ECUADOR,S CIVAIR AUTHORITY HAS NO PROBLEM WITH

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