http://smail.info - free e-mail service, smtp, pop3, imap4, ssl ! _____________________________________________________ SOURCE: Long Beach Press-Telegram http://presstelegram.com/business/articles/0802/01/biz01.asp Published: Thursday, August 1, 2002 FAA meets with L.B. officials By Felix Sanchez Staff writer LONG BEACH - In an attempt to solve a stalemate between the city and American Airlines over flight slots at Long Beach Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration has had the first in a series of "informal" discussions with airline and city officials. And in a development late Wednesday, another airline that had been bidding for the right to run new daily flights from Long Beach into Seattle, Alaska Airlines, officially withdrew its request. But Alaska kept the door open for future requests for service at the airport, and said in the meantime an affiliate, Horizon Airlines, has applied to start flying the proposed route on Oct. 6 using smaller capacity passenger jets. Horizon wants to use some of the 25 so-called regional jet flight slots that so far have been unused at the airport. One other meeting is scheduled by the FAA in its informal mediation of the battle between American and Long Beach. But the city's top lawyer said it will not be scheduled until the City Council and the city's lawyers can meet to discuss "marching orders." That could come as early as Tuesday in a closed session before the regular City Council meeting, said City Attorney Bob Shannon. Attorneys will outline their recommendations, and hear what the council position is. American Airlines says the airport is being unfair by denying its request for four permanent daily slots for service into Chicago and New York City. The city says noise restrictions limit daily commercial flights to 41 a day and they are all legally taken. In mid-June American began using temporary positions to operate to those cities but the spots must be returned in early January - they belong to JetBlue Airways - and service must stop. American says if necessary it will file a lawsuit to get permanent slots, saying the airport is bound by federal law to allow equal and competitive access. American contends JetBlue Airways, which owns 27 of the 41 slots, acquired them in a backroom deal with the city. Mayor Beverly O'Neill, one of several councilmembers who were briefed by the two FAA officials in town for a morning informal meeting Monday, said the session was positive. "I was very pleased to be able to talk with them about the things we had been talking to constituents about for the last several months," O'Neill said. Those include fear that the airport could be forced to operate more than the capped 41 daily flights. O'Neill was joined by councilmembers Frank Colonna, Rob Webb, Jackie Kell and Dennis Carroll. Shannon said the meetings were arranged so there were no Brown Act violations. Had any more council members met at once, it would have been in violation of the open meetings law. In an afternoon meeting, the FAA met with attorneys and representatives of the city, American, JetBlue, Alaska, America West - the other commercial carrier at the airport - and other flight slot holders at the airport, including two cargo carriers, Shannon said. The FAA said its meetings are an "attempt to mediate an informal resolution" of the flight slot issues, Shannon said. "We have an informal agreement to meet again, but an exact date has not been set," Shannon said. Shannon described the afternoon meeting as "contentious. I would say we are definitely some distance away from a resolution of this matter. "Everybody agreed the best resolution would be an informal resolution outside of court," Shannon said. Alaska Airlines announced its decision in the airport flap in a press release Wednesday afternoon, saying it abandoned its plan because of "a continuing inability to secure temporary slots allocated to large jet operators from local authorities." Alaska had served Long Beach from 1982 until 1995 and at one point had up to 12 daily flights. Horizon Air, an Alaska regional affiliate, has applied to begin offering Long Beach-to-Seattle service starting Oct. 6. If the application goes through, Horizon will operate three daily nonstop flights using 70-passenger, CRJ-700 jets. Horizon is the first airline in North America to operate the CRJ- 700, one of the world's quietest commercially operated jet aircraft. The plane creates less noise and lower fuel emissions than are allowed by the most environmentally sensitive airports. Alaska had planned on using the bigger-capacity, 120-seat Boeing 737-700 jets. "We regret to have to inform the people of Long Beach that we won't be returning in September, but rest assured we're hopeful we'll be back in the near future," Alaska executive vice president Gregg Saretsky said. -- David Mueller / HNL davidm@smail.info http://www.quanterium.com