OST-97-3285 / American and Lan Chile / Antitrust Immunity / Motion of American to Strike Reply of Aeromexico / March 27, 1998

 

Joint Application of:

AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. and LINEA AEREA NACIONAL CHILE, S.A. (LAN CHILE) / OST-97-3285

under 49 USC 41308 and 41309 for approval of and antitrust immunity for alliance agreement

 

MOTION OF AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. TO STRIKE

REPLY OF AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. de C.V.

 

American Airlines, Inc. hereby moves to strike the so-called reply submitted in this docket by Aerovias de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. ("Aeromexico") on March 24, 1998. / 1 Aeromexico's document is not a legitimate reply at all, but is instead a late-filed objection to the American/Lan Chile application, and displays an extraordinary contempt for the orderly conduct of proceedings before the Department, and for the Department's procedural orders.

By Order 98-2-21, February 20, 1998, the Department required objections on March 13, 1998, and replies on March 24, 1998. Timely objections were filed by three parties -- Conti

1/ Aeromexico did not have the courtesy to serve American by hand. Its pleading arrived by mail on the afternoon of March 26, 1998.

 

2

 

nental Airlines, Inc., Delta Air Lines, Inc., and United Air Lines. On March 24, 1998, American and Lan Chile filed a joint reply. The matter is now ripe for a decision by the Department, and American and Lan Chile urge that a favorable show-cause order be issued on an expedited basis.

Aeromexico's pleading, which exceeds 50 pages, purports to be a reply to the objections submitted by Continental, Delta, and United (p. 2). That is a sham. The document is in reality an untimely objection in brazen disregard of the Department's scheduling order. The Department cannot allow parties to flout its procedural orders as Aeromexico has done here.

Moreover, Aeromexico is a codeshare ally of Delta, while Aeromexico's commonly-controlled sister company, Mexicana, is a codeshare ally of United. Indeed, Mexicana and United are themselves seeking approval to codeshare beyond Mexico to points throughout Central and South America, including Chile (OST-98-3322, January 12, 1998). Nowhere in its 50 plus page paper does Aeromexico even acknowledge its ties to Delta and (through Mexicana) United. We cannot help but speculate that Aeromexico is being used as a proxy to cause delay in processing the American/Lan Chile application by submitting an out-of-time objection.

 

3

 

In any event, it is clear that Aeromexico, a carrier of Mexico, has no legitimate standing to appear before the Department to object to an arrangement between carriers of the United States and Chile. If the Department were to entertain Aeromexico's bizarre reply, there would be no end to the mischievous pleadings that third-country carriers -- at the urging of their U.S. carrier confederates -- would submit in proceedings where they have no standing to object, but are merely being used to derail the orderly administration of the Department's docket.

Accordingly, the Department should strike Aeromexico's reply, and in doing so should make clear that sham tactics, such as pretending that a late-filed objection is a timely reply, will not be countenanced.

 

Respectfully submitted,

CARL B. NELSON, JR.

Associate General Counsel

American Airlines, Inc.

March 27, 1998