 102. It cannot apply a bare "survival" standard to NYA.

The need for consistent application of the statutory criteria is of particular importance because governmental transportation policy has long recognized that subsidy payments in large amounts for the full development of air transportation are required by the highest national interest considerations.  This policy has resulted in airline subsidies amounting to $1,340,391,000 in a 20-year period. (NYA 712)

Compared to other subsidies that the Board has found required by the public convenience and necessity, NYA's requirements are modest indeed. Over a four and a half-year period, NYA will require only $3,986,000. In this same period, other airline subsidies will approximate $333,000,000 -- eighty-three times this amount.