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     In the next five years, when passenger helicopter operation reach the take-off point of self-sustaining economics, new developments will tend to be self-created as opportunities to make more money result in more productive machines. 
     The three helicopters lines now subsidized agree they will be self-sufficient in 1971. In their first 11 years, they received a total subsidy of about $48 million. In the next five years they will need $13.5 million. A  sudden-death end of subsidy at this critical point would be poor economics, indeed.
     Yet, we hear the argument that continuation of subsidy, even under the five year program which will phase it out entirely, would be throwing good money after bad.
     This is nonsense.
     Subsidy of this type, as I said a moment ago, has as its purpose the adding of a new dimension to our economy. It does this by working more for tomorrow than for today. Its contribution is developmental.
     Let's look at what subsidy of past years has produced in helicopter operations today. To do this, we can use several economic indicators common to the air transport industry.
     One is passenger origination. Back in 1954, when the service began, the helicopter lines originated 8,000 passengers. By 1957 the figure had climbed to 153,000. And in 1964 the three subsidized carriers originated 489,642 passengers. This represents a growth in passenger traffic of 220 percent in the past seven years.
     Another common measure of progress in the air transport industry is revenue passenger miles. In 1957 the three helicopter operators accounted for 3,275,000 revenue passengers miles. For 1964 the figure was 13,819,000, up 322 percent over 1957.