Haitair, S.A.

OST-2006-25178 - Exemption - Port-au-Prince-Orlando/Ft. Lauderdale/New York(JFK)

June 20, 2006

Application for an Exemption - Bookmarked

Haitair hereby applies for an exemption to permit it to engage in the scheduled air transportation of persons, property and mail from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on the one hand, to the U.S. points Orlando, FL; Ft. Lauderdale, FL; and New York, NY, on the other hand, under the principles of comity and reciprocity.

Applicant plans to initiate scheduled operations to the U.S. with wet leased B-727-200/MD80 type aircraft, and the airline intends to initially provide scheduled combination service between Port-au-Prince, Haiti on the one hand, and Orlando, FL on a daily basis, with 4x and 3x weekly service on Ft. Lauderdale - PAP and New York JFK-PAP respectively.

Counsel: Pierre Murphy, 202-776-3980, pmurphy@lopmurphy.com

March 16, 2007

Motion for Decision

It has now been almost nine months (!) since Haitair, in good faith, filed its application herein, yet the Department has failed to take any action. Haitair understands that its application is otherwise unobjectionable, and the sole reason for not promptly approving the application is the failure of the FAA to provide an internal "clearance" to the Department. The FAA has now apparently recently implemented a totally unannounced and unexplained new policy that requires both the wet lessor and the wet lessee to each hold valid Air Operator Certificates. Of course in the context of a Category 2 country carrier like Haitair, this is a total "Catch-22."

This new, unannounced FAA policy is directly inconsistent with what the FAA has been doing for the past 15 years in Category 2 wet lease cases. Many, many Category 2 country carriers have been duly licensed by the Department and received the FAA "clearance" without having an AOC. Further, in the context of an FAA-designated Category 2 country carrier, these carriers almost by definition do not have AOCs. But even if they did, FAA has effectively determined they have no validity and, in any event, will not recognize them. By FAA fiat, these carriers are not eligible for FAR 129 Ops Specs and rely exclusively on the wet lease services of US carriers under their own FAA-issued AOC.

Haitair respectfully submits that, as a result of FAA's actions, this situation is hardly consistent with principles of comity and reciprocity and is unfair and will likely result in bilateral response from Haiti. The action of the FAA and the failure of the Department to license Haitair (and other carrier applicants similarly situated) will place the U.S. in violation of its bilateral obligations, whether pursuant to principle of comity and reciprocity (as is the case with both Haiti and Guyana; see: Travelspan, supra) or pursuant to a governing air services agreement, and will likely result in bilateral response from affected countries.

Haitair respectfully requests that the Department comply with its longstanding principles of comity and reciprocity, follow the procedure of the past 15 years in such situations and promptly grant Haitair the economic authority it seeks subject to the usual wet lease condition applicable in such FAA Category 2 country situations.

Counsel: Law Offices of Pierre Murphy, 202-776-3980, pmurphy@lopmurphy.com