LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22021 posts, RR: 51 Posted (1 year 1 week 14 hours ago) and read 2174 times:
Spirit Airlines notified the DOT of its need to delay the start up of its awarded FLL-BOG-LIM/GYE services.
Spirit informs the department that while it recently finally received foreign country route authority for the flights, it has yet been able to obtain the necessary slots at Bogota to commence the service.
This is Spirit’s 2nd start up delay while it waits for foreign authorities. Spirit at the moment projects a September commencement of services.
OST-2011-0175
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
RCS763AV From Colombia, joined Jun 2004, 4279 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (1 year 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 1920 times:
Quoting LAXintl (Thread starter): This is Spirit’s 2nd start up delay while it waits for foreign authorities. Spirit at the moment projects a September commencement of services.
The thing is colombian authorities actually have nothing to do with this new delay. It's actually the airport operator who doesn't want to grant any new slots at peak times until the new terminal becomes operational in august, as there is literally no gate or ramp space to accommodate more aircraft, and the delays are getting more and more frequent every day.
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22021 posts, RR: 51 Reply 2, posted (1 year 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 1440 times:
Well Bogota airport = foreign authority.
Anyhow, hopefully this gets worked out.
Spirit has been anxious to add these flights, and it will be almost 1-year since they were awarded by the time they commence. Its existing BOG service saw 84.1% LF for the year of 2011.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
RCS763AV From Colombia, joined Jun 2004, 4279 posts, RR: 14 Reply 3, posted (1 year 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1395 times:
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 2): Well Bogota airport = foreign authority.
Not really, an authority is a public entity which makes part of the government of a nation and has personality within the law, acting upon a certain aspect of that nation's structure.
OPAÍN is an airport operator. A private entity, a corporation. Not an authority. An authority would be the Aerocivil of Colombia, which has no say over the available slots at BOG.
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 2): Anyhow, hopefully this gets worked out.
It has been worked out. NK can add the flights once there are slots available again at the times the want to launch them. That is after the new terminal and ramp spaces open in august.
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 2): Spirit has been anxious to add these flights, and it will be almost 1-year since they were awarded by the time they commence. Its existing BOG service saw 84.1% LF for the year of 2011.
And those flights will be very welcome as they will lower the fares in these important andean routes, which are way too high. But there's just no space at BOG and in the case of UIO, NK don't want to move in to an airport that will be closed in less than a year, so they will wait until the new airport opens.
mercure1 From French Polynesia, joined Jul 2008, 604 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (1 year 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1346 times:
Yes airport operator is an authority as they have vested power. Authority means to have control over. (see below definition). They are the organization that has the authority over the slots that Spirit needs. So at the end, Spirit is indeed waiting for a "foreign authorities" permission before they commence the Bogota flights.
au·thor·i·ty
1.The power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience
2. The right to act in a specified way, delegated from one person or organization to another.
Anyhow bonne chance to Spirit. They seem to be doing very well as a company.
B6JFKH81 From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 2767 posts, RR: 7 Reply 5, posted (1 year 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1339 times:
Were B6 and NK given the rights to fly the FLL-BOG flight at the same time? If they were, I find it odd that B6 started their FLL-BOG flight this week and NK is delaying theirs. Is B6's at an off time maybe? I haven't been following it that closely, so I'm sorry if my question seems a bit stupid....
"If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it"
B6's flight departs BOG at around 11:30am, which is between the main US departure bank and AV's morning bank and the mid-day arrival and departure banks, so yes, it's quite dead and there were slots available.
Quoting mercure1 (Reply 4): So at the end, Spirit is indeed waiting for a "foreign authorities" permission before they commence the Bogota flights.
If I may correct you, the definition you gave there is having authority over something, not being an authority. In the case you state, it has to be said that NK is waiting on the company, OPAÍN, which has authority over ramp and terminal slots at BOG, to give them a green light. But in law, the real definition of an authority (not actually having authority) implies the public sector, which implies the government, that in this case has nothing to do with NK's delay in services to BOG as could be interpreted in the thread's first post, which was intended by the poster, unknowing that this has nothing to do with the governments of the countries involved.
It's semantics, but it has to be made clear that there is not some kind of bureaucratic delay of NK's flights.
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22021 posts, RR: 51 Reply 7, posted (1 year 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 1291 times:
You can argue semantics, but at the end of the day, NK has not been able to launch the route due to issues in Colombia.
In all my years of government related work, the manner one references an organization, group, or management structure in such cases is "authority". Makes no difference if public or private. At the end they are the party that controls the slots which have not been awarded to allow the service to commence.
So simply put, NK has been unable to get slots from the relevant "foreign authority" that managed them.
Btw - if you don't like the use of "authority" suggest you contact the DOT and all the relevant attorney's in Washington that utilize the term in such cases.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
mercure1 From French Polynesia, joined Jul 2008, 604 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (1 year 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 1263 times:
I’m sorry I disagree. For instance in France we have ADP – a private stock organization that now runs 14 civil airfields. However everyone reference them as the “airport authority”. As such I would expect an outside person also to refer to them as “authority” in regards to regulatory issues, and not simply as ADP Company.
Matter of fact in the case of the Concorde crash, and Continental Airlines lawsuit, ADP is mentioned as "the authority" repeatedly in documents not as ADP "company".
So for someone in America to refer to problems getting slots in Bogota, its seems very natural to refer to the party responsible as the "foreign authority".
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22021 posts, 
From Colombia, joined Jun 2004, 4279 posts, 
From French Polynesia, joined Jul 2008, 604 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
