=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2007/11/28/state/n140= 749S26.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, November 29, 2007 (AP) State law grounds LA mayor, council members from Airbus flight (11-29) 11:18 PST Los Angeles (AP) -- For the mayor, this flight never got off the ground. The world's largest passenger plane took off on a demonstration trip Thursday without Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa or City Council members because an obscure state law bars legislators from accepting free transportation. Villaraigosa toured the Airbus A380 before it took off. But he was advis= ed by his ethics team and the city attorney that he shouldn't take the 90-minute flight because it might violate the law. Violation of the law could require him to forfeit his job, he was told. The law was originally designed to bar railroads from currying favor by giving legislators free trips, Villaraigosa said. "That's the problem with bureaucratic lawyers," the miffed mayor told KTLA-TV. "You wonder, like, what these people were thinking." About 150 guests did take the champagne flight, which started and ended = at Los Angeles International Airport. The eight-story, double-deck jetliner has a wingspan longer than a football field and can hold up to 800 passengers. The Australian airline Qantas is scheduled to begin service on the plane out of LAX in October. Before then, LAX plans to spend $121 million upgrading facilities to accommodate the jetliner. -------------------------------------------------= --------------------- Copyright 2007 AP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".