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HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM       19

Senator Lausche. Mr. Boyd, in your certification do you provide fixed routes, or is the grantee permitted to serve by telephone call wherever he desires to go?

Mr. Boyd. You mean sort of flag stop?

Senator Lausche. Yes. I live 50 miles away and I want helicopter service, and I call one of your grantees. Can he come out and pick me up?

Mr. Boyd. No, sir.

Senator LAUSCHE: He has a fixed route?

Mr. Boyd.. Yes, sir. He has a fixed route and is required to operate on schedules. He is also permitted to charter if he has any time available. But the authority received from the Board is for scheduled service over specified routes.

Senator MONRONEY. To keep the record clear on that very important question the Senator from Ohio just asked, charter service would not be intermingled with the subsidized service, so that we would not be finding ourselves subsidizing charter work.

Mr. Boyd. That is absolutely correct.

Senator MONRONEY. Go ahead, Senator.

Senator CANNON. Do I interpret your statement to mean that you would not propose during this 5-year phaseout period to provide any subsidy for the San Francisco operation?

Mr. Boyd. No, sir. There is no money available in that proposal for San Francisco.

Senator CANNON. You indicate that the San Francisco operation, instead of becoming profitable, as was indicated at a previous hearing, now has sustained a loss - an operating loss - for the last year?

Mr. Boyd. For the year ended November; yes, sir. I think it is true for the calendar year.

However, the San Francisco operation is one that should benefit considerably - it is closer to breaking even than the others, and should benefit considerably from the experience of the other operators by virtue of the fact that San Francisco is currently taking delivery of a S-61, 25-passenger helicopter, which will give it greater productive capacity. Also, the other two operators, Los Angeles and New York Airways, have done the bulk of the work on instrument certification, a benefit which would fall out to San Francisco and help it even more. 

Senator CANNON. In your statement you say:

As a matter of fact, the military told us at one time that the savings which they had realized from the experience of the scheduled operators justified the subsidy cost.

Mr. BOYD. Yes, sir.

Senator CANNON. Do you know what the present position of the military is on that point?

Mr. BOYD. No, sir, I do not.

Senator CANNON. Could you ascertain that and submit that for the record?

Mr BOYD. If that doesn't become apparent in the hearings, Senator, I will be delighted to do so. Yes, sir.

Senator CANNON. Very good. It seems to me that the military now, of course, are tremendous purchasers of his type of equipment in one form or another.