INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM INTERFLUG FACES WEST: EAST GERMAN CIVIL AIR SERVICE
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V v
Secret
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence Memorandum
Interflug Faces West. East German Civil Air Service
Secret
ER IM 71-150
August 1971
Copy No. 53.
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Its transmission or revelation of its contents to or re-
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GROUP I
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
August 1971
INTERFLUG FACES WEST: EAST GERMAN
CIVIL AIR SERVICE
Introduction
1. Interflug, East Germany's state-owned airline, operates 122
international flights and 75 domestic flights per week over a route network
of 28,000 miles and is roughly comparable in size to Finnair. Interflug's
antecedents date back to East Germany's formation of Deutsche Lufthansa
in 1954, which was formalized by statute in 1956 and made its first
international flight in the same year. Domestic service began more than
a year later. Since West Germany had already registered the name Deutsche
Lufthansa, the East German counterpart formed a new branch called
Interflug in 1958 to handle its activities in the Free World, which at that
time were limited to charter flights. In 1963, East Germany dropped the
name Deutsche Lufthansa and put all of its service under the name Interflug.
2. During the 1960s, Interflug became an important part of the
intra-Communist civil air network, but the political ramifications of a
divided Germany limited Interflug's expansion into the Free World. Recently
established civil air services between East Berlin and two West European
countries, however, presage some expansion of Interflug's network to the
West. This memorandum examines Interflug's domestic and international
air service, the current status of East Germany's international civil air
relationships, the potential of East Berlin as a major traffic hub, and the
prospects for Interflug's further expansion.
Note: This memorandum was prepared by the Office of Economic
Research and coordinated within the Directorate of Intelligence and with
the Department of State.
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Discussion
Interflug's Unbalanced Network
3. Interflug's network stretches almost entirely to the east,
principally to the Communist countries, with several offshoots to the south
(see the map). This unbalanced development reflects lack of recognition
of East Germany by most of the Free World powers, limited access to
East Berlin, and a low volume of passenger traffic between Western Europe
and East Germany.
4. Lack of recognition has prevented East Germany from entering
into bilateral air agreements with some Free World countries. The absence
of formal diplomatic relations, however, has not been an insuperable
obstacle. Service to all but one of the 11 Free World countries now served
by Interflug was inaugurated in the absence of full diplomatic relations.
Other Free World countries, on the other hand, have simply refused to
deal with East Germany or to allow their airlines to conclude agreements
with Interflug for fear of antagonizing the Bonn government.
5. Limited access to East Berlin from Western Europe has been
another stumbling block. The three air corridors from West Germany into
Berlin are restricted to planes of the occupying powers and have therefore
been used only by the carriers of the United States, the United Kingdom,
and France for scheduled service into West Berlin. Other West European
airlines would have to use other routes into the Berlin region. For some
of them, including KLM and Sabena, an alternate North-South route is
circuitous.
6. Probably the most important factor in Interflug's lack of routes
to Western Europe has been lack of interest by the airlines of Western
Europe in establishing reciprocal service to East Berlin because of the low
traffic potential. In an attempt to expand traffic at East Berlin's Schoenefeld
Airport, the Ulbricht government in 1963 opened the Waltersdorfer Chausee,
a crossing between Schoenefeld and West Berlin, to allow access to and
from West Berlin for air passengers arriving at or departing from
Schoenefeld. In 1970, about 180,000 passengers used this crossing between
Schoenefeld and West Berlin.
7. West Berlin airports - Templehof and Tegel -- handle about four
times as many passengers as East Berlin's Schoenefeld, and the airlines of
the non-Allied West European powers have recently begun to look on
Schoenefeld as a means of access to West Berlin. This has given East
Germany new leverage in international civil air matters.
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international Civil Air Routes of Interflug- I
,
Summer 1971
the East German Airline
Frooto
Cities not connected into the route network as routo lined
indicate that civil airagreements are in existence. Included
among those but not shown on the map are Havana and Hanoi.
In.addition there la's regular service by,,Inlerliug between.
East Berlin and Ulaanbaator
811777 0-71 CIA
\ \ Sotla
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Interflug's International Service
8. The skies to the east of Berlin have been far more friendly than
those to the west. Interflug's first international flight was to Warsaw in
1956, and this was followed by service to the capitals of other East
European Communist countries and to Moscow. Currently, 105 of
Interflug's 122 scheduled international flights per week go to Warsaw Pact
countries (see Table 1). Budapest is served by 41 flights and the USSR
by 34. There are 14 flights a week to Prague, but only 2 to Warsaw. Interflug
provides one of the two Communist air services to Albania, flying once
a week from East Berlin to Tirana via Budapest.
9. Interflug's least known service is to Mongolia - it is not listed
in World aviation guides. When Interflug began service to Ulaanbaatar in
1970, it became the second airline, after Aeroflot, to connect Mongolia
with a foreign country.
10. Interflug's first scheduled service beyond the Iron Curtain was
to Belgrade in 1960. Service was inaugurated to Nicosia in 1964 and to
Cairo in 1965. This was followed by flights to Bamako and Conakry via
Algiers in 1966. Also in 1966 the flight to Nicosia was extended to
Damascus, and in 1967 to Baghdad. Service to Beirut began in 1968. In
1969 the Cairo route was extended to Khartoum, and Freetown was added
to the route beyond Conakry. Interflug's most 'recent and most heralded
service is the flight to Vienna that began on 8 April 1971. Interflug,
however, has operated some non-scheduled flights into Vienna since 1962.
11. This service to the Free World is rather minuscule; it adds up
to 17 flights a week to 12 countries (see Table 2). All of these are weekly
flights except to Vienna (six flights a week) and Belgrade (three flights
a week).
12. East Germany's small size - it is slightly smaller than Alabama has obviated the need for a large domestic air service. Currently, five cities -
East Berlin, Barth (Rostock-Stralsund), Erfurt, Dresden, and Leipzig - are
included in a domestic route network of about 900 miles that is served
by a total of 75 scheduled flights per week (see Tab!e 3). In addition,
Interflug conducts special air services concerned with agriculture,
photography, and public health.
International Arrangements
13. Government-to-government agreements form the underpinnings
for most of Interflug's international service. Often these bilateral agreements
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Interflug: Schedule of International Flights
to Communist Countries - Summer 1971 a/
Route
Trip
Number
Flights
per week
Type of
Aircraft
Dresden-Moscow
1F300
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Leningrad
1F302
4
IL-18
East Berlin-Kiev
1F310
3
IL-18
East Berlin-Budapest
1F320
7
IL-18
Dresden-Budapest
1F322
6
IL-18
Erfurt-Budapest
1F330
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Warsaw-
Minsk
1F340
Biweekly
AN-24
East Berlin-Moscow
1F600
7
IL-62
East Berlin-Moscow
1F602
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Moscow
1F604
6
IL-18
East Berlin-Prague
1F610
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Prague
1F612
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Budapest
1F620
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Budapest
1F622
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Budapest
1F624
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Budapest
1F626
4
IL-18
East'Berlin-Budapest-
Tirana
1F630
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Sofia
1F640
7
IL-18
East Berlin-Sofia
1F642
2
IL-18
East Berlin-Sofia
1F644
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Sofia
1F646
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Bucharest
1F650
3
TU-134
East Berlin-Bucharest
1F652
1
TU-134
East Berlin-Warsaw
1F660
2
IL-18
a. An additional flight (1F580) is made to UZaan-
baatar but the frequency and type of aircraft are
unknown.
b. One additional flight, 1F760, operate weekly
to Budapest en route to Free World countries.
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Interflug: Schedule of international Flights
to the Free World - Summer 1971
Route _
Trip Flights
Number per week
Type of
Aircraft
East Berlin-Zagreb-
Belgrade
1F632
3
TU-134
East Berlin-
(Dubrovnik) a/-Beirut
1F730
IL-18
East Berlin-
(Dubrovnik) a/-Nicosia-
Beirut
1F732
1
TU-134
1F/MS740
1
IL-62
East Berlin-Damascus-
Baghdad
East Berlin-Nicosia-
Damascus
1F752
1
IL-62
East Berlin-Budapest-
Algiers-Bamako-
Freetown-Conakry
1F760
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Belgrade-
Algiers-Freetown-
Conakry
1F770
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Cairo-
Khartoum
1F780
1
IL-18
East Berlin-Vienna
1F810
6
TU-134
a. Technical landing in Dubrovnik o
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2nterflug: Schedule of Domestic Flights
Summer 1971
Route
Trip
Number
Flights
per week
Type of
Aircraft
East Berlin-Barth
1F041
6
AN-24
East Berlin-Barth
1F043
6
AN-24
East Berlin-Barth
1F045
5
AN-24
East Berlin-Erfurt
1F051
5
AN-24
East Berlin-Erfurt
1F053
6
AN-24
East Berlin-Erfurt
1F055
5
AN-24
Barth-Dresden
1F122
6
AN-24
Barth-Dresden
1F124
6
AN-24
Barth-Dresden
1F126
1
AN-24
Barth-Leipzig
1F142
6
AN-24
Barth-Leipzig
1F144
6
AN-24
Barth-Leipzig
1Fi46
6
AN-24
Barth-Leipzig
1F148
5
AN-24
Barth-Erfurt
1F171
6
AN-24
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have been concluded even when the participating country did not recognize
the East German government. In some cases, these agreements were followed
several years later by formal recognition. In other cases, there has still been
no recognition.
14. East Germany's first bilateral air agreements were signed with the
USSR and the East European Communist countries (except Albania and
Yugoslavia) between 1954 and 1956. The agreements with Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania were apparently superseded
by a multilateral arrangement concluded in June 1957. This is the "Six
Pool Agreement", by which the airlines of these countries pool their
revenues on reciprocal services and exchange support services such as aircraft
maintenance and training of pilots and ground crews. Bilateral air agreements
were also signed with Cuba in August 1967 and North Vietnam in October
1968, but no civil air service has resulted from the agreements.
15. East Germany's first air agreement with a non-Warsaw Pact
country was made with Yugoslavia in 1960 and the next with the UAR
in 1965 (see Table 4). The latter was signed by the deputy ministers of
transportation of the two countries and preceded by four years the
establishment of full diplomatic relations. During the ensuing six years,
bilateral agreements were signed with eight other countries in the Middle
East and Africa. In a few instances, East Germany has used agreements
between Interflug and an airline of the participating country in order to
est~.blish air service. Scheduled service to Cyprus was inaugurated in i964
under such an interairline agreement, which was given official sanction by
a provisional permit issued to Interflug by the government of Cyprus.
16. The best known interairline agreement is the one concluded by
Interflug and Austrian Airlines in September 1970. This was Interflug's first
civil air arrangement with a West European airline. The agreement, which
allows Vienna-East Berlin service by both, airlines, culminated several years
of negotiation. In response to charges that the agreement was politically
motivated, Austrian Airlines stated that the agreement gave it valuable
beyond rights to Scandinavian countries. Interflug followed up this coup
with an interairline agreement with KLM, under which KLM stops once
a week in East Berlin on its Amsterdam-Moscow flight if the number of
East Berlin passengers is considered sufficient. Fifth freedom rights were
not granted between East Berlin and Moscow. KLM must reimburse Interflug
for traffic losses on the East Berlin-Prague route because persons flying
from East Berlin to Amsterdam previously had to fly Interflug to Prague,
then take another airline to Amsterdam. There is no provision in the
agreement with KLM for Interflug to fly to Amsterdam. The motivation
for Interflug to enter into such an agreement appears to be almost solely
political.
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Table 4
Civil Air Agreements of Interflug
or the East German Government
with Free World Countries, including Cuba
and Yugoslavia
Mid-1971
Countries
Date
Algeria
1966
Austria
1970 a/
Cuba
1967
Cyprus
1971 b/
Guinea
Iraq
Lebanon
1966 c/
Mali
1966
Netherlands
1971 d/
Sierra Leone
1969
Sudan
1968
Syria
1965
Tanzania
1970 e/
United Arab Republic
1965
Yugoslavia
1960
a. InterairZine agreement.
b. Replaced a provisional license first granted
in 1964.
c. Special arrangements.
d. InterairZine agreement which provides for
service to East Berlin by KLM without reciprocal
service by Interflug,
e. Agreement between Interflug and the government
of Tanzania.
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17. In East Africa, Interflug apparently has been negotiating directly
vt'ith Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Protracted negotiations with Tanzania
apparently were successful, and a route to Dar es Salaam was scheduled
to begin in April 1971. Uganda reportedly gave landing rights to Interflug
in Entebbe on flights to Dar es Salaam. However, the inauguration of this
service seems to have been postponed. Kenya has rejected East Germany's
civil air overtures.
18. East Germany's anomalous international status has prevented it
from joining any international civil aviation organizations except for the
Six Pool Agreement of Communist Eastern Europe. East Germany does
send observers to selected meetings of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) and other international aviation organizations.
Interflug is not a member of the International Airline Transport Association
JATA), presumably because it does not choose to join.
Aircraft Inventory
19. Interflug's transport aircraft are all of Soviet manufacture. The
aging IL-18, a four-engine turboprop transport, is used on 98 of Interflug's
international flights. The TU-134 medium-range jet is used on 14 flights --
to Vienna, Nicosia, Beirut, and Bucharest. The IL-62 long-range jet makes
10 flights - daily to Moscow and weekly to Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus.
All domestic flights use the AN-24 two-engine turboprop. The current
inventory includes the following:
Aircraft
Number of Units
AI,T-24
6
IL-14
2
IL-18
11
TU-134
4
IL-62
3 a/
a. One more is on order -- s ehe for delivery
in 1972.
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20. Interflug also operates a mixed fleet of approximately 80 utility
aircraft - Czech L-60 Brigadyrs, Czech Z-34 Bumblebees, and Soviet
AN-2s - which are used in agricultural service, VIP flights, and an
assortment of civil air activities in East Germany. Routine maintenance is
performed at Schoenefeld, and major overhaul of transport aircraft engines
is done in the USSR. Shortages of spare parts, which must be obtained
in the Soviet Union, often de'.:!y flights. In case of an emergency, however,
Interflt',g may borrow parts frr.fm other members of the Six Pool Agreement.
Personnel
21. Interflug employs an estimated 3,500 personnel, including some
150 pilots and co-pilots and 500 maintenance or shop technicians for the
multi-engine transports. About 350 of the airline's employees are assigned
to utility aircraft. Flight training is available to youths through the
government-sponsored paramilitary training association, Society for Sports
and Technology (GST). Interflug recruits most of its pilots from the East
German Air Force and the aeroclubs associated with the GST. Additional
training is given at a small civil aviation academy at Schoenefeld. Interflug
pilots sand flight engineers are often given transitional training in the Soviet
Union when new types of aircraft such as IL-62s are acquired by the airline.
Passenger Volume
22. Interflug carried more than 840,000 passengers in u~mestic and
international traffic in 1970, more than three times the number in 1960
and 4% more than in 1969 (see Table 5). Almost 660,000 persons were
carried on international routes in 1970 - nearly seven times the level of
1960 and about four fifths of all passengers carried. Most of the passengers
on internationr,i flights are on official business; few are tourists.
23. Domestic passenger traffic has increased almost every year since
1960. In 1970, however, traffic declined nearly 30% from 1969 principally
because of the discontinuance of the East Berlin-Dresden and Dresden-Erfurt
routes. Improved rail service was given as the reason for cancellation of
these flights.
24. The intra-Communist route network generates about 90% of the
total passengers carried on Interflug's international flights. Passenger load
factors on these routes range from 50% to 70% of capacity. In contrast,
load factors on routes to Free World counts les such as Egypt and Sudan
average about 40%, fall to about 35% on routes to other countries in the
Near and Middle East, and sink to 25% on the West African service. Interflug
has maintained an enviable safety record. It is the only Communist airline
that apparently has had no fatal accidents on its international service.
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Interflug: Passenger Volumes a/
Thousand
Percentage Chan
e
g
1960
1965
1968
1969
1970
1970/1960
19
70/3;69
Total passengers
256
419
719
810
842
229
a
Domestic
158
163
248
253
183
16
-'28
International
98
256
471
556
659
572
19
Total passenger kilometers
165
373
730
843
947
474
Domestic
40
45
69
70
55
38
12
-21
International
125
329
661
772
892
614
a. Because of rounding, components may not add to the tota s s own.
Cn
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Interflug's International Performance Plan
25. Interflug performs under an annual government-directed plan for
overall operations - domestic and international. Annual targets are
incorporated within East Germany's five-year plan. Interflug's international
service has consistently lost money during the past several years, particularly
on its few flights to Free World countries. Indeed in 1968 and 1969 the
foreign exchange plans for the airline called for expenditures twice as high
as income.
Foreign Airlines Serving East Germain,
26. Interflug supplies about 60% of the international civil air service
available to East Germany. Ten foreign airlines - four Free World and six
Communist - also provide scheduled service to East Germany. Airlines of
Warsaw Pact countries account for 70 of the 78 foreign flights per week,
66 of which go to East Berlin. Aeroflot operates 30 flights per week to
Schoenefeld - 21 from Moscow, 5 from Leningrad, and ?4 from Kiev. The
East European Communist airlines - Lulgaria's Balkan, Czechoslovakia's
CSA, Hungary's MALEV, Poland's LOT, and Romania's TAROM - operate
a total of 36 flights per week linking East Berlin with their respective
capitals. Although this intra-Communist route network was essentially
completed by the early 1960s, the frequency of service has been steadily
expat,ued since that time.
27. Four other airlines presently serve East Germany - the UAR's
United Arab Airlines (UAA), Iraqi Airways, Yugos'iavia's JAT, and the Royal
Dutch Airlines (KLM). The beginning of KLM service marked the first
regular service to Schoenefeld by a West European airline since th^ airport
was opened. Austrian Airlines has not yet exercised its rights to fly to
East Berlin.
28. In addition to these international civil air services, charter services
by foreign airlines from and to East Germany are regularly expanded for
the Leipzig Fair held in the spring and fall. In the spring of 1971, Leipzig
was served by ten Free Worid airlines, including those from France, Italy,
this Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, and Switzerland in addition
to the many charter flights to Western Europe provided by Interflug.
-erlin: East and West
29. Rapid expansion of traffic to East Berlin, coupled with the
Intl rflug agreements with Austrian Airlines and KLM, has disturbed West
German authorities and the Allied powers. In the past, the growth of traffic
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at Schoenefeld was not considered a threat to West Berlin either
economically or politically, Indeed, any additional means of access to Wcst
Berlin was welcomed,
30. However, traffic at Schoenefeld has increased from 650,000
passengers in 1966 to about 1,300,000 in 1970. Some 180,000 of these
passengers passed through the Waltersdorfer Chausee to West Berlin.
Although many of thes.. border-crossers were flying to Eastern Europe, at
least some of them were using Schoenefeld instead of West Berlin airports
to fly to Western Europe.
31. Moreover, Schoenefeld is undergoing an expansion that will give
it all the facilities necessary for a major international airport. This expansion,
which is now scheduled for completion in 1975, includes a new terminal
building with a reported capacity of 10 million passengers per year and
one additional runway.
32. Any such threat to West Berlin is well in the future. In contrast
to the 1.3 million passengers handled by Schoenefeld in 1970, the West
Berlin airports - Tempelhof and Tegel - during the saine perir'l handled
together more than 5 million passengers.
33. Unlike the West Berlin authorities, the airlines of Western Europe
that are presently denied access to West Berlin airports view Schoenefeld's
development with relish. They see in this airport an opportunity to share
in the hush traffic to West Berlin and perhaps to benefit from the future
growth of commercial intercourse between East Germany and Western
Europe. They are currently using the threat of service to Schoenefeld to
persuade the Allivel powers to lot them land in West Berlin. The United
States has been receptive to additional Western airlines gaining access to
West Lerlin, but the other Allied powers, particularly Great Britain, are
anxious to protect their own airlines mom added competition. Knowing
that rights to land at West Berlin are meaningless without the permission
of East Germany to overfly its territory en route to Berlin, the Allied powers
have temporarily gotten off the hook by suggesting that in their discussions
with Interflug for service to Schoenefeld, the negotiating airlines ask also
for "ie right to overfly East Germany en rout- to West Berlin.
34. Another aspect of Schoenefeld's potential is its position as a
north-south hub, either as a transfer point (including to West Berlin) or
as u stopover for traffic between Scandinavian countries and Austria and
Italy. This is evidenced by the recent discussions between Interflug and
two airlines to the north - Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and Finnair.
Tt?e SAS-Interflug dialogue concerned flights between Copenhagen and East
B,;1Wn and has progressed from informal to formal discussions. In accordance
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btU ic jr, t
with the suggestion of the Allied powers, SAS has also asked for East
German overflight rights to West Berlin. Although there are various problems
which still have to be worked out, the East Germans are confident that
flights between East Berlin and Copenhagen will begin soon. The overflight
rights to West Berlin will almost certainly be more difficult for SAS to
attain. The negotiations between interfiug and Finnair have been going on
for more than it year. Finnair representatives had indicated earlier this year
that flights between Helsinki and East Berlin might begin this summer. These
plans reportedly have been suspended, possibly because Finnair feared the
loss of potential traffic rights in West Germany. There arc reports also that
Interflug discussions with Alitalia are in the offing.
35, Interflug is one of the more important Warsaw Pact airlines insofar
a intra-Communist service is concerned, but its service to the Free World
is extremely limited and certainly uneconomic. The East German regime,
however, views Intcrh1ug's Free World service more as an instruincriv in tile
struggle for international recognition than as a revenue producer.
36. East Berlin's Schoenefcld. Airport, .he hub of interfiug's service
and a potentially important air crossroads, is the most significant factor
in the growth of civil aviation service in East Germany, and of Interflug
in particular. The continuing limitation of Berlin's western air corridors to
airlines of the Allied 1>owess has spurred the interest of those West European
airlines that cannot use these corridors in establishing service to East Berlin.
This interest, coupled with an improved political climate, has resulted in
the recent interairlioc agreement between Austrian Airlines and lntecflug
and in the even more recent inauguration of a KLMN stop in East Berlin.
37, Schoencl'eld will continue to increase in importance as contacts
between Fast Germany and Western Europe expand, and also will share
in the growth of traffic to West Berlin. Fears that Schoenefcld will siphon
off substantial amounts o? traffic from the airports of West Berlin, however,
appear to be exaggerated. The traffic potential of any service between
Western E;:, ope and East Berlin probably is limited. The traffic potential
is much greater in West Berlin, and the airlines of the non-Allied powers,
such as KLM and Sabena, would much prefer to sh' in this traffic by
flying to West Berlin rather than to East 9crlin. If they fail In this desire
and arc limited to landing at Schoenefcld, they w)ll face the prospect of
low load factors.
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38, In any event, lntcrflug'q continued growth looks promising. It
should participate in ' the expansion of air passenger traffic in Eastern
Europe, and its already low loud factors on routes to the Middle East and
Africa are unlikely to sink any further. In fact, these routes are likely to
be extended by the addition of stops In Kuwait, Libya, Sen"3al, and
Tanzania. Interflug would be unlikely to Tilt these planes with passengers,
but they will serve to carry diplom,ntic mail, high-value cargo, and East
German technicians, In addition, the scheduled delivery of one additional
IL-62) in 1972 would facilitate long-range flights into Asia, poss;bly the
extension of the Baghdad route to Pakistan, India, or Ceylon. Any
inauguration of servi;e to Cubit or North Vietnam in pursuance of existing
air agreements would require the securing of additional overflight rights
from Intermediate countries,
39. .t_nterilug seems likely also to achieve some expansion to the West.
Its recent agreement with KIM and its current or pending, negotiations with
other Western airlines will probably result In reciprocal service by Interilug
to Amsterdai n, Copenhagen, Ilelsinki, or Rome within INC next two or three
years. Ilowcvur, Interflug would need to :cplace its sizing IL-18 turboprops
with new jets in order to compete with any degree or success with West
European airlines.
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