AVIATION: Jet-Age Problems

Winging from Augusta, Ga. to Washington aboard the Columbine one day last spring, President Eisenhower sprang a question on General Elwood Quesada, his special assistant for aviation. What, asked Ike, is the state of U.S. airlines as they prepare to enter the jet age? "Pete" Quesada's answer: Not so good. Though airlines are committed to spend $4 billion for new jet equipment by 1962, they have run into sliding earnings and difficulties in financing their purchases. Ike asked for a special report on the airlines' plight. Last week Quesada sent him a 44-page document prepared by Harvard Business School Economist...

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