United and Lufthansa / Blanket Statements and Renewal of Existing Operations - Open Skies / Reply of United / February 12, 1998
Mr. Paul L. Gretch, Director
Office of International Aviation
U.S. Department of Transportation
Room 6402
400 Seventh Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590
RE: Joint Application of United Air Lines, Inc. and Lufthansa German Airlines for (1) Blanket Statements o Authorization under 14 C.F.R. Parts 207 and 212 and (2) Renewal of Existing Statements of Authorization (Open Skies Code-Share Operations)
Dear Mr. Gretch:
United Air Lines, Inc. ("United") hereby replies to the February 3, 1998 letter to you from
Northwest Airlines, Inc. ("Northwest") requesting that the Department include additional safeguards in authority issued in response to the Joint United and Lufthansa German Airlines' ("Lufthansa") request for a blanket statement of authorization, dated January 26, 1998. /1Specifically, Northwest requests that the Department include the condition that United and Lufthansa give advance notice before beginning any new codeshare service. In their joint application dated January 26, 1998, United and Lufthansa indicated that they would comply with a condition requiring the carriers to notify the Department 30 days before they begin any code-share service in a new market not previously authorized, See Joint Application, p. 5. Any additional notification requirement is, therefore, unnecessary.
1/ United requests leave to submit this response to the extend it is not authorized by the Department's rules. United's comments on the issues raised by Northwest and American will provide a more complete record upon which to base a decision.
Mr. P. L. Gretch
February 12, 1998
Page 2
Northwest also requests that the Department make clear that the blanket statement of authorization issued to United and Lufthansa does not cover code sharing in third country markets that restrict code sharing and other services by U.S. carriers. United understands that any future limited entry codeshare authority will be subject to whatever selection procedures the Department determines necessary. United believes, however, that any selection procedure should be effectuated by giving the 30-day notice required under the blanket authority rather than by filing a formal application for a statement of authorization.
Finally, United agrees with Northwest's' position that the Department should declare that its policy is to grant comparable statements of authorization whenever the United States and the government of a U.S. airline's foreign partner have signed an open skies agreement. See United's answer to the January 23, 1998 Petition of American Airlines, Inc. for a Policy Statement To Establish Indefinite Duration for Certain Authorities,
Docket OST-98-3375.
Respectfully submitted,
Joel Stephen Burton
Counsel for United Air Lines
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