BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Joint Application of

DELTA AIR LINES, INC.,

 and

PINNACLE AIRLINES, INC.

for an exemption from the provisions of

49 U.S.C. § 41105

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Docket DOT-OST-2013-

 

JOINT APPLICATION FOR 

PENDENTE LITE EXEMPTION

Communications with respect to this document should be addressed to:

Brian T. Hunt

Vice President and General Counsel

PINNACLE AIRLINES, INC.

One Commerce Square

40 South Main Street, 14th Floor

Memphis, TN 38103

(901) 346-6145

BTHunt@pncl.com

Alexander Van der Bellen

Managing Director – Government Affairs

 & Associate General Counsel

Christopher Walker

Regional Director-Government Affairs

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. 

1212 New York Avenue, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20005

(202) 842-4184

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

March 14, 2013
Joint Application of Delta and Pinnacle

Page 2

BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Joint Application of

DELTA AIR LINES, INC.,

 and

PINNACLE AIRLINES, INC.

for an exemption from the provisions of

49 U.S.C. § 41105

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)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Docket DOT-OST-2013-

 

JOINT APPLICATION FOR 

PENDENTE LITE EXEMPTION

Delta Air Lines, Inc. ("Delta") and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. ("Pinnacle"), collectively, 

the "Joint Applicants", hereby request an exemption pendente lite to allow the continued 

operation by Pinnacle of its U.S.-Canada Open Skies certificate authority while under 

common ownership with Delta, pending action by the Department on a de facto

certificate transfer application filed simultaneously with this application.1 The Joint 

Applicants respectfully request a decision by the Department on this application by April 

15, 2013 in order to allow the parties to coordinate the closing of the transaction. In 

support of this application, the Joint Applicants respectfully state as follows:

1. In connection with Pinnacle’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 

pursuant to a Plan of Reorganization (the “POR”) filed with the Bankruptcy Court, Delta

will acquire 100% of the common stock of the reorganized Pinnacle upon the effective 

date of the POR.

2 After such date, Pinnacle will operate as a separate regional air 

carrier and no international authority will be transferred from Pinnacle to Delta. However, 

a de facto certificate transfer application is required by virtue of the de facto merger 

doctrine that the Department has adopted. Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41105, the parties 

 1 DOT Order 2008-1-1.

2 Delta has made loan commitments to Pinnacle to provide the necessary funding to allow 

Pinnacle to continue its operations and to emerge from bankruptcy as a successful Delta 

Connection carrier.
Joint Application of Delta and Pinnacle

Page 3

are concurrently filing a de facto certificate transfer application with respect to Pinnacle's 

international authority. That application more fully describes the parties, the transaction

and Pinnacle and Delta's international authority.

2. The Joint Applicants seek a pendente lite exemption during the period that the de 

facto certificate transfer application is pending before the Department that will allow 

Pinnacle to exercise its international authority while under common ownership with 

Delta. Failure to grant the requested relief would prevent the parties from proceeding 

with the transaction. The Department has previously granted similar exemption requests 

in connection with de facto certificate transfers. See, e.g., Order 2005-8-20

(SkyWest/Atlantic Southeast), issued August 25, 2005; Order 2005-8-21 (America 

West/US Airways/PSA), issued August 25, 2005; Order 2005-6-4 (World Airways/North 

American), issued June 3, 2005; Order 2002-5-12 (Sun Country/MN Airlines), issued 

May 14, 2002; Order 97-11-8 (Kitty Hawk/American International Airways), issued 

November 6, 1997; and Order 97-9-3 (Pan Am/Carnival Air Lines), issued September 4, 

1997.

3. Granting this exemption request would be consistent with the public interest and 

Department policy. The transaction will not result in the actual transfer of certificate 

authority from Pinnacle to Delta. Pinnacle will continue to hold certificate authority to 

provide scheduled combination passenger and cargo service between the United States 

and Canada. Pinnacle will also continue to hold certificate authority to provide foreign 

charter air transportation of persons, property and mail worldwide, as well as both 

interstate scheduled and charter certificate authority to transport persons, property and 

mail. See DOT Orders 2007-10-27 and 2008-10-8, issued October 24, 2007. Preventing 

any interruption in these services while the de facto transfer application is pending 

before the Department would benefit the public interest. The Department has 

consistently "allow[ed] scheduled business transactions to go forward pending 

completion of all applicable regulatory processes" when the public interest is not 

negatively implicated. See Order 97-11-8 (Kitty Hawk/American International Airways) at 
Joint Application of Delta and Pinnacle

Page 4

5, issued November 6, 199 and Order 2006-2-17 (Capital Cargo International/Air 

Transport International), February 24, 2006.

4. No material competitive concerns are raised by the Delta/Pinnacle transaction. 

Pinnacle operates regional jets on behalf of Delta under two capacity purchase air 

services agreements, and Pinnacle and Delta are not competitors. There are no 

significant international aviation issues raised by the applications as the U.S. has open 

skies with Canada.

5. The Joint Applicants will accept any reasonable conditions placed by the 

Department on the continued operation of Delta and Pinnacle’s existing certificate 

authorities while the certificate transfer application is pending before the Department. In 

particular, the Joint Applicants will accept the standard "hold separate" condition 

requiring Pinnacle and Delta to operate independently until the de facto

transfer/disclaimer application has been granted. After the closing, Pinnacle will be a 

wholly owned subsidiary of Delta operating as a separate Delta Connection carrier.

WHEREFORE, Delta Air Lines, Inc. and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. request that the 

Department issue an exemption from the provisions of 49 U.S.C. § 41105 to permit the 

continued operation by Pinnacle of certain international authority while under common 

ownership with Delta, pending action by the Department on the contemporaneously filed 

de facto certificate transfer application. The Joint Applicants further request that the 

Department issue the exemption by no later than April 15, 2013. The Joint Applicants 

also request that the Department grant such other relief as it may find appropriate under 

the circumstances.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Brian T. Hunt /s/ 

_______________________ _____________________

Brian T. Hunt

Vice President and General Counsel

PINNACLE AIRLINES, INC.

Alexander Van der Bellen

Managing Director, Government Affairs

 & Associate General Counsel

DELTA AIR LINES, INC.
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

A copy of the foregoing Joint Application has been served this 14th day of March, 2013 

upon the following persons via email:

Air Carrier Name Email Address

ABX Air Robert Silverberg rsilverberg@sgbdc.com

Alaska Airlines Marshall Sinick msinick@ssd.com

Alaska Airlines Megan Lawrence Megan.Lawrence@alaskaair.com

Alaska Airlines Kyle Levine kyle.levine@alaskaair.com

ALPA R. Russell Bailey russell.bailey@alpa.org

American Francis Heil francis.heil@aa.com

American James Kaleigh james.kaleigh@aa.com

American Robert Wirick robert.wirick@aa.com

Amerijet John Richardson jrichardson@johnlrichardson.com

Arrow Cargo Pierre Murphy pmurphy@lopmurphy.com

ASTAR (DHL) Stephen Lachter slachter@lachter-clements.com

Atlas Air, Inc. Russell Pommer rpommer@atlasair.com

British Airways Don Hainbach dhainbach@ggh-airlaw.com

Centurion John Mietus john@mietuslaw.com

Evergreen Ben Graves ben.graves@evergreenairlines.com

Evergreen John Palo john.palo@evergreenairlines.com

Evergreen Ranjit Seth ranjit.seth@evergreenairlines.com

ExpressJet/ASA Gerald Murphy gmurphy@crowell.com

Federal Express Angie Garbuzinski anbird@fedex.com

Federal Express Sandra Lunsford sllunsford@fedex.com

Frontier/Republic Bob Cohn robert.cohn@hoganlovells.com

Frontier/Republic Pat Rizzi patrick.rizzi@hoganlovells.com

Gemini Air Cargo Moffett Roller mroller@rollerbauer.com

Hawaiian Jonathan Hill jhill@dowlohnes.com

JetBlue Robert Land robert.land@jetblue.com

Kalitta Air Mark Atwood matwood@cozen.com

Lynden Air Cargo Garry White gwhite@lac.lynden.com

Lynden Air Cargo Judy McKenzie judy@lynden.com

Mesa Air Brian Gillman brian.gillman@mesa-air.com

North American Malcolm Benge mlbenge@zsrlaw.com

Northern Air Cargo Margot Wiegele mwiegele@nac.aero

Pinnacle Brian Hunt bthunt@pncl.com

Polar Air Cargo Kevin Montgomery kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com

SkyWest Lorraine Halloway lhalloway@crowell.com

SkyWest Todd Emerson temerson@skywest.com

Southwest/AirTran Bob Kneisley bob.kneisley@wnco.com

Spirit Airlines David Kirstein dkirstein@yklaw.com

Spirit Airlines Joanne Young jyoung@yklaw.com

Sun Country John Fredericksen john.fredericksen@suncountry.com

United Dan Weiss dan.weiss@united.com

United Jonathan Linde jonathan.linde@united.com

United Oracio Marquez oracio.marquez@united.com

United Thomas Bolling thomas.bolling@united.com

UPS Anita Mosner anita.mosner@hklaw.com

US Airways Benjamin Slocum benjamin.slocum@usairways.com

US Airways Howard Kass howard_kass@usairways.com

Virgin America Barbara Russell barbara.russell@virginamerica.com

World Airways Mark McMillin mcmillin@woa.com
Joint Application of Delta and Pinnacle

Page 6

Name Email Address

Esta Rosenberg esta.rosenberg@dot.gov

John Allen john.allen@faa.gov

Brian Hedberg brian.hedberg@dot.gov

Paul Gretch paul.gretch@dot.gov

Info info@airlineinfo.com