U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

January 8, 2015 

Ms. Lisa A. Harig 

Counsel for Compass Airlines, LLC 

McBreen & Kopko 

1501 Lee Highway, Suite 180 

Arlington, VA 22209 

Dear Ms. Harig: 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington DC 20590 

On October 9, 2014, Compass Airlines, LLC ("Compass") filed an application in Docket 

DOT-OST-2014-0178 requesting an amendment to the certificate of public convenience 

and necessity issued to the air carrier to remove the restriction on the total number of 

aircraft that Compass is permitted to operate. In connection with this filing, Compass 

filed a motion for confidential treatment under 14 CFR section 302.12 (Rule 12) of our 

Procedural Regulations for certain information the company was providing. The purpose 

of this letter is to rule on that motion. 

Compass requests confidential treatment of the following exhibits: 

1. Exhibit 1- Compass' balance sheet atAugust 31, 2014; 

2. Exhibit 2- Compass' projected statements of operations for the 12-month periods 

ending September 30, 2014 and 2015; and 

3. Exhibit 3 -third party verification of funds on deposit with Compass' financial 

institution. 

In the motion, Compass states that this information warrants confidential treatment 

because these exhibits contain non-public financial data and projections relating to 

Compass' current and proposed operations which, if released, could cause the company 

substantial competitive harm. Compass contends that the information for which 

confidential treatment is requested incorporates private, commercial, sensitive, and 

financial information of a type that is not normally disclosed to the public. 

Rule 12, instructs us to evaluate requests for confidential treatment by the standards of 

disclosure found in the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. section 552). Information 

may be withheld from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) if it is (1) commercial or 
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financial, (2) obtained from a person outside of government, and (3) privileged or 

confidential (Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. v. United States, 615 F.2d 527, 529 (D.C. 

Cir. 1979)). 

There is no question that the information for which Compass seeks confidential treatment 

is financial or commercial in nature and that it was obtained from a person outside the 

government. The remaining question is whether the information is privileged or 

confidential--whether "disclosure of the information is likely to have either of the 

following effects: (1) impair the Government's ability to obtain necessary information; or 

(2) cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the 

information was obtained" (National Parks and Conservation Association v. Morton, 498 

F.2d 765, 770 (D.C. Cir. 1974)). Further, to be privileged or confidential, the information 

must not be of the type that is usually released to the public (Gulf and Western Industries, 

Inc. v. United States, 615 F.2d 527, 530 (D.C. Cir. 1979)). 

A review of the above-referenced exhibits show that much of the information contained 

therein is of the type and scope the Department typically requires to be part of the public 

record in a fitness determination. Generally, it is not the Department's practice to 

withhold from public disclosure an applicant's bank statements and historical financial 

statements, 1 

nor its operating plan, pre-operating costs, and operating expense 

projections. Thus, we deny confidential treatment to Exhibits 1 and 3. 

With respect to Exhibit 2, we find that there is nothing in the nature of the exhibit which 

. would result in a blanket grant of confidential treatment. Therefore, we cannot grant 

confidential treatment to Exhibit 2 in its entirety. However, we recognize that the exhibit 

does contain some information for which we have typically granted confidential 

treatment, such as revenue projections. Thus, we will grant confidentiality to the 

September 30, 2015, projected revenues and projected net income in Exhibit 2. To the 

remaining portions of Exhibit 2, we deny confidential treatment. 

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions, please feel free 

to contact Vanessa Balgobin at 202-366-9721. 

Sincerely, 

CX!J ;//~/~ 

Laur~y-~Yke~o 

Chief, Air Carrier Fitness Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

It appears that Compass titled the first page of Exhibit 2 as "Projected Statement of Operations" 

because the date of the statement is September 26, 2014, but was submitted for the 12-month period ending 

September 30, 2014. For the purposes of our review, we will consider this exhibit as a historical financial 

statement as opposed to a projected financial statement. 
cc: Docket DOT-OST-2014-0178 

Mr. David J.A. Hayes III, Esq. 

Vice President & General Counsel 

Trans States Holdings, Inc. 

11495 Navaid Road 

Bridgeton, MO 63044 

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