APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R00020011022-9
deckhands, assistant engine attendants, cooks, and stewards attend a 3-week orientation course at the School Center, also located in Rostock.
I. Civil air (C)
Civil-air activities are conducted by the governmental air carrier INTERFLUG, an enterprise responsible for air-transport services, general-aviation services, and operation of civil airports and supporting facilities. INTERFLUG is directly subordinate to the Main Administration for Civil Aviation (HVZL), the civil aviation agency of the Ministry for Transport. The government exercises complete control over all civil-flight activities, and private ownership or operation of civil aircraft is prohibited. It is estimated that in the event of war or other national emergency, the full strength of the civil-air transport enterprise would be placed at the disposal of the military.
East Germany is not a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) or of other regulatory bodies for the conduct of international air services. It has entered into formal air-transport agreements providing for the exchange of scheduled air services with Cuba and all European Communist nations except Albania. Services to Tirana are sanctioned by a special arrangement between INTERFLUG and an Albanian agency. INTERFLUG, along with the five other Eastern European carriers, is party to the "Six-Pool Agreement," a multilateral accord that promotes cooperation between Communist airlines with special emphasis on pooling revenues on parallel services and a mutual exchange of supporting services. Air-transport agreements or arrangements with non-Communist countries have been negotiated with only a few governments. There are known formal agreements with Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Finland, Egypt, and Ceylon, and evidence suggests that informal agreements or arrangements exist with Algeria, Guinea, Lebanon, Cyprus, Sierra Leone, Denmark, and Austria.
It is under some of these agreements and arrangements that INTERFLUG operates abroad, and East Berlin is served by the carriers of the other European Communist states (except Albania, which has no carrier) and Cubana de Aviacion, the Cuban airline. Egyptair, KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines, SAS-Scandinavian Airlines, AUA-Austrian Airlines, and Iraqi Airways are the non-Communist carriers providing scheduled services in East Germany.
Air-transport operations are centered at Schonefeld Airfield in East Berlin and are used internally for moving government and industry officials and for airlifting priority cargo. The small size of East Germany and the efficiency of the rail and road systems limit the demand for domestic air services. On the other hand, continuing efforts are made to expand international operations of INTERFLUG, promoted by East German belief that it can gain a wider degree of international acceptance and prestige by entering into bilateral air-transport agreements with non-Communist states.
INTERFLUG's scheduled domestic network includes year-round service to and between five major cities in East Germany—Barth, Dresden, East Berlin, Erfurt, and Leipzig. Additional flights are scheduled from East Berlin to Leipzig for short periods in the spring and fall during the international industrial trade fairs. Most domestic flights are routed north and south where longer distances give INTERFLUG a greater time advantage over surface transportation.
International scheduled air services to non-Communist areas are routed from East Berlin to Cairo, Algiers, Bamako, Khartoum, Freetown, and Conakry in Africa and to Nicosia, Beirut, Damascus, and Baghdad in the Middle East. INTERFLUG also provides scheduled services to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Helsinki, and Vienna. Scheduled flights to European Communist capital cities continue to dominate INTERFLUG's priorities, and additional service is flown regularly to Leningrad and Zagreb. In addition, INTERFLUG schedules summer flights to Bratislava and Tatry, Czechoslovakia, Krakow and Gdansk, Poland, and Kiev and Minsk, U.S.S.R. The carrier's international network is supplemented by charter services to meet increased traffic demands during the spring and fall trade fairs and during the summer vacation months. General-aviation services such as agricultural spraying, sightseeing, medical evacuation and aerial photography are also provided by INTERFLUG.
INTERFLUG's major-transport fleet numbers 28 Soviet-built aircraft, which include two CLASSIC (Il-62) (Figure 11), five CRUSTY (Tu-134) and 12 COOT (Il-18) used primarily on international flights and seven COKE (An-24) used on domestic routes. INTERFLUG operates a mixed fleet of about 80 aircraft and two or three helicopters for cropdusting and other airwork services. These smaller aircraft are adequately maintained and overhauled by INTERFLUG's engineering department, which also performs routine maintenance on the CRUSTY, COOT, and COKE aircraft. Major maintenance and overhaul on the larger transports, such as the CLASSIC, are
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R00020011022-9
