XN000022-1974-01-31 — Page 3

N

Thursday, January 31, 1974

While air passenger traffic continued to rise there was a 10

per cent drop in total air movements.

Total air cargo at 84,549 metric

tons remained disappointingly low for the third year running, showing

an overall increase of only eight per cent.

This was well below forecast rates and under the worldwide increase

of about 17 per cent for the year under review.

The Director attributes this fall-off largely to the decrease in

traffic to North America resulting from a drop in the number of charter

aircraft operating to Southeast Asia and returning to the U.S.A. via Hong

Kong to pick up cargo.

He notes, however, that plans for the new Air Cargo Complex had

gone ahead with an informal agreement reached with the Government, and it

was hoped that the complex would begin operations towards the end of 1975.

While he was concerned that the airport was becoming increasingly

overloaded, Mr. Downing feels that in general the year was one of satisfactory

progress with many projects making headway.

In particular, the $4 million Airport Long-Term Planning Study

was a major step forward which offered the prospect of providing an efficient,

well-organized system of civil aviation in the future, he says.

13