<B> LETTERS</B>
<B>An Open Letter To NBTA</B>
I would like to express the Business Travel Coalition's concern that the airline competition issue was inadequately debated at NBTA's convention. The Wednesday session stressed that major airlines chose not to participate, but then introduced Professor Robert Gordon as an independent academic expert on airline deregulation issues--when he represents the airline-supported transportation center at Northwestern University.
Prof. Gordon stressed affordable average airfare levels, a principal Air Transport Association spin that is irrelevant to the debate. The debate is about exorbitant business airfares, particularly in city-pair markets under 750 miles that begin or end at hub airports.
Further, the debate included only a DOT official and an airline surrogate. Were there no NBTA travel managers versed in airline competition issues available to represent the customer's perspective?
<i>Kevin P.