BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Applications of

AERODYNAMICS INCORPORATED

for certificates of public convenience and 

necessity under 49 U.S.C. § 41102 to engage in 

interstate and foreign charter air transportation of 

persons, property and mail

 

 Dockets DOT-OST-2001-10985

 DOT-OST-2001-10986

 

MOTION OF AERODYNAMICS INCORPORATED

TO WITHHOLD INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Aaron A. Goerlich

Garofalo Goerlich Hainbach PC

1200 New Hampshire Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20036-6802

(202) 776-3974

agoerlich@ggh-airlaw.com

Counsel for Aerodynamics Incorporated

March 12, 2014
BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Applications of

AERODYNAMICS INCORPORATED

for certificates of public convenience and 

necessity under 49 U.S.C. § 41102 to engage in 

interstate and foreign charter air transportation of 

persons, property and mail

 Dockets DOT-OST-2001-10985

 DOT-OST-2001-10986

MOTION OF AERODYNAMICS INCORPORATED

TO WITHHOLD INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

Pursuant to Rule 12 of the Department’s Rules of Practice, Aerodynamics 

Incorporated (ADI) moves to withhold from public disclosure the redacted information in 

Exhibits A and B to ADI’s Notice of Intent to Resume Certificated Air Carrier Operations

dated March 12, 2014 (Notice of Intent). Unredacted versions of the affected pages have 

been submitted directly to the Department’s Air Carrier Fitness Division. In support of 

this motion, ADI states as follows.

1. ADI has requested that its dormant DOT certificate authority be reinstated, and 

has filed in this docket the updated fitness information required by Part 204 of the 

Department’s regulations. That information contains highly confidential commercial and 

financial information that, to ADI’s understanding, is exempt from disclosure under the

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

2. The redactions, which ADI has limited to the greatest extent possible, are found 

on pages 9, 10, 45, 46, 51, 85, 86 and 90 of the PDF file containing the Notice of Intent
and exhibits. Each redaction protects highly proprietary commercial and financial 

information which, if disclosed to ADI’s actual or potential competitors, could easily 

interfere with the consummation and continuation of ADI’s agreement with Tortug’Air 

S.A. described in Exhibit B to the Notice of Intent. The redacted information includes:

• detailed operating costs ADI expects to incur in the subject operations;

• the revenues those operations are expected to generate;

• ADI’s anticipated financial posture at the conclusion of one year of the

operations, which if made public would effectively disclose ADI’s 

anticipated profit margin on the service; 

• the identity of existing customers from whom ADI has received charter 

payments, and 

• the distribution of ownership and voting interest among the individual 

owners of ADI.

Under ordinary circumstances, none of this information would be made available to 

persons outside ADI, a closely-held company. Indeed, much of the information goes 

directly to ADI’s EMB-145 operating costs and the commercial viability of the planned 

operations for Tortug’Air – the last thing ADI could afford to have in the hands of 

competitors and customers.

3. The information ADI seeks to withhold from public disclosure is commercial or 

financial, obtained from a person outside the government, and privileged or confidential. 

Thus it falls within the exemption from disclosure provided for “trade secrets and 

commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or 

confidential” under FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4). 

4. Public disclosure of this confidential information would have clear adverse 

consequences. Chief among them is the chilling effect such disclosure could have on 
expansion by carriers operating under air taxi authority, such as ADI, into operations 

requiring a DOT fitness finding. This, in turn, would adversely affect the public interest 

since it could prevent or deter such carriers from entering the broader market or, in some 

cases, maintaining the financial posture necessary to meet the Department’s 

requirements. In order to best serve the traveling public and foster a vigorous and 

competitive marketplace, it is essential that expansion and other forms of new entry be 

encouraged. Public disclosure of confidential and proprietary information would only 

frustrate that objective. 

5. Disclosure of the subject materials is not independently required in the public 

interest. The information at issue will be available to the Department for its internal use. 

Given this circumstance, any public interest is slight at best and is far outweighed by the 

overriding considerations discussed above. It would be contrary to the public interest for 

the Department’s processes to be used by any party as a vehicle to obtain confidential 

information that would not be made public under any other circumstance, and which 

could be used to the disadvantage of those who have furnished the information.

Wherefore, ADI requests that this motion to withhold information from public 

disclosure be granted in its entirety. 

Respectfully submitted,

Aaron A. Goerlich

Garofalo Goerlich Hainbach PC

Counsel for Aerodynamics Incorporated

March 12, 2014