Despite pleadings from Salt Lake and Delta Air Lines officials to reconsider a preliminary decision, the U.S. Department of Transportation has made its final decision to award U.S.-London air routes to two Southern cities.
In a Friday press release, Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena said awarding the routes to Nashville and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., offers more benefits to the traveling public.When the tentative decision was announced Nov. 5, Rep. Karen Shepherd charged that politics had influenced the decision. She had reason to believe that the Clinton administration had traded the North Carolina air route for NAFTA votes. Pena and North Carolina have denied such allegations. Eight of the 12 North Carolina representatives voted in favor of the pact.