Served: January 30 , 201 4

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Application of

NORWEGIAN AIR INTERN ATIONAL LIMITED

for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 and
a foreign air carrier permit pursu ant to 49 U.S.C. § 413 01

Docket DOT

- OST

- 201 3

- 0 204

NOTICE

During the course of U.S.

- EU Joint Committee discussions in Washington on January 8, 2014, held

pursuant to the U.S.

- EU Air Transport Agreement, the U.S. d elegation requested information about the
current and planned l ong

- haul operations of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and its affiliated companies

, Norwegian Long Haul AS and Norwegian Air International Limited . T he European d elegation orally
responded to the U.S. d elegation’s request. Members of the U.S. delegation prese nt for the European
delegation’s response subsequently prepared a written summary of that response on the mutual
understanding that the summary would be submitted on the record of the present proceeding.
Accordingly, the s ummary of the information provide d by t he European delegation is attached.

In light of Norwegian Air International Limited’s ongoing application in this Docket, we establish the

following procedural schedule for public comments on the attached Summary : 1

Answers

– must be filed no later than 1 4 calendar days from the date of issuance of this Notice ;

Replies

– must be filed no later than 7 calendar days after the last day for filing an answer.

We will serve this N otice on all persons on the service list for this docket.

By:

PAUL L . GRETCH

Director, Office of International Aviation

Date: January 30 , 201 4

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available at http://www.regulations.gov

1 Given the extensive comments that have already been submitted regarding this application, we ask interested parties to

limit any further comments to responding to the information contained in the Summary.Summary of Information provided by the European delegation

On the basis of information provided by Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (“NAS”), t he E uropean

delegation gave the Joint Committee some detailed factual information about the company’s

plans.

The European delegation first stated that NAS and its subsidiary Norwegian Long Haul AS

(“ NLH ”) each hold s an Air Operator ’s Certificate ( “ AOC ” ) and operating license issued by the

Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority

. NLH operates two Irish

- registered aircraft under its

Norwegian AOC

.

Another NAS subsidiary, Norwegian Air International Limited (“ NAI ”) , has applied for an Irish

AOC and operating license

. The European delegation conveyed that NAI chose Ireland because

as an Irish carrier it would have access to significant additional traffic rights not available to it as

a Norwegian carrier, access to additional financing options under OECD rules, and access to

insurance and financing rebates because Ireland is a Cape Town Convention signatory. In

addition, Ireland has a considerable aviation cluster in Europe and a highly regarded aviation

authority. The Irish government is currently processing the applications pursuant to

EC Regulations 965 / 2012 and 1008 / 2008

. The application for an AOC is being processed by the

Irish Civil Aviatio n Authority , and the application for an operating license is being processed by

the Irish Commission for Aviation Regulation. A decision on the AOC application, which is at a

more advanced stage, is expected in the next few weeks.

Under Norwegian regula tions, an airline is allowed to operate an aircraft registered in another

ECAA state for a total of 12 months. The current licenses issued by the Norwegian Civil

Aviation Authority to NLH to operate two Irish

- registered aircraft are set to expire in Febru ary

2014 and April 2014 , respectively

. NLH could apply to the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority

for extension s of the licenses that would allow it to continue to operate the Irish

- registered

aircraft until 24 th June 2014 and 24 th August 2014, respectively. I f the Irish regulatory process is

still pending for NAI after February 2014, it is likely that NLH would request extension of its

Norwegian

- issued licenses

.Summary of Information provided by the European delegation

2 The NLH/NAI business model will focus on using operating bases in the United State s and Asia

t o serve several European destinations

, with most having just one or two weekly flights in each

city

- pair market

. Given this business model, basing crews outside of Europe makes more sense

economically

. In order to address the related and comp lex staffing issues, the carriers intend to

hire and domicile crews at operating bases outside of the Europe ( e.g.

, in Thailand generally for

Bangkok

- Europe flights, in the United States for U.S.

- Europe flights, etc)

. In each case, the

local labor laws of those countries would apply.

For the start

- up period, NLH and NAI use local hiring agencies at operating bases because

recruitment is quicker, the agencies are familiar with local laws and regulations, and the practice

minimizes the companies ’ investment costs . In accordance with EU regulations, t he pilots

employed by NLH and NAI must hold EASA licenses. NAI intends to hire U.S. pilots in the

future and would prefer to have crew bases in the United States for its U.S. operations. It is

currently traini ng cabin crew members that will be based in the United States, under U.S. law.

Currently, long

- haul pilots are employed by Global Crew Asia (Singapore) and cabin crew

members are employed by Adecco (Thailand).

In connection with the discussion about hi ring, the European delegation offered the salary

information below. These figures reflect dollarized average gross payments :

Norway Spain Thailand United States

Captain $168, 604.29 $ 161,129.02 $166, 117.34

-

First Officer $1 19,513.47 $ 100,126.94 $ 101,724.49

-

Senior Cabin Crew

- $ 29,343.57 $ 37,477.06 $37, 497 .16

Junior Cabin Crew

- $ 24,664.89 $ 31,875.26 $34, 384.75

The European Delegation also indicated that company employees are organized in labor unions

and that NAS ha d no tradition of discouraging unionization.Summary of Information provided by the European delegation

3 The European Delegation objected to any characterization of Ireland as a “flag of convenience,”

and stated that Ireland’s safety and fitness oversigh t meets all applicable ICAO and EU

s tandards. T he y stated tha t, u nder A rticle 6 bis of the U .S.

- EU Air Transport Agreement

(Reciprocal Recognition of Fitness and Citizenship Determinations), the U.S. should recognize

Ireland’s determinations regarding NAI. The European delegation further stated that the

European Co mmission welcomed the competition that NAS / NLH has provided in the EU market

and noted that its business model, if successful, will benefit competition, U.S. consumers and

U.S. manufacturers.U.S.

- EU Joint Committee
8 January 2014
Washington, D.C.

1 U.S. Delegation

Department of State

1. Mr. Krishna Urs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Affairs

2. Mr. Stephen Cristina , Director, Office of Aviation Negotiations

3. Ms. Megan Walklet

- Tighe, Director , Office of Transportation Policy

4. Ms. Ellen Dunlap, Aviation Team Leader, Office of Transportation Policy

5. Ms. Alina Eldred , Attorney

- Adviso r, Office of the Legal Adviser

6. Ms. Kristin Westphal

, International Civil Aviation Officer

, Office of Aviation Negotiations

Department of Transportation , Office of the Secretary

7. Mr. Paul Gretch, Director, Office of International Aviation

8. Mr. Brian Hedberg, Assistant Director for Negotiations, Office of International Aviation

9. Mr. John Kiser, Chief of Pricing and Multilateral Affairs , Office of International Aviati on

10. Mr. Reese Davidson, Air Services Negotiator, Office of International Aviation

11. Mr. Benjamin Taylor, Air Services Negotiator, Office of International Aviation

12. Mr. Christophe r T. “Kip” Tourtellot, Attorney

- Advisor, Office of International Law

13. Ms. Jennife r Thibodeau, Attorney

- Advisor, Office of International Law

14. Mr. Todd Homan, Director, Office of Aviation Analysis

Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration

15. Mr. Kevin Welsh, Acting Manager, Environmental Policy and Operations Division, Office of
Environment and Energy

16. Ms. Rebecca Barthel, Foreign Affairs Specialist

, Office of International Affairs

Department of Homeland Security

, Transportation Security Administration

17. Mr. David Gordner, Regional Manager Europe , Office of Global Strategies

18. Ms. Lauren Beyer

, Desk Officer Europe, Office of Global Strategies

Department of Commerce

19. Mr. Eugene Alford, Air Transport SpecialistU.S.

- EU Joint Committee
8 January 2014
Washington, D.C.

2 EU Delegation

European Commission

1. Mr. Matthew Baldwin, DG MOVE, Director, Aviation and International Transport Affairs

2. Ms. Elina Bardram, DG CLIMA, Head of Unit

3. Ms. Deniz Bayraktutar, DG MOVE, Policy Officer, International Transport Affairs

4. Mr. Daniel Beoshertz, DG COMP, Head of Unit

5. Mr. Timothy Fenoulhet, DG MOVE, Policy Officer, Aviation S afety

6. Mr. Christian Holzleitner, DG CLIMA

7. Ms. Rasa Sceponaviciute , DG CLIMA

European External Action Service

8. Dr. Felix Leinemann, First Secretary

- Transport, Delegation of the European Union to the

United States

9. Mr Julian Hall, European Aviation Safety Age ncy, Representative to the United States

EU Member States

10. Ms. Verena Brendl, Austrian Civil Aviation Authority

11. Mr. Thorkild Saxe, Senior Adviser, Danish Transport Authority

12. Ms. Päivi Jämsä, Special Advisor, Finnish Transport Safety Agency

13. Mr. Francois Theoleyre, Deputy Director, French Civil Aviation Authority

14. Mr. Bruno Fulda, Advisor, French Civil Aviation Authority

15. Mr. Helge Pols, Embassy of Germany, Washington

16. Ms. Ethna Brogan, Principal Officer, Irish Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

17. Mr. Hans de Jong, Chief Negotiator, Netherlands Directorate General of Civil Aviation

18. Mr. Žiga Kotnik, Director General, Slovenian Civil Aviation Agency

19. Mr. David Benito Astudillo, Head of International Agreements, Spanish Directorate General

of Civil Aviation

20. Ms. Monica Junquera Lantero, Embassy of Spain, Washington

21. Mr. Mark Bosly, Head of International Aviation Negotiations, United Kingdom Department
of Transport

22. Ms. Judith Ritchie, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington

23. Mr. Øyvind Ek, Norwegian Ministry o f Transport and Communications

24. Mr. Anders Stoltenberg Slettvold, Senior Advisor, Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority