American Airlines, Inc.

OST-2008-0229 - Allocation of 11 Weekly Combination Frequencies (US-Brazil)

July 16, 2008

Application for Allocation of 11 Weekly Combination Frequencies - Bookmarked

Hereby applies for the allocation of 11 U.S.-Brazil weekly combination frequencies in order to operate the following routes on a yearround basis, starting November 2, 2008: 

• Miami‑Salvador‑Recife‑Miami (daily) 

• Miami‑Belo Horizonte‑Miami (4 times/week) 

As recited in the Department's Notice, on June 26, 2008, the United States and Brazil agreed to an additional 21 weekly combination frequencies for U.S. carriers for operations to the North, Northeast, and Midwest regions of Brazil and/or Belo Horizonte, effective immediately. American's application for service to Salvador, Recife, and Belo Horizonte is consistent with the new agreement. Salvador (Bahia State) and Recife (Pernambuco State) are located in the Northeast region and Belo Horizonte is specifically authorized as an eligible point.

The Department's policy is to grant limited-entry authority to carriers with firm service plans. See Notice of Action Taken, DOT-OST-2007-28057, June 29, 2007. American has firm plans to operate the Salvador, Recife, and Belo Horizonte service starting November 2, 2008. Our request for the allocation of 11 weekly combination frequencies is consistent with the amended U.S.-Brazil Air Transport Agreement and with the public interest, and should be granted on an expedited basis.

Counsel: American, Carl Nelson, 202-496-5647

July 29, 2008

Amendent to Application

American Airlines, Inc. hereby amends its application filed in this docket on July 16, 2008, which initially sought the allocation of 11 U.S.-Brazil weekly combination frequencies. By this amendment, American is reducing its request from 11 frequencies to 10. We propose to use these frequencies to operate Miami-San Salvador-Recife-Miami round-robin service on a daily basis, and Miami-Belo Horizonte nonstop service three days per week. Amended schedules and operating statistics for Miami-Belo Horizonte are attached. All other aspects of our July 16 application, including equipment, capacity, and start-up date, are unchanged.

Counsel: American, Carl Nelson, 202-496-5647

OST-2008-0229 - Allocation of 11 Weekly Combination Frequencies (US-Brazil)
OST-2008-0227 - Exemption and Frequencies - US-Brazil

July 29, 2008

Joint Motion for Immediate Allocation of Frequencies

The United States and Brazil recently agreed to a phased expansion of frequencies, including 21 that are immediately available. See the Department's Notice inviting applications, July 7, 2008. American and Delta are the only applicants for the 2008 frequencies

Because this is not a contested matter requiring a comparative carrier-selection proceeding, American and Delta request that the frequency awards be non-city-pair specific (that is, from any point in the U.S. to any point in Brazil eligable for 2008 sevice as described footnote 1 of the Department's Notice). Such flexibility is consistent with Order 2004-6-25, June 28, 2004, which eliminated all city-pair conditions on then-existing U.S.-Brazil frequency allocations, and should be accorded here as well.

Counsel: American, Carl Nelson, 202-496-5647 and Delta, Scott McClain, 404-773-6514

OST-2008-0227 - Exemption and Frequencies - US-Brazil
OST-2008-0229 - Allocation of 11 Weekly Combination Frequencies (US-Brazil)

Filed July 16, 2008 | Amended July 29, 2008 | Issued August 8, 2008

Notice of Action Taken | Word

Delta and American each request weekly combination frequencies to serve the U.S.-Brazil market, as follows:

Docket OST-2008-0227: Delta requests a total of 11 weekly frequencies to be used for combination services between any point(s) in the United States and any point(s) in Brazil, consistent with the Department’s July 7 Notice.

Delta states that it will use the 11 frequencies as follows: daily round-trip service in the Atlanta-Manaus market, and four times weekly round robin service on the routing Atlanta-Recife-Fortaleza-Atlanta. Delta states that it requests the flexibility to adjust its schedules and use all 11 weekly frequencies to provide service between any point(s) in the United States, on the one hand, and Manaus, Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte, and/or Recife, on the other, as market conditions dictate.

Docket OST-2008-0229: American requests a total of 10 weekly frequencies to be used for combination service between any point(s) in the United States and any point(s) in Brazil, consistent with the Department’s July 7 Notice.

American states that it will use the 10 frequencies as follows: daily round robin service on the routing Miami-San Salvador-Recife-Miami, and three times weekly round-trip service in the Miami-Belo Horizonte market.

American holds the requisite authority to provide the services requested here (see Notice of Action Taken dated March 16, 2006, Docket OST-1996-1353, and timely renewal application filed January 3, 2008).

On July 29, 2008, Delta and American filed a joint motion requesting the immediate grant of their respective applications, as amended, stating that Delta and American are the only applicants seeking the 2008 combination frequencies newly available under the 2008 Agreement. The carriers request that the frequency awards be noncity-pair specific, from any point in the United States to any point in Brazil eligible for the subject 2008 service.

In light of the fact that no party opposed the carriers’ July 16 applications (seeking allocations for a greater number of frequencies than those requested in the carriers’ July 29 amended applications), and in the interest of ensuring prompt use of the valuable authority that is immediately available, we are granting the joint motion and taking action here without awaiting expiration of the 15-day answer period for the amended applications.

By: Paul Gretch