Metro Airlines

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 25, 1973

205 N.L.R.B. 35 (N.L.R.B. 1973)

METRO AIRLINES 35
Metroflight Airlines , Inc., d/b/a Metro Airlines' and
Airline, Aerospace and Allied Employees Local
Union 19 (I.B .T.), Petitioner . Case 23-RC-3947
July 25, 1973
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Clayton Corley.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the rulings made by the
Hearing Officer at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
makes the following findings:
The Employer, Metroflight Airlines, Inc., d/b/a
Metro Airlines, is a Texas corporation, with its princi-
pal offices and place of business in Houston, Texas.
It operates a commuter airline providing flights out of
various cities located within the State of Texas. The
Employer is an air taxi operator (or Commuter Air-
line) subject to regulation by the Civil Aeronautics
Board (CAB), falling under the blanket exemption
issued by CAB for air taxi operations, exempting
them from certain of the economic regulations of the
CAB. The Employer has filed a registration with the
CAB as an air taxi operator, as required by the CAB,
and pursuant to CAB regulations files reports with the
CAB. In connection with its flights, the Company has
joint ticketing arrangements (interline) with all certifi-
cated air carriers in the United States except Western
Airlines and also has joint fare arrangements with
Eastern Airlines, Continental Airlines, Texas Interna-
tional Airlines, National Airlines, and Braniff Air-
lines. All joint fare and interticketing arrangements
are filed with and approved by CAB. The Employer,
in view of the fact that many passengers originating
and/or terminating on Employer's flights are on inter-
national journeys, is a party signatory to CAB Order
1 As amended at the hearing
Agreement (Warsaw Agreement) establishing the lim-
its of liabilities of air carriers for passengers who are
in transit to or from point outside the continental
limits of the United States.
The Employer does business in excess of $1 million
yearly, about 98 percent of which is received from
passengers being carried on interline tickets. The re-
mainder of the Employer's revenues are derived from
airfreight 2 air charters and concessions, and 10 to 15
percent of the air charters involve carriage of passen-
gers to points outside of Texas. The employees sought
by the Petitioner are all captains and first officers who
are engaged in the Employer's airflight operations.
The Employer moves for dismissal of the petition on
the ground that it is a carrier by air engaged in inter-
state commerce within the meaning of the Railway
Labor Act, that its operations and employees are cov-
ered by the provisions of the act, and is therefore not
subject to the jurisdiction of the National Labor Rela-
tions Board.
Because of the nature of the question presented
here, we requested as we have in other cases in the
past 3 the National Mediation Board (as the agency
primarily vested with jurisdiction, under the Railway
Labor Act, over air carriers, and having primary au-
thority to determine its own jurisdiction) to study the
record in this case and determine the applicability of
the Railway Labor Act to the Employer. We are ad-
ministratively advised by the National Mediation
Board, under date of June 27, 1973, that the National
Mediation Board had determined that in the light of
Metro Airlines, Inc., d/b/a Metro Airlines almost ex-
clusive participation in interstate and foreign com-
merce as a common carrier by air said Metro Airlines
is subject to the provisions of Title II, Section 201 of
the Railway Labor Act as a common carver by air.
In view of the foregoing, we shall dismiss the peti-
tion in its entirety.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition in Case 23-
RC-3947 be, and it hereby is, dismissed in its entirety.
2 Ninety-eight to ninety -nine percent of the airfreight handled by the Em-
ployer originates from or is destined for points outside Texas All such
outgoing freight is handled by airfreight through-bills to point of destination
or conversely if the Employer is the terminating carrier
3 Skyway Aviation, Inc, 194 NLRB 555, International Aviation Services of
New York, Inc, 189 NLRB 75, Tri-State Aero, Inc, 186 NLRB 60, Lynch
Flying Service, 166 NLRB 961
205 NLRB No. 18