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396 HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM that the route structures and operating characteristics of these carriers vary substantially. These variations in route and operating characteristics account for variations among the carriers in system revenues and expenses as the factors of length of passenger journey and aircraft hop and traffic density have a significant effect upon passenger revenue yields and upon unit expenses in all airline operations. Basic route and operating characteristics of the three original certificated helicopter carriers are shown below for the twelve months ended in June 30, 1962: [[4 column table]] | |Chicago Helicopter Airways|Los Angeles Airways|New York Airways| |1. Weighted average route mileage in operation|117.0|175.0|71.0| |2. Weighted number of airports operated|12.8|20.1|7.0| |3. Passenger journey (miles)|17.6|36.3|19.0| |4. Length of aircraft hop (miles)|14.5|17.7|13.0| Source: Exhibit BER 4, CAB Docket 12029. In analyzing the rate of progress made by this new mode of air transportation, it is recognized also that the rate of progress experienced by the three carriers has been uneven. These variation in growth rates must be considered when relating past and present developments to the future potential of this new mode. This uneven rate of traffic growth is particularly evident at the present time when Chicago Helicopter Airways (CHA) is suffering from a severe decline in traffic (due to factors beyond management control) at the same time when other carriers are experiencing rapid growth rates as a result of the acquisition of new equipment. Because San Francisco & Oakland Helicopters Airways (SFOH) has been in operation only briefly and was not certificated until the end of 1963 carrier data are not included in the industry tables. Reference is made to SFOH traffic in the accompanying text, however. Like all business enterprises, the economic progress of the helicopter carriers can be analyzed in terms of its unit expenses, its unit revenues and its scale of operations with the last representing a measure, in the case of the helicopter carriers, of the amount of public service which is being provided and of the level of customer acceptance of a new product. In the following sections a series of measures of these various economic indicators are shown. In order to make the data series comparable, only the three originally-certificated carriers are shown. Scale of Operation The growth of traffic and service of the helicopter carriers in the ten-year period of their passenger-carrying existence has been dramatic. However, as it was not until 1957 that there was a full year of passenger operations at all three of the locations-the New York metropolitan area, the Chicago metropolitan area and the Los Angeles metropolitan area-it is necessary to devote primary emphasis to the period after 1956. Traffic growth in terms of passenger originations, passenger miles and revenue ton miles is shown in the following tables for the certificated helicopter industry and for Chicago Helicopter Airways (CHA), Los Angeles Airways (LAA) and New York Airways (NYA). III-5
