Order 2011-9-7 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Issued by the Department of Transportation 

on the 13th day of September, 2011 

 Served: September 13, 2011 

ORDER 

Summary

By this Order, we grant the petition of Centurion Air Cargo, Inc. (Centurion) for review 

of staff action with respect to the denial of its request for an additional start-up date 

extension, and on review affirm the action taken by the Director, Office of International 

Aviation. 

Background

By Notice of Action Taken dated August 5, 2008, we allocated seven weekly frequencies 

to Centurion for U.S.-Brazil scheduled all-cargo services. The allocation was subject to 

our standard start-up condition which provided that Centurion must begin its proposed 

services within 90 days of September 1, 2008, the date it had proposed to institute 

service. During the period of December 2008 through April 2011, Centurion requested, 

and the Department approved, 11 extensions of the start-up condition. Each extension 

allowed the carrier an additional 90-day period in which to institute service. 

In support of each of its requests, Centurion stated that it was working to secure Brazilian 

Government (specifically, ANAC) authority to provide scheduled service to Brazil. In its 

eighth extension request, filed July 22, 2010, Centurion stated that a new legal issue had 

arisen involving Challenge Air Cargo, Inc. (Challenge), a predecessor company to 

Centurion. In each subsequent extension request filed by Centurion, it stated that it was 

continuing to work through the Challenge-related legal issues. 

In the Matter of 

Application of 

CENTURION AIR CARGO, INC. 

for an exemption from 49 U.S.C. §41101 and 

Allocation of Frequencies (U.S.-Brazil AllCargo Service)

 Docket DOT-OST-2008-0228 
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In approving Centurion’s eleventh start-up extension request, we placed the carrier on 

notice that “there should be no expectation that an additional waiver request to further 

extend the start-up date will be granted” and that “in any application for subsequent 

extension we would expect to see specific evidence that Centurion has taken all necessary 

steps to secure Brazilian Government approval, including submission of a complete 

application to the Brazilian Government (citing the specific date it was filed).” Finally 

we expressly stated that “we reserve the right to not further extend the start-up date 

should Centurion fail to submit this evidence and all related supporting details.” See the 

April 13, 2011 Approval in the instant docket. 

On July 1, 2011, Centurion again requested an additional 90-day extension of the start-up 

condition; however, Centurion failed to supply the specific evidence cited in the April 13, 

2011 Approval. Under those circumstances, and on the basis of the entire record, we 

found that the public interest would be best served by not granting Centurion any further 

relief from the start-up condition and by, instead, reassigning the frequencies to the 

unallocated pool. Accordingly, we denied Centurion’s request. See the July 12, 2011 

Notice of Action Taken in the instant docket. 

Petition for Review of Staff Action

Centurion filed a Petition for Review of Staff Action on July 21, 2011. Centurion argues 

that, through its various requests for extensions, it has given the Department a report on 

the status of the ANAC application, as well as the status of the Challenge legal and 

financial issues. In support of its claim, Centurion submitted an excerpt from the Diario 

Oficial de Uniao dated July 21, 2009, which gave public notice that ANAC issued 

Centurion a Decision of Legal Functioning; however, Centurion states that before it can 

begin service it must also obtain a Decision of Operations. Centurion further states that 

the Decision of Operations is dependent upon Centurion first obtaining a Tax Clearance 

Certificate, which is dependent upon the resolution of the tax issues involving Challenge. 

There were no answers filed to Centurion’s petition. 

Decision

We have decided to grant Centurion’s petition for review, and, on review, to affirm the 

action of the staff. In reviewing the entire record before us, we find that the staff acted in 

a manner consistent with the public interest. 

In approving Centurion’s eleventh start-up extension request, we expressly defined the 

precise information that Centurion would need to submit for any further extension. 

However, Centurion did not provide that evidence in its subsequent application of July 1, 

2011. Nor did it provide it in its Petition for Review of Staff Action. Taking into 

account the record as a whole, we do not find that Centurion has met the evidentiary 

requirements we established. In any event, it is apparent from Centurion’s submissions 

that the carrier has yet to obtain Brazilian Government authority, and still has several 

significant steps to take to do so, including the resolution of tax issues involving 
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Challenge. Under these circumstances, we find that the public interest is best served by 

retaining the frequencies in the unallocated pool rather than continuing to allow 

Centurion to hold them. 

When Centurion is in a position to institute U.S.-Brazil scheduled all-cargo service it may 

reapply for frequencies. 

ACCORDINGLY, 

1. We grant the petition of Centurion Air Cargo, Inc. filed July 21, 2011, for review of 

staff action in denying the application of Centurion Air Cargo, Inc., in Docket DOTOST-2008-0228, as reflected in the Notice of Action Taken dated July 12, 2011; 

2. We affirm, on review, the action of the Director, Office of International Aviation, 

denying the application of Centurion Air Cargo, Inc., described above; and 

3. We will serve this order on Centurion Air Cargo, Inc., the Brazilian Ambassador to 

the United States in Washington, D.C., the Federal Aviation Administration, and the 

U.S. Department of State (Office of Aviation Negotiations). 

By: 

SUSAN L. KURLAND 

Assistant Secretary for Aviation 

and International Affairs 

(SEAL) 

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at: 

http://www.regulations.gov