In light of the latest failure of Salt Lake City International Airport to live up to its name and acquire a direct flight to a foreign city - this time Vancouver, B.C. - the Utah Air Travel Commission wants the consulting firm it has hired to study Salt Lake's need for nonstop international flights to hit the afterburners.
After learning that airline consultant SH&E of Boston might not have its report ready for the commission's scrutiny until its June meeting, commission chairman Dean L. Gustavson and others made it clear they think that's too long to wait.The commission, a citizen group charged with improving Utah's air service, and the Salt Lake Airport Authority are funding a study that the commission hopes will convince the airlines that Salt Lake International Airport has more than enough foreign travelers to justify direct, nonstop flights to London, Paris, Tokyo and, yes, Vancouver, Canada, among other international destinations.
The action came at the commission's monthly meeting Wednesday at the Alta Club.
"For most trips to the Far East, Utahns have to go to Portland and other West Coast cities first, but we're a larger collection point for foreign travel than Portland," said Gustavson. "We have to make our own case for this, and the study should help us do it."
The commission's International Air Route Committee agreed and said it would try to have a draft of the report ready by late March and the completed report by May for a special UATC meeting.
Thayne Robson, director of the University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business Research, is coordinating with SH&E to gather local passenger data supporting the study.
- Gustavson and commissioner Ted Wilson believe the UATC needs to investigate the recent decision by the airlines to cap travel agent commissions for domestic airline tickets at $50.
Delta Air Lines announced the cap Feb. 9, and the other major airlines then followed suit, prompting lawsuits and protests by travel agents, who said they would have to change the way they serve customers.
While noting that they understand the airlines' need to cut costs, Gustavson said the action by the airlines probably hurts air travelers.
"Travel agencies usually find us the lowest fares possible, but when we call the airlines direct, we don't get that," said Gustavson.
Wilson agreed. "I mean no disrespect to the airlines, but we have to look out for the Utah traveler, so this is an issue we need to look at closely."
Commissioners agreed to have representatives of local travel agencies present their side of the story at a future UATC meeting.
- The commission praised Delta Air Lines for the "bold action" Delta has taken in trying to ban smoking on all scheduled airline flights worldwide.
Delta spokesman Fred Rollins said the reaction to the proposal has been "mostly positive" and said the major air carriers are discussing whether they want to follow Delta's lead.
Commissioner Robert Campbell said Delta's initiative was particularly courageous since smoking remains "an accepted way of life" in Europe.
Commissioners agreed they would support Delta in any way they can in its attempts to eliminate smoking on all airlines.
- Gustavson said he has sent a letter on behalf of the commission to the Utah congressional delegation asking their help in opposing a plan by the Federal Aviation Administration to create stiffer medical testing standards for both airline and general aviation pilots. The proposed standards would include electrocardiograms and blood tests.
Saying the new requirements would place unneeded additional burdens on commercial and private pilots, Gustavson said he also has made formal objection to the FAA. "We hope to defeat (the medical proposals), but it may have to be done politically," he said.