Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A.

OST-2007-28728 - Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - US-EU

July 10, 2007

Application for an Amendment of Foreign Air Carrier Permit and for an Exemption

Alitalia hereby applies for an amendment to its foreign air carrier permit to the full extent authorized by the new Air Transport Agreement between the United States, on the one hand, and the European Union and the member states of the European Union, on the other hand to enable Alitalia to engage in:

1. 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 or beyond;
2. foreign scheduled and charter air transportation of persons, property, and mail between any point or points in the United States and any point or points in any member of the European Common Aviation Area;
3. foreign scheduled and charter cargo air transportation between any point or points in the United States and any other point or points;
4. other charters pursuant to the prior approval requirements set forth in Part 212 of the Department’s Economic Regulations; and
5. transportation authorized by any additional route rights that may be made available to European Union carriers in the future.

Alitalia also requests a corresponding exemption pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 40109 to the extent necessary to enable Alitalia to provide the services described above pending issuance of an amendment to its foreign air carrier permit and such other relief as the Department may deem necessary or appropriate. The U.S.-E.U. Agreement, which was signed on April 30, 2007, is scheduled to enter into effect on March 30, 2008, and Alitalia accordingly requests that the requested amendment to its foreign air carrier permit and exemption also enter into effect on that date, or on any earlier date on which the U.S.-E.U. Agreement is provisionally applied.

Counsel: Zuckert Scoutt, Richard Mathias, 202-298-8660, rdmathias@zsrlaw.com

Order 2007-10-30
OST-2007-28728 - Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - US-EU

Issued and Served October 25, 2007

Order Granting Exemption and to Show Cause

We will grant Alitalia 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 Alitalia a foreign air carrier permit for these services, to be effective March 30, 2008.

As an additional matter, Alitalia has requested that we grant it, in addition to authority currently contained in the U.S.-EU Agreement, authority to conduct transportation authorized by any additional route rights made available to European Union carriers in the future. We are granting Alitalia's request for this authority by exemption (and tentatively granting it by foreign air carrier permit). We are, however, requiring Alitalia, before it commences any new service under this authority, to provide us with evidence that it holds a homeland license for that new service, unless it has already provided such evidence.

Our action allowing Alitalia to accept payments, issue tickets, and enter into charter contracts now, in anticipation of the effective date of the U.S-EU Agreement, will place the carrier on an equal footing with U.S. carriers holding blanket Open Skies authority, which we have allowed to accept payments and issue tickets for services to points in the European Union. See Notice dated May 1, 2007, "In the Matter of Blanket Open-Skies Certificate Authority." See also Order 2007-6-19, where we granted this authority to British Airways Plc.

By: Paul Gretch

Order 2008-5-11
OST-2007-28728 - Exemption and Amended Foreign Air Carrier Permit - EU-US

Issued May 7, 2008 | Served May 8, 2008

Final Order

By Order 2007-10-30, issued October 25, 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