US embassy cable - 05QUITO654

UNCLAS QUITO 000654 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR, KTIA, PGOV, EC 
SUBJECT: ECUADOR,S CIVAIR AUTHORITY HAS NO PROBLEM WITH 
CONTINENTAL,S PROPOSED DESIGNATION CHANGES 
 
REF: STATE 049647 
 
1.  (SBU)  Per Reftel, EconOff talked with GOE,s Director 
General of Civil Aviation, Raphael Davila, about Continental 
Airline,s desire to change its designation routes to 
Ecuador.  Davila said he had no problem with it and agreed 
that the designation agreement of 1996 did not specify exact 
routes that Continental must traverse.  However, he said 
their concession agreement does specify routes and must be 
amended to permit the route changes.  The power to authorize 
these changes, he added, lies in the Civil Aviation Advisory 
Board (Consejo de Aviacion Civil).  He did not think having 
the concession changed presented any problem, but that 
Continental needed to take the necessary bureaucratic steps 
to do it.  He provided the name of Colonel Jorge Naranjo, an 
Advisory Board member, as the person to broach about this 
topic.  He said the Advisory Board would send Continental,s 
request to him for technical input, and that he would concur 
with the request.  With his concurrence, he noted, the 
Advisory Board would surely approve the request. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Post will pass this message to Continental,s 
representative in Ecuador, along with a grain of salt.  We 
have all too often been promised immediate action only to be 
kept waiting for results. 
 
KENNEY