United Air Lines / Renewal of Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (People's Republic of China) / October 16, 1997

Application of

(formerly Docket 48312) for Renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 41101 (People's Republic of China-Route 246)

United Air Lines, Inc. ("United"), pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 41101, Part 210 of the Economic Regulations of the Department of Transportation ("the Department"), and Subpart Q of the Department's Procedural Regulations, hereby applies for renewal of its Experimental Certificate of Public convenience and Necessity for Route 246 authorizing service between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China ("P.R.C.") via Japan. This temporary experimental certificate is presently scheduled to expire on May 1, 1998. United invokes the procedures of Part 377 of the Department's Special Regulations to continue this certificate in effect pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 558(c) pending final Department action on this application. This renewal application is timely filed under the provisions of Part 377 to ensure automatic extension pending issuance of a final order. In support of its application, United submits the following:

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1. Applicant. United is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business at 1200 East Algonquin Road, Elk Grove Village, Illinois 60007. United's mailing address is P.O. Box 66100, Chicago, Illinois 60666.

2. Citizenship. United is a wholly owned subsidiary of UAL Corporation ("UAL"). Both United and UAL are citizens of the United States of America within the meaning of 49 U.S.C. 40102. Based on its investigation, United has determined the following: the Chief Executive Officer and more than two-thirds of the officers and directors of United and UAL are citizens of the United States. All of the capital stock and voting interest in United is owned by UAL. At least 75 percent of the capital stock and the voting interest in UAL is owned by citizens of the United States. United is prepared to provide additional evidence or affidavits in support of the facts set forth above.

3. Renewal Authority Requested. United seeks a 5 year renewal of the authority in its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for Route 246 to engage in scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between the United States and the P.R.C. Pursuant to this certificate, United is authorized to operate scheduled combination services over the following route:

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Between the coterminal points Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; and Honolulu, Hawaii; the intermediate point Tokyo or another intermediate point in Japan; and the coterminal points Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. When last renewed, the Department limited the term for this authority to a period of five years. Order 93-4-3. That limited-term authority will expire on May 1, 1998, unless renewed pursuant to this application.

4. Fitness. United holds various certificates of public convenience and necessity and exemptions authorizing it to engage, inter alia, in scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail. United is fit, willing and able to continue to perform the scheduled foreign air transportation it seeks and is well-suited to provide such service in the future. United requests that the Department take official notice pursuant to Rule 24 of its Procedural Regulations of all data filed to establish such fitness. See, e.c;, United Air Lines, Inc. Route 566 Renewal, Order 97-4-27; United Air Lines. Inc. Route 718, Order 96-10-30 (Denver/Los Angeles-Vancouver); United Air Lines. Inc. Route 720, Order 96-10-30 (Miami-Montreal).

5. Service Proposal. United presently operates service pursuant to Route 246 as illustrated in its schedule attached as Exhibit 1. This October 15, 1997, schedule of two daily flights,

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using the maximum number of frequencies allocated to United, will be continued for 1998.

6. Aircraft. United operates its service with B747 aircraft from its fleet.

7. Map. A map depicting United's service over the route to be renewed is attached as Exhibit 2.

8. Fuel. United anticipates no substantial change in its fuel consumption and anticipates no difficulty in continuing to obtain adequate supplies of fuel for this service.

9. Opening Argument.

The Department has adopted a "rebuttable presumption" in favor of renewal of temporary certificate authority for limited-entry international routes such as that which is the subject of this application:

In cases where an incumbent carrier seeks to renew an international certificate in a limited-designation market, and where that carrier has performed well, taking into account all relevant factors (including fare and/or capacity restrictions in the market that have been imposed by foreign governments or bilateral agreements), there will be a presumption that the incumbent carrier will be the best applicant to provide service during the next five years. 51 Fed. Reg. at 43187 (December 1, 1986).

Renewal of United's authority for Route 246 is fully consistent with this policy. United has operated service over

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this route consistently since it was first granted authority to operate it by Orders 85-12-1, 85-11-57 and 85-10-41.

United has invested millions of dollars in developing services over this important route. So long as the services in these markets remain subject to entry and other restrictions, United will continue to operate consistent with applicable international agreements and will seek renewal for temporary five-year periods so long as that comports with applicable Departmental policy.

10. Expedited Procedures. United requests that its certificate be renewed by simplified, nonhearing procedures. Given the presumption in favor of renewal in the circumstances presented by United's application, a formal proceeding is not necessary and a renewed certificate should be issued without undue delay.

WHEREFORE, for the reasons set forth herein, United Air Lines, Inc., respectfully requests that the Department of Transportation grant its application to renew the authority specified above, and that it grant United such other or different

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relief as the department finds to be consistent with the public convenience and necessity.

Respectfully submitted,

GINSBURG FELDMAN, Joel Burton
Counsel for UNITED AIR LINES, INC.

October 15, 1997