Civil Aeronautics Board v. Friedkin Aeronautics, Inc., D/B/A Pacific Southwest Airlines, Civil Aeronautics Board v. California Central Airlines, Inc.

Appellant filed in the court below separate complaints against appellees charging that, in violation of Section 401(a) of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, as amended, appellees had engaged in interstate air transportation without a certificate of public convenience and necessity. In each complaint, Section 1007 of the Act was invoked as authorizing both temporary and permanent injunctions against the claimed unauthorized operations of appellees. Appellees filed their respective answers to the complaints, and a consolidated hearing then was held on appellant’s applications in each case for preliminary injunctions. After appellant had completed the presentation of its evidence, each appellee orally moved to dismiss the complaint against it. The trial court took the cases under submission and thereafter held that appellees were not engaged in interstate air transportation, granted the motions to dismiss, and entered judgments denying the applications for preliminary injunctions and dismissing the complaints. The appeals to this court followed.

The evidence introduced by appellant showed that appellees are common carriers whose aircraft operate solely between points in the state of…