Carrier with no planes says it will not operate flights HONOLULU (AP) =97 A company claiming to be a new air carrier said Tuesday it= =20 was canceling its plans to operate cut-rate charter flights between=20 Honolulu and Los Angeles, blaming the state for negative publicity. The=20 announcement from Mainline Airways came after it was ordered by a state=20 judge to stop selling bargain-priced tickets over the Internet. "We had=20 every intention of operating, but we cannot fill the planes now when the=20 people of Hawaii are under the assumption that we are a fake airline,"=20 Mainline chief executive Luke R. Thompson wrote in a letter faxed to the=20 state. Thompson also said customers who have purchased tickets will be=20 refunded their money by the end of the week. The state obtained a temporary restraining order against Mainline after an= =20 investigation found the company had not filed an application with the=20 Federal Aviation Administration to operate a charter airline and had no=20 planes or employees. "As we have said many times before, we were not to=20 operate our own aircraft, so we are not an airline, we are Mainline=20 Airways, not airlines, and were only to be the tour operator," Thompson's=20 letter said. The letter said Mainline decided to halt plans of chartering=20 aircraft because of "negative public sentiment that has been received=20 because of this action preventing us from engaging in any transactions with= =20 customers until next Monday, as well as lackluster sales." A message for=20 Thompson, left at a New Jersey telephone number listed on Mainline's=20 letterhead, was not immediately returned. Mainline's fax number was in New= =20 York City. A street address in Henderson, Nev., was on the company= letterhead. Stephen Levins, spokesman for the state Office of Consumer Protection, said= =20 that although the company claims to operate from Wellesley, Mass.,=20 officials believe Thompson is located in Yardley, Pa. The secretary of=20 state's office in Massachusetts does not list the airline as a licensed=20 state business. Mainline's Web site is registered by a company in Ft.=20 Myers, Fla. The Office of Consumer Protection said it has not found much=20 more to Mainline than its Web site, which was operating on Monday but=20 appeared to be shut down on Tuesday. Mainline offered fares as low as $89,= =20 plus $30 in taxes and fees, for one-way flights between Honolulu and Los=20 Angeles starting July 3 =97 about half the lowest fares offered by=20 established airlines. "People are seduced by good deals all the time," said= =20 Levins. "Obviously if something is really too good to be true, it probably= =20 is. "If you look at the fares of this airline and of all the other=20 competitors, it certainly offered a really good deal." Levins on Tuesday=20 would not say whether his office has spoken with Thompson. In the letter, Thompson said Mainline has received 120 "pre-reservations"=20 for flights. He also said all refunds will be completed by Friday. Despite= =20 saying the company was "permanently" canceling plans of operating flights,= =20 the letter said, "We do not want a bad taste in the mouths of Hawaiians=20 when they hear the name of our company since we plan to come back in the=20 future operating our own aircraft." The letter also alleged the state was=20 working with other carriers to keep Mainline from doing business in Hawaii.= =20 "We believe that this injunction was provoked by competing companies who=20 saw us as a viable threat," the letter said. "We now see the predatorily=20 (sic) nature of the route is higher than we expected." Levins disputed the= =20 allegation. "Our motivation is enforcing consumer protection laws on behalf= =20 of the state so consumers are protected," he said. "Anything we file is=20 with that in mind, not to participate in a conspiracy with anybody." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************