TODAY'S ISSUE: Airline Regulation May Be Coming Your Way
ELLIOTT BRACK: Great Vacation Destination: Canada's Rocky Mountains
McLEMORE'S CARTOON:
POLITICS: Craig Newton Offers for Fifth District State Senate Seat
FEEDBACK: More About Road Dollars and Napalm In Iraq
TODAY'S QUOTE: Another Way To Look at the Internet

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."

-- Peter Steiner, cartoon in The New Yorker, July 5, 1993.

"How many more outrages and insults to humanity will be perpetrated by the Bush Administration before the American people wake up and protest the atrocities committed on our behalf? Or - do we tacitly approve of these acts? Are we monsters too?"

-- Angela Bradshaw, Los Angeles, Calif.

Webmaster's note: We apologize for the tardiness of this issue; we've been busy with Elliott Brack's new granddaughter.

TODAY'S ISSUE
Government has ability to foul up a one-man parade
By Dean Booth
Special to GwinnettForum.com

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Booth is an Atlanta attorney who has concentrated his practice in the airline industry internationally.)

SEPT. 12, 2003 -- In 1978, after aggressive urging by then President Jimmy Carter, the airline industry was deregulated. At the time the five largest airlines in the USA (and the world, if Aeroflot is omitted) were United Air Lines, American Airlines, PanAm, Trans World Airlines, and Eastern Airlines.

After 25 years of deregulation, four of the five largest have gone bankrupt-PanAm, United, TWA, and Eastern. American has flirted with it. USAir has gone bankrupt once, and Continental has gone bankrupt at least twice.

But, they are not alone- National Air Lines, Piedmont Airlines, Southern Airlines, Ozark Airlines, TransTexas, Braniff Airways, Frontier Airlines, Mohawk Airlines and Allegheny Airlines have all gone bankrupt---directly or indirectly: Some had to merge first.

I have been thinking for some time that government regulation of the airline industry is inevitable. It is clear that the industry is going to consist at some time fairly soon of one or two carriers with 85 or 90 per cent of the business (Northwest, Delta, and Continental code share now). The Government will not (and should not) tolerate an unregulated airline "industry" consisting of one or two carriers.

Since it is clear that we are going to have government regulation, or a situation like Conrail, as a matter of fact (or nationalization) in the not-too-distant future, the old days of regulation start to be attractive!

There was competition under regulation-usually two carriers per route and as many as five. Tickets could be changed at any time, seats were readily available, aircraft were generally about 55 percent full based on 24/7 measurement, all tickets on the same airplane going from the same city to the same city cost the same thing, tickets were fully refundable, and service was frequent.

You may not believe this, flight times on flights of more than two hours were much shorter than they are now. The product was far superior to the present day product.

Regulation as it existed from 1938 until 1978 would rationalize the present situation and should create an environment where carriers can make a reasonable return. More importantly it would save the industry, while we still have one, which can provide competition.

The intra-California market for air travel was never regulated. At one time 16 carriers had been in the market. Fifteen have gone bankrupt.

Air travel may just be a different business. The product cannot be inventoried. It must be sold or it will perish. This seems to lead to every carrier thinking it can sell the last seats for less than cost and still make money. Whatever the reason, it is clear that the carriers have difficulty (cannot?) making a reasonable profit. Thus, they fail.

It is not in the national interest, nor the flying public's interest, to have additional consolidation in the industry. But if nothing is done, it will happen.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that given the fact that 20 of the 25 largest airlines which existed at the time of deregulation have gone bankrupt, the proponents of deregulation should be required to show why deregulation has been good for the country.

It is not "lower fares". There won't be lower fares on non-existent carriers, but the argument is specious anyway.

The difference in fares on the same aircraft in 2002 averaged 2000 percent---someone on the same airplane going to the same destination paid 20 times as much as someone else. There is no reasonable comparison between the average of 50 different fares on the same airplane today and the single fully refundable, freely changeable fare in 1977.

When was the last time you said, "I'll just have the average fare?"

Whether we want it or not, whether it is good or not, look for airline regulation in the future. But watch out. Our Government has the ability to screw up a one car parade.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Canadian Rocky Mountains: Wonderful destination
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com

SEPT. 12, 2003 -- Why more U.S. citizen don't vacation in Canada, we haven't figured out. The country is nearby, the people are great, it's easy and inexpensive to get there, and on top of everything else, for the last several years had a very favorable exchange rate. At last we noted, you get $1.3 American dollar for each Canadian dollar!

We like to visit Canada when it's hot and muggy down South, for Canada is always cooler. That's why we have visited so often in August. Our favorite spots are Prince Edward Island off the Atlantic Coast, and Vancouver, British Columbia, warmed by the Pacific currents.

Yet recently we visited a new part of Canada for us---its Rocky Mountains, and came away greatly impressed. It was a great destination, one of the best vacations ever!

While our American Rocky Mountains are wonderful, Canada's Banff and Jasper National Parks, amid the glaciers of those mountains, are so much more impressive, gorgeous and awe-inspiring.

We flew to Calgary, itself a stunning city of 800,000, right on the edge of the prairie. Wheat fields come almost up to its airport. We rented a car and headed for Banff, only 75 miles west, on the Trans-Canada Highway, their interstate.

Banff reminded us as more of a tourist town, not unlike Gatlinburg, with lots of shops and people on the street until 10 p.m. Banff is at 4,540 feet, the highest elevation of a town in Canada.

The city was founded as a tourist destination in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which still is vital to the area. It built its most famous attraction, the Banff Springs Hotel, set on a gorgeous site at the edge of town, away from the hustle and bustle.

The city is just inside Banff National Park with its many lakes, waterfalls, hiking trails, and in season, skiing. The park itself is the primary attraction. Scenery prevails, with not that many people around. Signs warning you of bears, and "don't feed the animals," are everywhere.

Some 175 miles north is Jasper, also in its own national park. Connecting the two towns is the Columbia Icefields Parkway. Amazing to me was the condition of its highway: virtually smooth. In the harsh winter climate, I expected to find many potholes. But no. The roads are great. Perhaps it's because there are no commercial vehicles on this Parkway, unless you consider the many tour buses as commercial units.

About midway is the Icefields Center, which tells the story of how the area's glaciers formed---and are still forming. It's a place where you can either take a tour, or walk, right out onto the Athabasca Glacier!

Jasper is a smaller town than Banff, and more isolated. Yet it has a charm of its own. Another railroad, the Canadian National, is responsible for Jasper, taking a more northern route in the 1880s. (Not many years ago, the two lines merged.) The railroad is still very evident, and important, in both these towns.

We spent two nights each in Banff and Jasper, plus two nights at Lake Louise in its elegant hotel overlooking the lake. With mountains and glaciers as background, the site is one of the most beautiful in all the world. The lake is green in summer, as are all the glacial streams, because of the sediments ground away by glaciers, making the waters a murky green. Lake Louise, when it thaws in spring, is blue, with the sediment filtered out during winter.

The Canadian Rockies: another wonderful destination!

POLITICS
9/12: Newton to seek Squires' old seat in Senate

Norcross Mayor Pro Tem Craig Newton announced this week that he will seek the Democratic nomination for the Fifth District Senate seat now held by Mary Squires. Newton, on the Norcross City Council for four consecutive terms, currently is on the Gwinnett Transit Board, has been president of the Gwinnett Municipal Association, and a director of the Gwinnett Chamber. Married for 23 years, Newton and wife, Lynn, have four children. He has been for 20 years with Micromeritics Inc., an international high tech analytical laboratory instrument manufacturer, and is the company's Final Assembly manager. He is a member of Hopewell Baptist Church in Norcross where he has served as Executive Board Chairman and as Treasurer.

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