Debut of LV airline delayed

Friday, March 26, 1999 | 10:41 a.m.

A new Federal Aviation Administration certification process will make air travel safer, but it will delay National Airlines' startup date by more than a month.

Las Vegas-based National is one of the first air carriers undertaking the revised certification process introduced in October. The review is taking longer than airline officials expected.

"It's new to us and it's new to the FAA," said National Airlines spokesman Dik Shimizu. "We didn't expect this unfortunate delay, but it doesn't come as a surprise to us."

As a result, National's inaugural flight is expected to occur around the end of May instead of in mid-April as airline officials originally had hoped.

The FAA inaugurated the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS) and the Certification Standardization Evaluation Team (CSET) last year.

The nation's 10 largest airlines -- most of the main carriers serving McCarran International Airport -- will go through ATOS and CSET reviews. But they'll have the advantage of already being airborne at the time. Because National is a new carrier, all its new flight manuals are part of the review process and all the documents are being examined by a team of FAA managers.

The CSET review standardizes the examination process. Agency overseers make sure that airlines seeking certification from different parts of the country abide by the same regulations.

The ATOS review is a more stringent safety review program. A review methodology used by the nuclear power industry is part of the process airlines must satisfy to become certified.

The document review process is being undertaken by examiners from outside the area as well as by local FAA officials. About 16 examiners are on the team reviewing National's certification. Among them are FAA reviewers specifically qualified to check out National's Boeing 757 operations.

Michael Conway, National's chief executive officer, sent a letter to employees thanking them for their diligence through the FAA review process. A copy of the letter was forwarded to the airline's investors.

In the letter, Conway also said the airline is asking the federal Department of Transportation to approve the sale of tickets 45 days ahead of certification instead of the normal 30 days.

" ... We are hoping to receive a positive indication with regard our now targeted FAA ... certification date of May 15," the letter says. "It would then take six business days (eight calendar days) to receive the final DOT certification to begin service.

"Based on these dates and our desire to begin operations prior to the Memorial Day weekend, and still allowing time for slippage, we are targeting inaugural service for May 27, 1999. While the delays experienced thus far in the regulatory process have caused some frustrations, please keep in mind that the process under which National Airlines is being certified is one that no other carrier has undergone."

Conway's letter also spells out the status of aircraft acquisition, the speed at which the airline will be able to expand once it gets its planes and the company's efforts to make contact with travel agents in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Las Vegas -- the first five cities National will link with its service.

"The interior of our first aircraft is currently being retrofitted in our spacious, two-class configuration in Victorville, Calif., and will return to Las Vegas toward the end of the month," the letter says. "Our second aircraft will arrive in Victorville by month end to undergo a similar retrofit. We have signed lease agreements or letters of intent for eight other aircraft and are in negotiations for leases on two others. One of the planes for which we have committed to is a brand new Boeing 757 scheduled for delivery in March 2000."

National will operate from McCarran's D gates and will initiate service first to Chicago's Midway Airport, Gate B7, and Los Angeles International's Terminal 6, Gate 61.

"Within a month of our first flight, we expect to begin operations to New York JFK (John F. Kennedy International Airport) ... and San Francisco International. New York and San Francisco service begins with the addition of our third and fourth aircraft. As we move closer to taking delivery of aircraft numbers 5-12, our strategic planning department will be making recommendations on new city additions and frequency levels to existing cities. By the end of the first year of operations, we anticipate our 12-aircraft fleet will offer service to at least 10 cities.

"Over the past several weeks, our reservations sales associates (25 full-time and 10 part-time) ... have made more than 10,000 calls to travel agents in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Agencies are being advised of our pending service and we are compiling a detailed data base on each agency's target customer group and communication software capabilities. ...

"The National Airlines Vacations Division is an integral part of our marketing effort and we expect it will be responsible for the reservations and processing of approximately 160,000 passengers and 200,000 Las Vegas room nights in the first year alone."