o 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

U.S. Department Assistant secretary Washington, DC 20590 

of Transportation 

Office of the secretary APR 0 2 2010 

of Transportation 

The Honorable David Coss 

Mayor of Santa Fe 

Santa Fe,NM 87504 

Dear Mayor Coss: 

Thank you for your letter of March 10 supporting the application for antitrust immunity filed by 

American Airlines and Japan Airlines. I am responding on behalf of Secretary LaHood. 

As you may know, the applicants—members of the oneworld Alliance—are seeking antitrust 

immunity to closely coordinate flights between the United States and Asia. According to the 

application, the alliance partners plan to launch a joint venture for conveyance of transpacific 

traffic. 

The application is administered in a public docket, which ensures that interested parties have the 

opportunity to comment. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will evaluate the 

application according to rigorous statutory standards, beginning with a review of the record to 

determine if it is substantially complete. Decisions on the application are made in consultation 

with the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division following a thorough analysis of 

competitive factors. As this matter is now pending, I hope you understand that I cannot 

comment on the merits of the application. I can assure you, however, that DOT will give full 

and fair consideration to the application as well as any comments filed in the docket. 

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

DOT-OST-2010-0059 as a contact outside the record in this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this proceeding. 

Sincerely yours. 

L 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary 

for Aviation and International Affairs 
SI 0-100317-038 

City of Santa Fe, New Mexico 

David Coss, Mayor 

200 Lincoln Avenue, P.O. Box 909, Santa Fe, N.M. 87504-0909 

Councilors: 

Rebecca Wurzburger, Mayor Pro Tem, Dist. 2 

PattiJ. Bushee, Dist. 1 

Chris Calvert, Dist. 1 

Rosemary Romero, Dist. 2 

Miguel M. Chavez, Dist. 3 

Carmichael A. Dominguez, Dist. 3 

Matthew £. Ortiz, Dist. 4 

Ronald S. Trujillo, Dist. 4 

March 10, 2010 

The Honorable Raymond H. LaHood 

Secretary 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Ave, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Docket DOT-OST-2010-f^P^ 

Dear Mr. Secretary: 

Thank you for the opportunity to express my support for the application for antitrust 

immunity and proposed joint business agreement filed by American Airlines and Japan 

Airlines. The proposed alliance between these two airlines is vital for oneworld to 

compete effectively with the Star and SkyTeam alliance. This increased interalliance 

competition will in turn enhance the benefits of the Department's Open Skies policy -

first by solidifying U.S.-Japan Open Skies, then by serving as a foundation for further 

liberalization across Asia. 

After a thorough review, I encourage the Department of Transportation to approve this 

application as it would enable these oneworld alliance airlines to work closely together to 

deliver highly competitive air transportation services. Approval for AA/JAL alliance will 

have a positive impact on air travel by offering customers more service, scheduling and 

pricing options and will help to ensure that customers continue to benefit from having 

three competitive air alliances to choose from. 

I urge you to quickly approve this application. 

Sincerely, 

^ David Coss 

Mayor 

P.O. Box 909 

Santa Fe, NM 87504 . 

jhmontman@santafenm.gov 

#