THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20590 

The Honorable John Garamendi 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Congressman Garamendi: 

April 04, 2014 

Thank you for your letter regarding the application of Norwegian Air International Limited 

(NAI) for authority to conduct U.S. services. 

Given that a number of interested parties have filed responsive pleadings to NAI's application 

and this matter is currently pending before the Department, I am sure you understand that I 

cannot comment on the merits ofNAI's application. I assure you, however, that we will give full 

and careful consideration to all of the pleadings filed on the record before we reach a 

determination in this matter. 

As is our standard practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and my response in Docket 

DOT -OST -2013-0204, as a contact outside the record of this case. You may track the progress 

of this case and view the publicly available documents filed in the docket by accessing the 

Federal Docket Management System at www.regulations.gov and searching for Docket 

DOT -OST -2013-0204. 

I hope this information is helpful. 

Sincerely, 
JOHN GARAMENDI 

3 RD DIS TRIC T , C A LIFORNIA 

ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE 

STRATEGIC F ORCES SUBCOMMITTEE 

T ACTICAL AIR AND LAND FORCES S UBCOMMITTEE 

TRANSPORTATION AND 

INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE 

R ANKING M EMBER 

COAST GUARD AND M ARITIME TRANSPORTATION 

SuoCOMMtTTEE 

UNITED STATES 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

WATER R ESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT 

SuecoMMtTTEE 

AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE 

GENERAL F ARM COMMODITIES AND R ISK 

MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE 

The Honorable Anthony Foxx 

Secretary 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Dear Secretary Foxx: 

February 28, 2014 

2438 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING 

WAS HINGTON, DC 205 15 PHONr: (202) 225- \ 880 

FAx · 1202) 225-59 14 

DISTRICT OFFICES 

4 12 G S TREET 

DAVIS. CA 956) 6 

PHONE (530) 753-530 1 

FAX (530) 753-56 14 

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FAIRFIELD. CA 94533 

PHONE 1707) 438-1822 

FAX (707) 438-Q523 

990 KLAMATH LANE, SUITE 4 

YUBA CITY, CA 95993 

PHONE 15 30) 329- 8865 

FAX (530) 763- 4248 

I write to express my concern about a petition to your department by Norwegian Air 

International Limited (NAI), subsidiary ofthe rapidly-growing low-cost airline Norwegian Air 

Shuttle (NAS), to operate into the U.S. as a foreign air carrier. NAI's application raises the 

specter of a flag-of-convenience model that, if applied to the airline industry, will have 

devastating effects akin to those seen in the U.S. maritime industry. Furthermore, NAI has 

pursued a global outsourcing business model for its pilots and flight attendants (or "aircrews") 

that would put U.S. airlines and their employees at a competitive disadvantage. Indeed, this 

airline bearing the name "Norwegian" describes itself in the application as "a foreign carrier of 

Ireland." 

The cause of my concern is NAS's publicly-stated attempt to avoid its legal obligations under its 

labor contracts and Norwegian labor law. As you know, the U.S.-European Union Air Transport 

Agreement prohibits the establishment of flags of convenience to evade labor protections. 

NAI/NAS plans to register its long-haul aircraft in Ireland, whose labor laws, unlike Norway's, 

would allow outsourcing of aircrew beyond the EU. NAI/NAS plans to operate Irish-registered 

aircraft to fly from Norway and other EU points to the United States by outsourcing its labor to 

EU aircrew based in Thailand under individual employment contracts governed by Singapore 

law. In short, Ireland has become the aircraft registry of choice for NAI/NAS to avoid 

Norwegian taxes, labor laws, and social costs. 

As Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Coast Guard and 

Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, I am fighting to rebuild the U.S. maritime industry-a 

prime example of the type of industrial devastation that can be caused by the use of "flag of 

convenience" open registries. This business practice allows companies to register merchant ships 

in a foreign state to avoid its own country's regulations, taxes, and labor costs. Open registries 

are countries or organizations that register foreign ships and where more than 90 percent of that 

country's vessels are foreign-owned. Liberia, the Marshall Islands, and Panama are among the 

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most well-known open registries where U.S.-owned merchant ships are registered to avoid U.S. 

taxes, regulations, and labor costs. 

Today, roughly 80 percent of the world fleet is operating under a flag of convenience, and the 

number of U.S. crew jobs in the U.S.-flag maritime industry has plummeted from more than 

100,000 in 1960 to an estimated 2,500 in 20 12-jobs that would be lost but for the anti-cabotage 

provisions ofthe Jones Act. Today, U.S.-flag ships carry domestic traffic almost exclusively. As 

a result, as DOT has acknowledged, over 97 percent of our foreign trade is carried on foreignflag vessels. And as Congress has noted, over the last 35 years, the number ofU.S.-flag vessels 

sailing in the international trade has dropped from 850 to less than 100. 

I am deeply concerned that NAIINAS's business model will substantially and permanently harm 

the U.S. airline industry's transatlantic business. NAIINAS is using Ireland as the "Liberia" of 

the airline industry to employ Singapore law in the service of its EU-US transatlantic services. 

Unlike their European competitors, however, U.S. carriers cannot pick and choose which labor 

and regulatory regime anywhere in the world will most advantage its operations. Moreover, the 

NAI/NAS business model leads to serious questions about whether Ireland's or another country's 

safety regulations will govern these long-haul operations that will never touch Ireland. 

For these reasons, I believe your review ofNAIINAS's application will clearly indicate that it is 

not in the public interest, and should therefore be denied. I appreciate your thorough 

consideration of these deeply concerning issues, and encourage you to contact Emily Burns of 

my staff if I can be of assistance. 

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