labour dispute with its pilots, new Executive Vice President Morten S. Beyer (who had arranged the 727 lease with Executive Jet) returned the leased Boeing jets, did not finalise its order with Boeing for three new-built 727s and began grounding all piston airliners permanently from the end of 1967. The latter move saw the DC-3s and DC-7s put into storage at Fort Myers while the Martinliners were stored at Cape May, New Jersey. It also resulted in 100 job losses among flight crew. Modern Air carried more than 360,000 passengers in 1967 while revenues increased to over $9.5 million. However, costs associated with the transition to a jet fleet and excess capacity resulted in a $3 million loss (a $2.98 million operating loss and a $3.6 million net loss, respectively). Disposal of the stored piston airliners proved more difficult and took longer than anticipated, especially of the four DC-7s. While two were partially cannibalised for spare parts, the remaining pair were put up for sale for $60,000 apiece. However, when these were eventually sold in 1969 to Miami-based Interair Parts for only $8,000, Modern Air was well into the jet era. Diversification into new business areas and overseas expansion The agreement with Air France for the temporary lease of one aircraft beginning in April 1967 provided additional work for the new jets. Further work to increase the growing jet fleet's utilisation was secured when the Federal Government awarded Modern Air a contract to carry military personnel between camps in the US. However, this was insufficient to justify continuing expansion of the fleet and workforce. By the time Modern's third 990 was delivered, it experienced financial difficulties. This resulted in layoffs and management changes. As Modern Air was liable to pay substantial cancellation fees and would have forfeited the deposits that it had already paid for the outstanding aircraft deliveries if it terminated its purchase agreement with American Airlines unilaterally, Modern opted to begin looking for additional business opportunities to keep the expanding fleet fully employed. As a result of a narrow Soviet interpretation of the Potsdam Agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, access to West Berlin by air was restricted to three high and -wide air corridors, for exclusive use by aircraft under the control of individuals and (where applicable) organisations from the United States, the United Kingdom and France, the three Western victorious