
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994                   TAG: 9404060118
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

DOT REJECTS LORENZO'S VENTURE

Frank Lorenzo's application to start a discount airline was rejected Tuesday in an unusually harsh ruling by the Department of Transportation.

Safety and maintenance problems at Continental and Eastern airlines under Lorenzo's direction ``were among the most serious in the history of U.S. aviation,'' said Patrick Murphy, the department's acting assistant secretary for policy and international affairs.

ATX, the proposed new venture, will file an appeal today asking the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to award the license, said Steve Kolski, a former Eastern and Continental executive who is president of ATX.

``The Clinton administration stopped our company for one reason and for one reason alone, to settle political debts with the labor unions,'' Kolski said.

- Houston Chronicle

by CNB