Spirit Airlines, Inc.

Order 2007-8-28
OST-2007-28057 - Exemption - US-Colombia

Issued and Served August 27, 2007

Order on Review

We have decided to grant Spirit’s petition for review, and, on review, to affirm the action of the staff. We find that the staff acted properly and in accordance with established Department practices and policies in reaching its decision to dismiss Spirit’s application.

We are not persuaded by Spirit’s arguments that we should reallocate to it the 14 frequencies that have been held by American and which American has committed to utilizing by introducing the planned Miami-Colombia services involving Barranquilla, Bogota and Medellin. American states that these services are currently available in CRSs for reservations and sales and the carrier has already submitted to the Department information demonstrating that, among other things, it has been selling the services to the public since May 20. The June 29 Notice of Action Taken correctly stated that the Department has generally permitted incumbent carriers to retain unused frequencies when the incumbent carrier presented firm plans for their use. Therefore, in the circumstances presented here, we do not find that it is in the public interest at this time to reallocate American’s frequencies in response to Spirit’s application.

However, we note that American has been put on notice to report its progress towards instituting its proposed service every 60 days, and stated the Department’s expectation that American will institute service by December 13, 2007. Should American not institute service, and use its frequencies, as announced and affirmed by American in its pleadings, we would, of course, reexamine this matter. We note that we have placed such conditions on other incumbent carriers under similar circumstances, successfully ensuring that utilization of frequencies was carried out as represented by the carrier.

By: Andrew Steinberg