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
|
International Air Transport Association Order 2006-12-24 Issued December 27, 2006 | Served January 2, 2007 Under the Flex Fares scheme described in the application, IATA will establish interline business‑class normal fares by computing an average of IATA carriers' own fully‑flexible market fares for each city pair, based on certain criteria, and then adding a six percent "interline premium." Interline economy-class flex fares will be set at the same level as the business‑class flex fare on each route. JATA will no longer establish interline discount fares. The flex fares will be recomputed twice yearly, and the six‑percent interline premium may be amended through the e Tariffs process, an internet platform operated by IATA. E‑Tariffs involve no direct communication between carriers; each carrier's proposals remain anonymous except to the IATA chairman, who packages proposals for blind voting. IATA carriers may opt out of the flex fares upon two weeks' notice to IATA. For the reasons stated below, we have determined that exempting the ECAA Flex Fares agreement ‑‑ to the extent that it covers interlineable fares for travel within the ECAA, the fares produced by the agreement, and any changes to the agreement ‑‑ from our filing and approval requirements is consistent with the public interest. First, IATA's intra‑Europe fare agreements have seldom raised any public‑interest issues involving U.S. passengers under U.S. aviation policy or U.S. antitrust laws, and we have typically approved the agreements using expedited procedures. Second, the Commission has terminated the block exemption for IATA tariff‑coordination activities within the EU, and the ECAA Flex Fares will be fully subject to EU competition law. Intra‑Europe fares and competition policy are primarily the concern of the EU and its member states, and the Commission has demonstrated that it takes its responsibilities as guardian of EU competition law very seriously. As the ECAA Flex Fares system will not enjoy an exemption from EU competition law we do not believe that a grant of immunity from US. antitrust law is required for IATA to go forward. By: Andrew Steinberg |
|||