Home | Search | Help
OST by Number | OST by Order | OST by Carrier | OST by Subject | OST by Day
OIA by Carrier/Subject | OIA by Day | FAA by Number | FAA by Subject | FAA by Day
Carrier Financials | Charter Office | Answer/Reply Calendar
OST Docket Filings for January 25, 2006
Updated:
| Applications and Renewals:
Alaska Airlines - Codeshare with Qantas - Amendment Skybus Airlines - Amendment to Application (US-Canada) Spanair - Spain-US Codeshare with US AirwaysRenewal Sunwing Airlines - Supplement No. 1 to Application for Exemption (Canada-US Scheduled and Charter Service) / Motion for Confidential Treatment TACA, LACSA, Aviateca, NICA, Taca de Honduras and Trans American - Registration of Trade Name Amendment and Renewal United - Motion for a Dormancy Waiver (Chicago-Cozumel) US Airways and Lufthansa - Notice of Additional Codeshares (Charlotte-Huntsville/Decatur, AL/Birmingham, AL/Memphis) Volga-Dnepr - North Island NAS-Denver - Emergency Exemption Answers and Replies: Aerolineas Argentinas - 105th Escrow Deposit Report ASA - Polling Results (US-Jamaica) - Correction Delta and Air France - Polling Results (Blanket Statements of Authorization - US-France) EAS at Bradford, PA - Recommendation of Bradford Regional Airport EAS at Ephrata/Moses Lake, WA - Comments of City of Moses Lake EAS at Jamestown, NY - Recommendation of Chautauqua County Dept. of Facilities JetBlue - Individual Support Letters (New York-Cancun) Northwest Airlines - Polling Results (US-Netherlands Codeshare) Notices of Action Taken: America West - US-El Salvador; US-Guatemala Continental - New York/Newark-Punta Cana, DR Renewal JetBlue - US-Santo Domingo/Santiago Renewal US Airways - US-El Salvador/Guatemala Renewal Notices and Orders: EAS at Cedar City, UT - Selecting Carrier Island Air - Show Cause and Proposing Issuance of Certificate Authority |
|||
|
OST-2003-15092 - Under Section 41310(c) of the International Air Transportation Fair Competitive Practices Act January 24, 2006 Re: One-Hundred-Fifth Escrow Deposit Report Attached please find the ONE-HUNDRED-FIFTH Escrow Deposit REPORT for the week ended January 22, 2006. Aerolineas made a deposit into the escrow of US$22,421.00, for a total escrow amount of U.S. $2,927,122.99. Counsel: Rosen Weinhaus, John Romans, 212-530-4827 OST-1999-5545 - Statement of Authorization - US-Australia Codeshare with Qantas January 25, 2006 Application for Amendment of Statement of Authorization Under the codeshare agreement between Alaska and Qantas, Qantas will place its two-letter designator code on scheduled flights operated currently by Alaska between Los Angeles and Vancouver/Calgary, and between San Francisco and Seattle/Portland/Vancouver. Codeshare service to Canada from Los Angeles will begin upon receipt of the Department's approval; codeshare service from San Francisco will begin March 26, 2006. Alaska's Los Angeles-Vancouver/Calgary and San Francisco-Seattle/Portland/Vancouver flights will connect with Qantas' flights arriving in Los Angeles and San Francisco, providing Qantas' passengers with convenient connections to the Pacific Northwest and Canada. These services will be in addition to existing Alaska-Qantas codeshare operations on the Los Angeles-Seattle/Portland routes. Qantas currently holds a foreign air carrier permit from the Department permitting Qantas to engage in scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail between points in Australia and Los Angeles and San Francisco, and beyond to points in Canada. Qantas is also authorized to serve as many as eight U.S. points beyond its U.S. gateways chosen by the Government of Australia. Alaska understands these eight points include Seattle and Portland. See, Order 94-3-27, March 7, 1994. Alaska is separately filing in this docket its revised and expanded codeshare agreement with Qantas. The revised agreement supersedes and replaces the codeshare agreement filed by Alaska in this docket on April 15, 1999. Counsel: Squire Sanders, Marshall Sinick, 202-626-6651, msinick@ssd.com
OST-2005-23098 - Exemption - US-El Salvador; US-Guatemala Filed November 18, 2005 | Issued January 25, 2006 Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail (1) from a point or points in the United States via intermediate points to a point or points in El Salvador and beyond, and (2) from a point or points in the United States via intermediate points to a point or points in Guatemala and beyond. America West also seeks route integration authority to combine this exemption authority with its other existing authorities. America West plans initially to serve the requested points on a code-share basis with US Airways, Inc. America West states that it may, in the future, operate America West’s own aircraft to these countries. America West states that on September 27, 2005, America West Holdings Corporation merged with US Airways Group, Inc. As a result, America West became a subsidiary of US Airways Group, Inc. America West will continue to operate under its own certificate of public convenience and necessity and authorities until both America West and US Airways, Inc. are integrated under a single certificate. By: Paul Gretch Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc. OST-2006-23689 - Exemption - US-Jamaica January 25, 2006 Re: Polling Results - Correction ASA's polling letter submitted on January 24, 2006 in this docket referred to "Bahamas” exemption authority which should have read “Jamaica.” Counsel: Hogan & Hartson, Alexander Van der Bellen, 202-637-8382, sascha.vanderbellen@hhlaw.com OST-2004-16997 - New York/Newark-Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Filed December 30, 2005 | Issued January 25, 2006 Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between a point or points in the United States and a point or points in the Dominican Republic. The application also seeks renewal of Continental’s existing city-pair specific exemption authority to serve the New York/Newark-Punta Cana, Dominican Republic market. We note that the broader amended authority that the applicant seeks, and that we are granting in this Notice, subsumes the existing city-pair specific authority. The carrier’s renewal request also seeks renewal of route integration authority specific to the New York/Newark-Punta Cana market. However, the application is silent on route integration as concerns the broader amended authority. On our own initiative, we are granting Continental route integration authority for all U.S.-Dominican Republic points. By: Paul Gretch Delta Air Lines, Inc., Comair, Inc. and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc. and Societe Air France, Brit Air, City Jet and Regional OST-2000-6939 - Blanket Statements of Authorization - US-France January 24, 2006 Delta and Air France have completed their poll regarding the Notice above and have determined that there are no objections to this request. Counsel: Hogan & Hartson, Alexander Van der Bellen, 202-637-8382, sascha.vanderbellen@hhlaw.com Essential Air Service at Bradford, Pennsylvania January 20, 2006 Re: Recommendation of Bradford Regional Airport The dominant consideration in making this recommendation is the opportunity for the destination city and the carrier to return Bradford Regional Airport to self sufficiency. There is unanimous and unequivocal support from all parties to recommend the Colgan Air proposal to provide three daily flights between the Bradford and Jamestown airports and Washington Dulles International Airport. We do recognize that the Colgan-Dulles proposal requires the highest subsidy. However, we are convinced that this option provides the only viable opportunity to increase enplanements and to reduce and eventually eliminate the EAS subsidy. RegionsAir has neither a written code-share with Continental in Cleveland nor the aircraft and personnel to provide reliable air service and the required community marketing outreach. The primary reason to reject the RegionsAir-Cleveland option is the same reason that we cannot support the Colgan-Pittsburgh proposal. It will be impossible to significantly increase enplanements with the continuing decline in US Airways flights from Pittsburgh. Cleveland has the same severe disadvantage – Continental offers approximately the same number of flights in Cleveland as does US Airways in Pittsburgh. Our survey of business community supports this conclusion – they will not change their current clear preference to fly out of Buffalo if we simply change our connection from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. By: Thomas Frungillo Essential Air Service at Cedar City, Utah Order 2006-1-19 Issued January 25, 2006 | Served January 30, 2006 Order Selecting Carrier - Bookmarked By this order, we are selecting Mesa Air Group, Inc. d/b/a Air Midwest, to provide essential air service with 19-passenger Raytheon/Beechcraft B-1900D aircraft at Cedar City, Utah, for two years. The annual subsidy rate will be set at $897,535. We are also directing SkyWest Airlines, Inc., to show cause why we should not set the subsidy rate of $1,068,607 on an annual basis, for its provision of service from January 1, 2006, until Air Midwest inaugurates essential air service at Cedar City through March 31, 2008. At $1,602,912 annually, Sky West's proposal would cost almost twice as much as Air Midwest's Option One for $897,535, which would provide 12 nonstop round trips a week to Las Vegas and 4 to Phoenix, and which it intends to operate as America West Express. Both proposals would provide service to major hubs: SkyWest's to Salt Lake City and Air Midwest's to Las Vegas and Phoenix. The cost of the Sky West proposal is also more than twice as much as its current annual subsidy of $770,285, yet would only provide an additional six weekly round trips. Given the wide disparity in the amount of subsidy required to support these proposed services, we find that the overall objectives of the Essential Air Service Program are best served by the selection of Air Midwest. Its proposal could benefit Cedar City Airport users by providing additional options in connecting to the national air transportation system. Air Midwest would provide Cedar City with two nonstop round trips to Las Vegas each weekday and weekend and an additional nonstop round trip to Phoenix on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, for an annual subsidy rate of $897,535. By: Michael Reynolds Essential Air Service at Ephrata/Moses Lake, Washington January 11, 2006 Comments of City of Moses Lake I am in receipt of a letter from your office, dated October 28, 2005, concerning the Essential Air Services for Ephrata/Moses Lake. This letter discussed the continued high subsidy rates for air service, which exceed the allowable $200 per passenger. The letter also indicated that the community would have until January 31, 2006 to bring the subsidy levels down. The period to be used is March 1, 2005 - January 31, 2006. The letter we received also indicated that you were concerned about what the community was doing to maintain air service, as our previous response only indicated what the air carrier was doing. In an effort to clarify the previous letter, the community had partnered with Big Sky Airlines to market the service. The community, not the airlines, has paid for all marketing and advertising mentioned in our previous response to the DOT. The community has worked hard with Big Sky Airlines to encourage people to fly from Moses Lake. This has been a result of the Chamber of Commerce, Port of Moses Lake, and local airline personnel attending local groups and organizations to discuss air service. Although it has taken us a few months to bring the subsidy level below the $200 per passenger level, we are pleased with the way the community does support the service, as demonstrated by increased growth for 9 of the 10 past months. We knew it would be a slow start, but we fully believe we will continue to grow the air service. With the commitments from the leaders of the community, the expanded efforts of everyone into other communities, and the natural economic growth of our community, we see nothing but continued growth for this service, a service that is truly needed here in Washington. By: Mayor Ronald Covey Essential Air Service at Jamestown, New York January 20, 2006 Re: Recommendation of Chautauqua County Department of Public Facilities A recent survey conducted by Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency of the Industrial, Commercial, Private and Tourism Travelers of the Western Southern Tier of New York State indicates Washington’s Dulles International Airport to be their destination of choice. Washington Dulles Airport gives access to the majority of the top 25 origins and destination markets, something the current Pittsburgh hub does not. As a successfully functioning airport complete with passenger and freight services, the Jamestown facility is a crucial component of the infrastructure necessary to generate economic growth in the western southern tier. The proposal to Washington’s Dulles would strengthen this growth even further, so we urge you to give Colgan Air every reasonable consideration in your decision making process. By: George Spanos Hawaii Island Air, Inc. d/b/a Island Air Order 2006-1-20 Issued and Served January 25, 2006 Order to Show Cause and Proposing Issuance of Certificate Authority By this order, we tentatively conclude that Hawaii Island Air, Inc. d/b/a island Air is a citizen of the United States, is fit, willing, and able to provide interstate scheduled air transportation of persons, property, and mail as a certificated air carrier and should be issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing such operations, subject to conditions. Island Air intends to operate, in addition to its small aircraft, two 74‑seat DHC‑8‑Q401 aircraft in those same markets that it currently conducts its commuter operations. The applicant began operations in 1981 under the name Princeville Airways, Inc. It was later sold in 1986 to Quintex Corp., an Australian land development company that was building resorts in Oahu, Hawaii. In 1987, the company was sold to Aloha Airgroup, Inc., the parent company of Aloha Airlines, Inc., a U.S. certificated air carrier, because Quintex Corp. was not a US, citizen. The company's name was changed to Aloha Island Air, Inc., and in 1992, the company registered the trade name "Island Air." In May 2004, Gavarnie Holdings, LLC acquired the company and changed the company's corporate name to Hawaii Island Air, Inc. d/b/a island Air. By: Michael Reynolds
OST-2005-23494 - New York/Newark-Cancun Combination Service Proceeding January 25, 2006 Letters of Individual Support of JetBlue
OST-2004-17265 - Exemption - New York JFK-Santo Domingo/Santiago, Dominican Republic Filed January 3, 2006 | Issued January 25, 2006 Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between points in the United States, on the one hand, and Santo Domingo and Santiago, Dominican Republic, on the other hand. JetBlue requests that the Department renew its exemption authority in the instant docket pending issuance of certificate authority in Dockets OST-2005-22228 and OST-2004-17264. To the extent that the carrier is seeking certificate authority for the markets at issue in the present exemption application, we will handle that request separately By: Paul Gretch OST-2003-15191 - US-Netherlands Codeshare January 24, 2006 This letter is to confirm that Northwest Airlines, Inc. has polled all carriers included on the service list to the above referenced application and none intend to file an objection. Under the circumstances, Northwest respectfully asks the Department to approve as expeditiously as possible the aforementioned application. Counsel: Northwest, Megan Rosia, 202-842-3193 OST-2005-21744 - Foreign Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity - Canada-US January 24, 2006 Pursuant to 14 C.F.R. §302.5, Skybus Airlines, Inc. hereby amends its application for foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail, filed June 29, 2005 in the above-referenced docket, as follows. Skybus requests certificate authority authorizing it to operate foreign scheduled combination service between any point in the United States and any point in Canada. Counsel: Sher & Blackwell, Mark Atwood OST-2003-16219 - US-Spain Codesharing January 25, 2006 Application for Renewal of Exemption Authority Under the code-share agreement between US Airways and Spanair, as approved most recently by Department Notice of Action Taken dated January 26, 2005 in this Docket. Spanair places its JK* code on US Airways' Philadelphia-Madrid and Philadelphia-Barcelona transatlantic flights, and on US Airways' flights beyond Philadelphia to 21 U.S. points. In exchange, US Airways places its US code on Spanair flights between Madrid and Barcelona, on the one hand, and Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona, on the other, for carriage within Spain of US Airways' U.S.-Spain transatlantic passengers. Spanair does not operate its own aircraft to any U.S. point. All Spanair U.S. services under the exemption authority are held out pursuant to the codeshare arrangement with US Airways. Counsel: Silverberg Goldman, Michael Goldman OST-2004-19454 - Exemption - Canada-US Scheduled and Charter Service
January 24, 2006 Supplement No. 1 to Application for an Exemption - Bookmarked The purpose of this Supplement is to furnish certain updated information to the Department in connection with Sunwing's pending application, as follows:
Sunwing currently operates two leased Stage 3 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, configured to carry 189 passengers. Information pertaining to the Lessor and registration of the foregoing two Boeing 737-800 aircraft is set forth in Exhibit SAI-S/1-l02. Sunwing has revised its planned initial transborder service to consist of one weekly scheduled nonstop roundtrip flight between Toronto and Orlando, commencing as soon as practicable following Sunwing's receipt of the requisite U.S. DOT and FAA authorizations. In addition, Sunwing plans to operate additional charter services on an ad hoc basis serving leisure destinations in the U.S. Counsel: Zuckert Scoutt, Nathaniel Breed, 202-973-7919, npbreed@zsrlaw.com
January 24, 2006 Motion for Confidential Treatment Pursuant to Rule 12 The confidential information at issue consists of certain recent confidential financial statements for Sunwing, which are being filed concurrently under seal in connection with Supplement No. 1 to the October 19, 2004 Application of Sunwing in the captioned proceeding for issuance of an exemption to authorize Sunwing to provide transborder scheduled services carrying passengers, cargo and mail between Canada and the United States. Counsel: Zuckert Scoutt, Nathaniel Breed, 202-973-7919, npbreed@zsrlaw.com TACA International Airlines, S.A. / Lineas Aereas Costarricenses S.A. / AVIATECA S.A. / Nicaraguense de Aviacion, S.A. / TACA de Honduras S.A. de C.V. / Trans American Airlines, S.A. OST-2004-17355 - Registration of Trade Name January 25, 2006 Application for Renewal and Amendment of Exemption TACA International Airlines, S.A., Lineas Aereas Costarricenses S.A., AVIATECA S.A., Nicaraguense de Aviacion, S.A., TACA de Honduras S.A. de C.V. and Trans American Airlines, S.A. hereby request renewal of the exemption granted to them by the Department of Transportation in the above-captioned docket permitting them to use the trade name "TACA" and the designator code "TA" in their services to and from the United States. With one modification explained more fully herein, the TACA Carriers request renewal of their exemption for a two-year period on its existing terms and conditions. In addition to renewal of their exemption authority, the TACA Carriers request amendment of Condition 3(f) of their authority to permit them to disclose the operating carrier's identity either on the paper ticket or on the boarding pass issued to the passenger at the airport or printed by the passenger through the online check-in process. Due to the increasing use of electronic tickets and the TACA Carriers' change in their host GDS, the TACA Carriers need the flexibility to print disclosures either on boarding passes or online check-in documents, or on paper tickets. This is the only modification sought by the TACA Carriers. Counsel: Squire Sanders, Charles Donley, 202-626-6840, cdonley@ssd.com
OST-2004-17490 - Chicago-Cozumel January 25, 2006 United hereby requests a waiver of the dormancy condition through December 16, 2006. Due to the devastation of Cozumel caused by Hurricane Wilma, United has determined that it is not feasible to operate service in this market for the 2005/2006 Winter season. However, United plans to resume its seasonal service in this market on or before December 16, 2006. The requested waiver will enable United to implement this service when conditions warrant. Counsel: Wilmer Hale, Jeffrey Manley, 202-663-6670, jeffrey.manley@wilmerhale.com OST-2003-16570 - Exemption - US-El Salvador/Guatemala Filed November 18, 2005 | Issued January 25, 2006 Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail (1) from a point or points in the United States via intermediate points to a point or points in El Salvador and beyond, and (2) from a point or points in the United States via intermediate points to a point or points in Guatemala and beyond, and to integrate this authority with its existing authorities. By: Paul Gretch US Airways, Inc. and Deutsche Lufthansa AG OST-2003-15946 - US Airways and Lufthansa - US-Germany Codeshare January 25, 2006 Notice of Additional Codeshares Pursuant to the blanket statements of authorization issued in the above-referenced dockets, US Airways and Lufthansa hereby notify the Department that, commencing February 24, 2006, Lufthansa will begin codesharing on flights operated by US Airways and/or its affiliated and express carriers between:
Counsel: US Airways - Howard Kass / Lufthansa - Wilmer Hale, David Heffernan Volga-Dnepr J.S. Cargo Airline OST-2006-23731 - Emergency Exemption - North Island NAS-Denver, CO January 25, 2006 Application for an Emergency Exemption Volga-Dnepr respectfully requests an emergency exemption from the provisions of 49 U.S.C. §§ 40109(g) and 41703(c), and otherwise applicable provisions of the Department of Transportation regulations, so as to permit Volga-Dnepr to operate one one-way all-cargo charter flight utilizing Volga-Dnepr’s AN-124-100 aircraft to transport outsized cargo from North Island NAS, California to Denver, Colorado, on or around February 1-3, 2006. The outsized cargo payload to be transported by Volga-Dnepr from North Island NAS to Denver will consist of one LMSS Centaur III Launch Vehicle Upper Stage (AVC014) measuring 52’ long, 12’ wide and 14’ high, with a weight of 19,000 pounds, and associated equipment. The payload as described cannot be accommodated by domestic commercial carrier aircraft. Volga-Dnepr will operate the flight on behalf of Lockheed Martin as part of the effort to provide urgently needed lift to transport the LMSS payload not later than on or around the established dates. Lockheed Martin is shipping the payload in order to complete an aggressive final assembly and fabrication schedule in time for a September 6, 2006 shipment to Cape Canaveral to maintain launch integration activities. As a result, Lockheed Martin stands to lose millions of dollars if the shipment does not occur on time, while only the use of Volga-Dnepr's outsized aircraft can make it possible to perform the service in question within the set schedule. Due to the extremely delicate nature of the cargo, as well as its extremely high value, Lockheed Martin cannot use surface transportation to implement this shipment. Indeed, Lockheed Martin has performed a technical evaluation that has concluded that the conditions associated with over-the-road transportation place the payload in circumstances that are deemed unsuitable to maintaining system integrity compliance. Counsel: The Wicks Group, Glenn Wicks, 202-457-7790 |
|||