Aer Lingus Limited

OST-2007-28550 - Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - US-EU

June 18, 2007

Application for an Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - Bookmarked

Aer Lingus has been operating for over seventy years and has served the United States since 1958. Under its current authority, Aer Lingus provides combination service between Shannon and Dublin, on the one hand, and Boston, New York (JFK), Chicago and Los Angeles, on the other hand. The Department recently granted Aer Lingus two-year exemption authority to conduct Shannon/Dublin-Washington, D.C. (Dulles)/Orlando/ San Francisco scheduled combination service during the transition period provided for under the new U.S.-E.U. Agreement (Notice of Action Taken in Docket OST-2007-27731, issued March 27, 2007), and Aer Lingus will commence these new U.S.-Ireland services beginning in August 2007. This request for an amended foreign air carrier permit includes the authority covered by the exemption granted to Aer Lingus on March 27.

Counsel: Aer Lingus and Crowell & Moring, Lorraine Halloway, 202-624-2538, lhalloway@crowell.com

July 20, 2007

Re: Additional Information

In response to your request, I am providing the following additional information in connection with the above-referenced application:

• Over 83.6% of the total outstanding shares of Aer Lingus Group plc, which is the non-trading parent company of Aer Lingus Limited, are currently held by Irish nationals, including the Irish Minister of Finance (approximately 25.35% of the total outstanding shares), Ryanair Holdings pic (approximately 25.22% of the total outstanding shares) and Aer Lingus Limited's Employee Ownership Trust (approximately 13.37% of the total outstanding shares). No other person holds 10% or more of the outstanding shares of Aer Lingus Group pic.
• The Chief Executive Officer and all except one of the other current executive officers of Aer Lingus Limited are Irish nationals, as are 6 of the airline's 7 directors. Seven of the 12 current directors of Aer Lingus Group plc are Irish nationals; and, as a non-trading company, Aer Lingus Group plc has no other executive officers.

Counsel: Crowell & Moring, Lorraine Halloway, 202-624-2538, lhalloway@crowell.com

Order 2007-8-10
OST-2007-28550 - Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - US-EU

Issued and Served August 14, 2007

Order Granting Exemption and to Show Cause

We will grant Aer Lingus exemption authority to the extent necessary to permit it (1) immediately to accept payments, issue tickets, and enter into charter contracts, and (2) effective March 30, 2008 (the date for provisional application of the U.S.-EU Agreement), to commence flight operations, for the services set forth in ordering paragraph 1 below. We will tentatively grant Aer Lingus an amended foreign air carrier permit for these services, to be effective March 30, 2008.

We grant the request of Aer Lingus Limited for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to permit it (1) effective on the issue date of this order, to accept payments, issue tickets, and enter into charter contracts, and (2) effective March 30, 2008, to commence flight operations, for the services: a) foreign scheduled and charter air transportation of persons, property, and mail from any point or points behind any Member State of the European Union, via any point or points in any Member State and via intermediate points to any point or points in the United States and beyond; b) foreign scheduled and charter air transportation of persons, property, and maiI between any point or points in the United States and any point or points in any member of the European Common Aviation Area; c) foreign scheduled and charter cargo air transportation between any point or points in the United States and any other point or points; d) other charters pursuant to the prior ,approval requirements set forth in 14 CFR Part 212 of the Department’s regulations; and e) transportation authorized by any additional route rights made available to European Community carriers in the future.

By: Paul Gretch

Order 2007-10-38
OST-2007-28550 - Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - US-EU

Issued September 5, 2007 | Served October 26, 2007

Final Order | Word

By Order 2007-8-10, issued August 14, 2007, we directed all interested persons to show cause why we should not make final our tentative findings and conclusions stated therein and award an amended foreign air carrier permit in the form attached to the Order and subject to the conditions attached thereto.  We gave interested persons 21 days to file objections to the Order.  We said that if no objections were filed, all further procedural steps would be deemed waived, and the Department would enter an order (subject to Presidential review under 49 U.S.C. §41307) which would make final the findings and conclusions of the Order.

No objections were received within the time period provided.

By: Paul Gretch