Airlines: Saigon's Squeeze Play

Pan American World Airways operates 32 weekly commercial cargo and passenger flights to Saigon. In addition, Pan Am assigns up to 20 jets a month to the U.S. Military Airlift Command for South Viet Nam duty— at less than half the rates it would receive for similar commercial service. The carrier's right to land commercial flights at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport depends on an annual permit — and the last one expired last Dec. 31. Two days later, Vietnamese authorities refused landing clearance to a Pan Am commercial flight, changed their minds only after urgent and angry protests...

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