P.I.A.’S HELICOPTERS OPEN UP E. PAKISTAN
By Peter Clegg
SINCE the start of operations last November the S-61N helicopters of Pakistan International Airlines have already begun to generate large amounts of traffic over most of the sectors now being flown in East Pakistan.
These services were started by P.I.A. as a far-sighted contribution to the economy of the eastern wing of the country, and as a spur to the generation of air traffic in regions of incredibly difficult surface communications.
P.I.A.'s managing director, Air Vice-Marshal Nur Khan, aims to replace the S-61Ns eventually on the more lucrative routes by fixed-wing aircraft such as the F-27 in order to continue to develop traffic, but on a more profitable basis.
In the meantime, however, the initial operating results of the S-61Ns are becoming available, and these statistics are being carefully watched in order to determine how best the route network can be extended now that a third helicopter has been delivered.
The present and proposed network covers the low-lying and river-dissected plains of the Ganges and Jamuna. The very fact that in the monsoon season, the swollen Ganges is capable of pouring out of 100 different mouths – an area representing…
