Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. And Henry F. Price v. Civil Aeronautics Board

Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. operates a resort hotel at Las Vegas, Nevada. Over a period of years it has advertised and sold in the Los Angeles area a “package tour” which includes a “free” airplane ride to and from Las Vegas. The transportation is provided in planes owned by Hacienda and operated by its employees through its “Flight Division,” managed by Henry F. Price. The Civil Aeronautics Board has held that Hacienda and Price are engaged in “the carriage by aircraft of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire” in interstate commerce without the certificate of public convenience and necessity required by the Federal Aviation Act, and has ordered them to cease and desist.

Petitioners challenge both the Board’s power to issue the order, and the form in which the order is cast. As to the Board’s power, they argue that they are not subject to economic regulation under the Act because the transportation they provide is merely incidental to their resort hotel business. As to form, they argue that the Board’s order is so vague and general that it fails to give fair notice of the conduct which it prohibits. We conclude that the Board’s classification of Hacienda…