AIR AMERICA: ANTHING GOES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300120007-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 14, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 6, 1970
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

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Approved For Release 2004/10/28: CIA-RDP88-01314R000300120067-30 6 APR 1970 \A'-k.~~ c~pe,.tie,o Pk.~w
AIR AMERICA: ANYTHING GOES
it doesn't pipe Aiantovani into its cabins,
I dress stewardesses in colorful Puccis
or serve bocu/ bourguignon on any of its
flights. And yet Air America is one of the
largest U.S. airlines, ranking behind Na-
tional and ahead of Northeast in the
number of its planes and personnel. Air
America can afford to be indifferent to
the extras provided by other airlines be-
cause it has only one customer to please
-the United States Government-for
which it performs a wide variety of
services connected with the American
military involvement in Southeast Asia.
As a rule, these services go unpublicized.
into the spotlight when it flew several
hundred Thai troops into Laos to help
the CIA-sponsored "secret army" of Gen.
Vang Pao defend the outpost of Long
Cherg from Communist attack.
Although in practical terms it is an op-
crating arm of the CIA, Air America is
owned by a private aviatipn-investment
concern called Pacific Corp. Its managing
director and chief executive, a large, af-
fable man named George Doole Jr.,
laughs heartily when questioned about
dealings with intelligence organizations
-but hedges his answer. "I don't' know
all of our customers' private business and
relations," be said last week. "So help me,
that's a fact." But while that may be
so, Air America's motto, "Anythin,~, Any-
time, Anywhere-Professionally,' sug-
gests the company plays by rather free-
wheeling rules.
"I guess we carry about everything
except bombs under our wings," says Air
America Saigon manager E.J. Theisen.
And 'in fact, the range of the company's
activities almost lives up to its motto. CIA
agents working in the Phoenix program-
"' P
a campaign to ferret out Viet Cong op-
eratives in South Vietnam-fly Air Ameri-
ca when they need to mpve a high-level
prisoner. Green Berets use the airline to
carry supplies to Montagnard mercenar-
ies. And according to Theisen, even the
U.S.'s supersecret Special Operations
Group in Saigon, which works almost ex-
clusively behind enemy lines, relies on
Air America for some of its transport
needs within South Vietnam.
C3ntrac.: At present, though, the bulk
of the line's work is in Laos, where it
drops tons of rice to Nice tribesmen un-
der a contract with the Agency for Inter-
national Development, carries troops to
the front and evacuates refugees. But
when it comes to discussing operations
behind Pathet Lao lines, only miles from
the North Vietnamese border, Vientiane
manager James Cunningham Jr. is not
giving away any secrets. "We operate on
a you-call, we-haul basis," he said. "We
don't go into details."
For its varied operations, Air America
uses a fleet of some 150 planes-mostly
unmarked twin-engine Vo!par Beech-
crafts and Swiss-built Pilatus Porters.
Its 600 pilots, many of them Vietnam
veterans, make as much as $25,000 a
year-and earn every penny of it. Under
all kinds of weather-and often under fire
as well-they fly into remote jungle air-
strips no bigger than football fields and
wear thick gold bracelets which they
can barter for food and medicine in case
of forced landings in remote regions. But
in spite of the risks they take, the pilots
are rarely the daredevil Steve Canyons
one might expect. "They're In it for the
money,' comments one old Asian hand.
"These guys all read Barron's for stock.
market tips."
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