ost983597

OST-98-3597

Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, S.A. (Exemption, Madrid-Chicago O'Hare)

OST-98-3597 | March 10, 1998

Application for an Exemption

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At present, there is no nonstop or through-plane service between Chicago and Madrid. Iberia intends to introducxe a daily nonstop roundtrip flight commencing August 1, 1998 that will be operated using Stage 3 Airbus A-340-300 aircraft. With a daily arrival at 1405 and eastbound departure at 1655, the new service will be conveniently timed to meet connecting flights in both directions. Requests that the exemption extend from August 1 through the end of the 1998 summer season.

First requested the necessary slots for this new flight by letter dated October 8, 1997 to the FAA's Slot Administration office.

Answers are due by March 25, 1998

Service List

Counsel: Steptoe Johnson, William Karas, 202-429-6223

Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, S.A. (Madrid-Chicago)

OST-98-3597 | March 25, 1998

Answer of United Air Lines

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For the reasons stated in its Reply, United has no objection to the grant of Iberia's exemption so long as the similar application of Lufthansa is granted. In the event, however, that the Department were to adopt American's position, contrary to United's Reply, and were to deny Lufthansa's application, then Iberia's application should be denied for the same reason. As set forth in United's Reply, if the Department follows American's restrictive advice and requires United to make an ORD slot available to its alliance partner, then due process would require the Department to apply the same standard to American with respect to the slots Iberia seeks for their joint service between Chicago and Madrid.

Counsel: United and Ginsburg Feldman, 202-637-9130

Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, S.A. (Madrid-Chicago O'Hare)

OST-98-3597 | April 3, 1998

Motion for Leave to File and Response of American Airlines to Answer of United Air Lines

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United and Lufthansa apparently want all of the benefits of antitrust immunity, but none of the responsibilities when it comes to Chicago O'Hare slots. There should be no question that where a foreign carrier enjoys an immunized relationship with a U.S. partner, and that partner has by far the largest aggregation of air carrier slots at the U.S. airport in question,] and the immunized carriers are seeking to operate additional capacity (in fact, a fourth coordinated daily nonstop in the city-pair in question) without a showing of public need, then the foreign carrier applicant has failed to satisfy the statutory public interest test for an exemption, and should look to its immunized partner for slots.

Counsel: American, Carl Nelson, 202-496-5647, carl_nelson@amrcorp.com

Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, S.A. (Madrid-Chicago)

OST-98-3597 | April 14, 1998

Response of United Air Lines and Motion for Leave to File

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American's proposed new slot exemption policy should be recognized for what it is. American is merely seeking to reestablish the practice of withdrawal of O'Hare slots from United for international services. Congress ended that practice by legislation in 1994.9 Prior to that action, American used the international slot withdrawal procedures of FAR 93.223 to increase its own O'Hare slot holdings at United's expense by having the FAA withdraw slots from United to support American's international service expansion at O'Hare. Congress has decreed that additional such withdrawals must cease, and American's attempt to restore them under the guise of a new exemption policy should be denied for the reasons United has already stated in this case and in Docket OST-98-3552.

Counsel: United and Ginsburg Feldman, Joel Burton, 202-637-9130

Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, S.A. (Madrid-Chicago O'Hare)

Order 98-6-8 | OST-98-3597 | Issued and Served June 8, 1998

Order Granting Exemption

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Iberia Lineas Aereas de España, S.A. is hereby granted to the extent necessary freedom to operate one daily scheduled arrival at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport between 1:45 P.M. and 2:14 P.M. (local time) and one daily scheduled departure at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport between 4:45 P.M. and 5:14 P.M. (local time), in a pattern to be determined in consultation between Iberia Lineas Aereas de España, S.A. and the Slot Administration Office, FAA; as a condition of approval Iberia Lineas Aereas de España, S.A. may use this exemption authority only to provide scheduled service between Madrid, Spain, and the terminal point Chicago, Illinois (O'Hare International Airport);

By: Charles Hunnicutt