Monarch Travel Services, Inc. v. Associated Cultural Clubs, Inc.

Three travel agents sued on behalf of themselves and other Southern California travel agents to enjoin appellants from arranging charter flights in claimed violation of the Federal Aviation Act. ( 49 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq.) The district court granted a preliminary injunction, and this appeal followed.

The corporate and individual appellants are closely associated with one another in the conduct of their business; we will refer to them collectively as “ACCI.” The appellees will be called “Monarch.”

Although ACCI is nominally a social club, its real business is selling to the general public tours and air transportation between Southern California and Europe, on aircraft it charters. It hires planes from direct air carriers, solicits members of the general public to purchase tickets on the flights it arranges, and consolidates groups of passengers to fill the space it purchases. ACCI does not strictly enforce the rule that passengers on its flights be members of ACCI for six months prior to the flight. ACCI makes a substantial profit derived from the excess of the price of the tickets it sells over its cost in hiring the aircraft. The price of the tickets on ACCI flights is less…