Skyway Aviation, Inc.

SKYWAY AVIATION, INC. 555 Skyway Aviation, Inc. and General Teamsters, Chauf- feurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local 864, affiliated with International Brotherhood of Team- sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 17-RC-6673 December 14, 1971 DECISION AND ORDER BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND KENNEDY Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer W. R. Carter at Waynesville, Missouri. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the Board's Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, the Regional Director for Region 17 transferred this case to the Board for decision. Neither of the parties filed a brief. - Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings made 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 finds: The Employer, a Missouri corporation, has its main office at Fortney Airfield at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. It also has facilities at airports in Vichy, Columbia, and Kaiser, Missouri. At these various locations, the Employer is engaged in air taxi, charter, and on-demand and scheduled airline services plus refueling and maintenance work. Additionally, the Employer operates a car rental service at the four locations, either as a franchisee or a subfranchisee, and it operates a pilot training school for ROTC students at Columbia. The parties are in agreement that a unit of all linemen and mechanics at the Employer's installa- tions at Fort Leonard Wood, Vichy, Columbia, and Kaiser, Missouri, excluding pilots, office clerical employees, professional employees, guards and super- visors as defined in the Act would be an appropriate unit.' However, the Employer contends that it is a common carrier by air engaged in interstate and foreign commerce within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act,2 that its operations and employees are covered by the provisions of that Act, and that this Board is therefore without jurisdiction. The Petitioner takes no position with regard to this contention. Presently, the Employer, which owns 13 single and multiengine planes, has an operating certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration which gives it the authority to operate an air taxi service anywhere within the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Employer has a number of scheduled daily flights to and from the aforementioned four cities in Missouri and Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. It also maintains ticket counters at the airports in Kansas City and St. Louis. The Employer also has an air agency certificate from the Federal Aviation Admin- istration which authorizes it to do repair work on airframes and power plants, and other specialized services approved by the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration. Although most of the Employer's scheduled flights operate within Missouri solely, these flights are often used as link-ups by persons coming from outside the State on other airlines. Hence, it is possible for a person who is in another State to purchase, while in that State, a ticket on a flight into Missouri and a continuing flight on the Employer's airline to one of the four Missouri cities it services. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 1971, the Employer's gross volume of business amounted to approximately $1.5 million. Of that amount, approxi- mately 55 percent was from the sale of tickets for scheduled flights, 22 percent was from charter flights, and 16 percent was from the sale of gas and oil. The balance came from car rentals, flight school instruc- tion, hangar merchandise sales, and freight ship- ments. Because of the nature of the jurisdictional question presented here, we have, as in other cases in the past,3 requested the National Mediation Board to study the record in this case and determine the applicability of the Railway Labor Act to the Employer. In the present case, we are administratively advised by the National Mediation Board that: The [National Mediation] Board has carefully reviewed the facts as transmitted and is of the opinion that Skyway Aviation, Inc., by virtue of its interline ticketing agreements or practices meets the definition of common carrier by air as set forth in Section 201, Title II, of the Railway Labor Act; consequently there is sufficient basis for this Board to exercise jurisdiction over the employer and its employees. 1 However, the Petitioner, contrary to the Employer, would exclude commerce . . and every air pilot or other person who performs any work from the unit a part-time employee or lineman at Fort Leonard Wood , who as an employee ... of such career.. works 20-30 hours weekly. 3 Tri-State Aero, Inc., 180 NLRB No. 9; International Aviation Services 2 Title 11, sec. 201, of the Railway Labor Act extends the coverage of of New York Inc, 189 NLRB No. 15. that act to "every common carrier by air engaged in interstate or foreign 194 NLRB No. 97 556 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD In view of the foregoing, we shall dismiss the ORDER petition. It is hereby ordered that the petition in Case 17-RC-6673 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.