United Air Lines, Inc. v. Civil Aeronautics Board

198 F.2d 100, 1952 U.S. App. LEXIS 4055
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 8, 1952
Docket10544, 10567
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 198 F.2d 100 (United Air Lines, Inc. v. Civil Aeronautics Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Air Lines, Inc. v. Civil Aeronautics Board, 198 F.2d 100, 1952 U.S. App. LEXIS 4055 (7th Cir. 1952).

Opinion

DUFFY, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner United Air Lines, Inc. (hereinafter called United) asks us to review and reverse orders entered in two proceedings before the Civil Aeronautics Board (hereinafter called Board). No. 10544 was designated before the Board as the Frontier Renewal Case, and No. 10567 as the Southwest Renewal-United Suspension Case.

United operates an air line system over 18,704 certificated route miles. Its routes extend from New York to' Hawaii, and its transcontinental system extends from New York and other eastern cities to various West Coast cities. It also operates local service between various intermediate points.

Rock Springs, Wyoming, is a city of 10,-567 population, and has been a certificated point on United’s Route No. 1. United originally was authorized to serve Rock Springs under a certificate issued pursuant to the Board’s order of May 22, 1939, in accordance with the “grandfather” provisions of Sec. 401(e)(1), Civil Aeronautics Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 481 (hereinafter called the Act).

Frontier Air Lines, Inc. (hereinafter called Frontier) serves Rock Springs as a point on a local air service route serving small cities in the Rocky Mountain area. Authorization to serve Rock Springs on this route pursuant to a temporary certificate of public convenience and necessity was originally granted fo>* a three year period to Summit Air Ways, Inc., a predecessor of Frontier. This authority granted to Frontier was predicated largely upon find *103 ings as to the lack of adequate transportation facilities in a specified area because of the mountainous terrain, and the economic characteristics of the area.

•In a consolidated proceeding, the Board directed Frontier to show cause why its temporary certificates of public convenience and necessity for Routes Nos. 73 and 74 should not be extended three years from March 31, 1950. The Board directed United to show cause why its authority to serve Rock Springs and Cheyenne, Wyoming, should not be suspended until March 31, 1953. Public hearings were held before an examiner who issued his report recommending that Frontier’s certificate be renewed for a period of three years, from March 31, 1950, including the authority to serve Rock Springs and Cheyenne, and that United’s authority to serve Rock Springs be suspended until March 31, 1953. However, the examiner did not recommend a suspension of United’s, authority to serve Cheyenne. The rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountain area in many places imposes serious obstacles to surface transportation. The examiner’s report emphasized the need for local air service for the area involved because of geographical characteristics. He found also that both United and Frontier would benefit financially by the suspension of service to and from Rock Springs by United. The examiner further found that the suspension of service by United at Rock Springs would inconvenience only a small part of the passengers to and from that point, and concluded that the public convenience and necessity required the suspension of United’s service at Rock Springs until March 31, 1953.. The Board substantially adopted the examiner’s findings and conclusions and entered its opinions and orders on September 14, 1951, and November 9, 1951. The Board found Monarch Air Lines and Challenger Air Lines 1 had operated in a region where geographical conditions impeded efficient surface transportation between communities of substantial size, and that there was a public need in that area for air service, and that 'Monarch and Challenger had made steady improvement in furnishing such service. The Board also approved the examiner’s finding that an •uneconomic duplication of air service by United and Frontier existed at Rock Springs. In No. 10544 petitioner seeks a. review of said orders in so far as they suspend the authority of United to serve Rock Springs, Wyoming, for the period beginning January 12, 1952, to and including March 31, 1953.

In the Southwest case two orders were consolidated by the Board, one directing United to show cause why its authority to serve Santa Barbara, Monterey, Red Bluff and Eureka, California, should not be suspended and the other instituting an investigation to determine whether service by Southwest Airways Company (hereinafter called Southwest) should be substituted for service by United at Salinas, California, and Klamath Falls, Oregon.

United serves Monterey and Santa Barbara on its Route No. 1 between Seattle, Washington, and San Diego, California, pursuant to a certificate originally granted on May 22, 1939, in accordance with the “grandfather” provisions of the Act. Southwest was certified to provide local air service to Eureka, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Red Bluff.

United’s service and authorizations antedated those of Frontier and Southwest at all cities in question in both proceedings except Eureka, where the authorizations for United and for Southwest were of the same date. United inaugurated service at Rock Springs, Santa Barbara and Monterey in July, 1927, October, 1936, and August, 1938, respectively, and its service at Red Bluffs and Eureka was instituted in August, 1940, and December, 1946, respectively. The temporary certificates issued to Frontier and Southwest were issued pursuant to Sec. 401 (d) (2) of the Act.

In the Southwest case, after hearings had been held and a report filed by an examiner, the Board made detailed findings upon the issue of suspending United’s service, and concluded that the public convenience and *104 necessity required the suspension of service of United at Santa Barbara, Monterey, Red Bluff and Eureka, California, until September 30, 1954, but that service by Southwest should not be substituted for service by United at Salinas and Klamath Falls.

In the Southwest case the Board found that in the area north of San Francisco transportation was slow and many times circuitous, and that local service would offer an appreciable improvement in transportation' facilities. The Board concluded public convenience and necessity required a local air service route for a period of three years along the Coast, serving among other points Eureka, and also an inland route serving among other points Red Bluff.

As to the general policy of extending the certificates of local air service carriers, the Board emphasized (1) the substantial contribution made by local air service carriers to the development of an air transportation system meeting the needs of commerce and the postal service, (2) the considerable national defense value of the operations of such carriers, and (3) the economic problems faced by such carriers in achieving self-sufficiency. The Board stated, “From the information now before the Board we are of the general opinion that feeder service should seldom if ever be competitive. The traffic potential is so limited in most feeder territory that duplicate operations by two or more carriers can seldom if ever be economical. .We have reached the conclusion that in general where a feeder carrier’s route is duplicated by a trunkline carrier and such route is not necessary to the trunkline carrier’s operation, then such route should be served by the feeder carrier alone. Conversely, where a route is a necessary and integral part of a trunkline carrier’s system and essential to its economical operation, then such route should not be served by a feeder carrier.”

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Bluebook (online)
198 F.2d 100, 1952 U.S. App. LEXIS 4055, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-air-lines-inc-v-civil-aeronautics-board-ca7-1952.