OST-97-3139 / OST-97-2548 / US-Argentina All-Cargo / Joint Application of FedEx, Arrow and FWIA / Answer of FedEx / November 25, 1997

1997 U.S.-ARGENTINA ALL-CARGO FREQUENCY PROCEEDING

Joint Application of

FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION,
ARROW AIR, INC.
and
FLORIDA WEST INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS, INC.

for approval of a transfer of frequency allocations pursuant to 49 U.S.C. §41105 (U.S.-Argentina All-Cargo Frequencies)

Federal Express Corporation (Federal Express) hereby submits this Answer in response to the Petition of Challenge Air Cargo, Inc. (Challenge) for Reconsideration of Order 97-11-35, served November 20, 1997.

Federal Express strongly supports the Challenge Petition for Reconsideration to the extent that it urges the Department to address and resolve the asserted dormancy issue affecting the Argentina cargo frequency allocations held by Challenge, and, by implication, those held by Arrow Air, Inc. (Arrow) and Florida West International Airways, Inc. (FWIA), before proceeding with a time-consuming, expensive and potentially wasteful proceeding to consider the

FedEx Answer / 2 Argentina Cargo Frequencies

reallocation of the existing Argentina cargo frequency reallocations issued to those three carriers.

If the Argentina frequencies now allocated to Challenge are being utilized and are thus not dormant under the terms of the Department's standard 90-day dormancy condition, those frequencies cannot be arbitrarily taken away from Challenge and reallocated, for the reasons stated by Challenge in its Petition.

Similarly, if the Argentina frequencies now allocated to Arrow and FWIA have been utilized to an extent which complies with the 90-day dormancy condition, they are validly held by those carriers, and may be sold like any other operating authorization, subject to approval by the Department. For all of the reasons discussed at length in the Joint Application in Docket OST-97-2548, and subsequent pleadings in that docket, the Argentina frequencies held by Arrow and FWIA are not dormant, and their transfer to Federal Express should be approved without further delay, consistent with longstanding and uniform Department policy and precedent.

FedEx Answer / 3 Argentina Cargo Frequencies

WHEREFORE, Federal Express urges the Department to reconsider its decision in Order 97-11-35 to institute a 1997 U.S.-Argentina All-Cargo Frequency Proceeding without first determining whether any currently-allocated Argentina frequencies are lawfully available for reallocation.

Respectfully submitted,

A. Doyle Cloud, Jr., Sarah Prosser, Warren Goff
FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION

SHAW PITTMAN, Nathaniel Breed, Jr.

November 25, 1997