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176 HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM STATEMENT OF MELVIN J. ERICKSON, MEMBER OF BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES; ACCOMPANIED BY FRANCIS T. FOX, GENERAL MANAGER, DEPARTMENT OF AIRPORTS OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES, CALIF. Mr. ERICKSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. My name is Melvin J. Erickson. I am a member of the airport commissioners of the city of Los Angeles. We have a statement from out commissioner, and from Mr. Fox, who represents the Los Angeles Airport, which we will submit. I would rather, in the interest of time, if I may, not comment on it but rather take just a few moments to comment about what the chairman addressed himself to, which is the situation that we have in the area of Los Angeles in having only one international airport to service the entire area. (The statement follows:) STATEMENT OF MELVIN J. ERICKSON AND FRANCIS T. FOX On behalf of the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, we welcome the opportunity to offer testimony on the federally supported helicopter air service program to this honorable subcommittee. This testimony is given in support of the continuation of subsidy assistance for the scheduled helicopter assistance for the scheduled helicopter airlines now receiving such aid. Our authority to speak in this regard is found in a section of the Los Angeles city charter, which authorizes the board of airport commissioners and its duly appointed representatives to take such action as is necessary for the "promotion and accommodation of air commerce and air navigation" in the Los Angeles area. We would like to state with emphasis that the city of Los Angeles, Board of Airport Commissioners and the Los Angeles Department of Airports strongly support the Civil Aeronautics Board proposal to provide a 5-year Federal assistance program for the scheduled helicopter airlines on a declining scale, terminating in 1970. In our considered judgement this is a fair and sensible approach to this vexing problem, especially when viewed against the backdrop of Los Angeles Airways progress to date in the rotary-wing environment and the promise of still greater success and achievement in the future throughout the expanding southern California region. Scheduled helicopter transportation has become a vital necessity to the economic and social well-being of Los Angeles region. The major gateway to this dynamic area is Los Angeles International Airport, currently valued at about $300 million and handling 12 million passengers annually. Los Angeles Airways directly extends the useful of this tremendous public service facility and eliminates the need of expending public money for a system of satellite airports to handle scheduled airline passengers. In 1964, Los Angeles Airways passenger originations at Los Angeles International Airport were 90,463, an advance of 18.5 percent over the preceding year. In effect, these statistics indicate that increasing numbers of transcontinental air passengers are deplaning at International Airport and then taking Los Angeles Airways helicopters to any of 12 key destinations in the Greater Los Angeles area. In a practical sense, this is the only way the busy executives can reach his destination and save valuable time because of the lack of a rapid transit system in southern California, the inadequate bus service and the hopeless traffic jams that occur on the freeways and expressways during the peak business hours of morning and afternoon. It is not difficult to envision such traffic entanglements when one realizes that in Los Angeles County alone there are approximately 3,400,000 cars and trucks under official registration. The southern California region is vigorous, dynamic, and productive. As of January 1,1965, the 4083-square-mile county of Los Angeles had a population of 6,821,200 a gain of 12.9 percent since the 1960 Federal census. The 1970 projection calls for a population of 7,775,000, or 14 percent greater than the estimate at the start of the current year.
