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OST-2005-20927 - Atlantic Southeast Airlines - Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo
OST-2004-18878 - Delta's Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo Authority
OST-2005-20320 - Delta and Aeromexico Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo Application
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Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc. OST-2005-20927 - Exemption - Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo April 5, 2005 ASA plans to provide seasonal daily nonstop service on the Salt Lake City San Jose del Cabo route commencing on or about June 1, 2005, using 70‑seat CRJ 700 aircraft. ASA, a wholly‑owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, Inc., plans to operate on this route in lieu of Delta's existing mainline service during the off‑peak summer months (June‑November) 2 Delta anticipates that it will resume daily mainline service on a seasonal basis during the peak winter months (December May). ASA will operate under the DL* code as a "Delta Connection" carrier, enabling Delta to offer its daily service on a year‑round basis, rather than seasonally. Counsel: Delta and Hogan & Hartson, Robert Cohn, 2092-637-4999, recohn@hhlaw.com
April 7, 2005 All of ASA's SLC-SJD services would be marketed under Delta's "DL" designator. As it notes, Delta is already authorized and designated to operate in this transborder city pair. Because only two U.S. carrier designations per city pair are available for transborder operations under the Agreement, the award to ASA taken together with that to Delta would exhaust all designations for U.S. carrier operations in this city-pair market. United has previously noted the implications for competition policy of awarding US.-Mexico designations to two carriers marketing service under the same designator code. See Reply of United, dated November 25, 2003, in Docket OST-03-16444. In that case, both carriers were operating simultaneously in the same transborder city pair, but using different sized equipment. Here, Delta would operate large equipment in peak seasons and ASA, smaller equipment in off-peak seasons. It would apparently not be the case that both carriers would be operating simultaneously. It would be preferable to award a single operating carrier designation to Delta and ASA to be shared between them, with each using it in the season when it operates service. Given that they apparently do not intend to operate services at the same time, this solution would serve to preserve an opportunity for another carrier to enter the market. While United is not contemplating service between Salt Lake City and San Jose del Cabo, there are other gateways where United operates hubs and where overlapping designations could pose a more direct threat of market foreclosure. Counsel: United and Wilmer Cutler, Jeffrey Manley, 202-663-6670, jeffrey.manley@wilmerhale.com
April 8, 2005 ASA is not going to add "competition" or expand market opportunities. If the Department approves this request, a commuter partner, marketing partner, or wholly owned subsidiary could ask for and obtain authority to serve a US ‑ Mexico market for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or any amount of time and close the door to real competition in that market. The true result would be that, in many markets, the Department would have the ability to make only one designation. By granting this request, the Department would set a precedent that a major carrier and a wholly owned subsidiary could obtain the only two designations available in any US‑Mexico market, blocking out all other carriers from entering the market. In other words, the two designations available for service would be utilized by "one" carrier. Frontier must therefore object to the Department granting the one remaining authority in the Salt Lake City ‑ San Jose dcl Cabo market to ASA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines, which already holds the only other available authority in the market. Although Frontier is not prepared to file for this market today, it is a market that Frontier is examining for future service. Frontier already operates in the Salt Lake City ‑ Cancun market and is open to expanding its services between Salt Lake City and other markets in Mexico. If the Department grants ASA's request, Frontier and other carriers would be blocked from entering the Salt Lake City ‑ San Jose del Cabo market for approximately two years. Such a result is not in the public interest. Counsel: Wiley Rein, Edward Faberman, 202-719-7420, efaberman@wrf.com
April 15, 2005 Consolidated Reply of Atlantic Southeast Airlines ASA would have no objection to the Department reserving the right to reexamine the grant of the requested authorities, "should a competing U.S. carrier present a proposal to provide regularly‑scheduled service in the subject city‑pair with its own aircraft Id. That, however, is most certainly not the case today, as neither United nor Frontier has stated even the vaguest plans to operate Salt Lake City‑Los Cabos service. In these circumstances, there is no need for the Department to entertain the novel "shared designation" concept proposed by United. No other major carrier/codeshare partnership serving Mexico is subject to such a condition, which would impose significant operating constraints on Delta and ASA, and reduce their flexibility to tailor schedules to market demand (including, for example, upgauging to mainline aircraft on peak weekend travel days). It is also not known how the Government of Mexico would receive or administer such a "shared designation" proposal. Time is drawing critically short for ASA begin service on June 1 and avoid disruption of Delta's proposed daily, year-round schedule. Delta's marketing efforts have already been negatively impacted by the inability to sell Salt Lake City-Los Cabos service beyond June 1, making prompt action essential. Furthermore, ASA must also obtain the requisite approvals from the Mexican DGAC, following final action by the Department. For these reasons, ASA respectfully urges that the Department grant final approval of the requested authorities by no later than Friday April 22, 2005. Counsel: Delta and Hogan & Hartson, Robert Cohn, 202-637-4999, recohn@hhlaw.com
April 18, 2005 Further Response of Frontier Airlines Frontier again urges that the Department deny ASA’s petition and instead allow ASA to use the DL or its own designation for a short period of time, consistent with the alternatives proposed by Frontier, not to go beyond December 1, 2005. Counsel: Frontier and Wiley Rein, Edward Faberman, 202-719-7420, efaberman@wrf.com
Filed April 5, 2005 | Issued May 11, 2005 Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between the terminal point Salt Lake City, Utah, and the terminal point San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. ASA states that it will use this authority on a seasonal basis by placing the code of Delta Air Lines, Inc. on ASA’s 70-seat CRJ aircraft during the off-peak season (June 1, 2005, through November 30, 2005). ASA states that Delta anticipates that it will resume daily mainline service during the peak winter season (December 2005 through May 2006). ASA also requests authority to combine this exemption with its existing exemption and certificate authority, consistent with applicable international agreements. It is not our policy to allow valuable operating rights to go unused, particularly when another carrier is interested in serving the route and has firm plans to do so. Both United and Frontier have suggested that the Department consider alternate courses of action for handling ASA’s application. However, ASA has stated that those alternatives do not allow ASA/Delta the flexibility to “tailor schedules to market demand (including, for example, upgauging to mainline aircraft on peak weekend travel days).” With respect to the concerns raised by United and Frontier about our awarding designations to affiliated carriers, we have previously acknowledged our recognition of such concerns. Indeed, we have sought Mexican aviation authorities’ acceptance of such services without the need for separate designations. However, such an arrangement has not been forthcoming. Neither United nor Frontier has presented firm plans to serve the Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo market with its own aircraft. Under these circumstances, we believe that the public interest is best served by granting ASA the requested authority for the proposed services while we continue to work on this issue with the Mexican aviation authorities. Notwithstanding this, however, should a competing U.S. carrier present a firm proposal to provide regularly-scheduled service in the Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo market with its own aircraft, we would be prepared to reconsider whether, in the circumstances presented, award of the authority granted here continues to be in the public interest.Contrary to the suggestion that we would be setting a new precedent, we have in fact granted comparable requests in the past. See, i.e., Notices of Action Taken dated January 14, 2004 (Docket OST-2003-16529), and February 13, 2004 (Docket OST-2003-16444). By: Paul Gretch
OST-2005-20927 - Exemption - Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo February 27, 2007 Application for Renewal of an Exemption ASA has provided seasonal nonstop "Delta Connection" service on the Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo route using 70-seat CRJ 700 aircraft. ASA will discontinue this service once sister company SkyWest Airlines is able to commence Delta Connection service on this route pursuant to an exemption granted by Notice of Action Taken dated September 1, 2006 (Docket OST-2006-25495). It is ASA's understanding that SkyWest has not yet secured the necessary Mexican Government approvals to inaugurate such service. Accordingly, ASA requires renewal of its exemption authority to continue to provide Delta Connection service on this route in the interim, as warranted. Counsel: Hogan & Hartson, Robert Cohn, 202-637-4999
December 3, 2007 Pursuant to the dormancy notice requirements set forth in condition 7 of Appendix A of Order 1988-10-2 and attached to U.S.-Mexico exemption authority, Atlantic Southeast Airlines hereby notifies the Department of the dormancy of its Salt Lake City-San Jose del Cabo service. Seasonal "Delta Connection" service on this route has now transitioned to operations by ASA's sister carrier, Sky West Airlines, Inc. Counsel: Hogan & Hartson, Robert Cohn, 202-637-4999, recohn@hhlaw.com |
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