BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Application of

NORWEGIAN AIR INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 and 

a foreign air carrier permit pursuant to 

49 U.S.C. § 41301 (U.S.-EU Open Skies)

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Docket DOT-OST-2010-0204

JOINT REPLY OF DELTA AIR LINES, INC., UNITED AIRLINES, INC.,

AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. AND US AIRWAYS, INC. 

Communications with respect to this document should be addressed to:

Howard Kass

Vice President -- Regulatory Affairs

American Airlines Group Inc. 

1401 H Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005

202-326-5153

Howard.Kass@usairways.com

Robert A. Wirick

Managing Director, Regulatory and International 

Affairs American Airlines Group, Inc.

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5635

DFW Airport, Texas 75161

(817) 963-0394

robert.wirick@aa.com

Hershel I. Kamen

Senior Vice President–Alliances,

Regulatory and Policy

Daniel A. Weiss

Managing Director–International

Affairs and Regulatory

UNITED AIRLINES, INC.

233 South Wacker Drive

10th Floor – HDQIZ

Chicago, IL 60606

(872) 825-6828

hershel.kamen@united.com

dan.weiss@united.com

Alexander Van der Bellen

Managing Director – Regulatory and International 

Affairs & Associate General Counsel

Christopher Walker, Regional Director –

Regulatory and International Affairs

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. 

1212 New York Avenue, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20005

(202) 842-4184

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

December 20, 2013
BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Application of

NORWEGIAN AIR INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 and 

a foreign air carrier permit pursuant to 

49 U.S.C. § 41301 (U.S.-EU Open Skies)

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Docket DOT-OST-2010-0204

JOINT REPLY OF DELTA AIR LINES, INC., UNITED AIRLINES, INC.,

AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. AND US AIRWAYS, INC.

Delta, United, American and US Airways (the “Joint Carriers”) appreciate this 

opportunity to reply to the issues raised by ALPA and A4A in their Answers to Norwegian Air 

International’s (NAI) application for DOT certificate and exemption authority. The Joint 

Carriers urge that NAI’s application be denied because it is contrary to the express 

provisions of the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement -- specifically, Article 17 bis which 

prohibits the establishment of flags of convenience to evade labor protections and thereby 

derive a competitive advantage in the marketplace and is not in the public interest.

1

 

Absent the U.S.-EU multilateral agreement, NAS would have no expectation that it 

could set up a shell company in Ireland to operate its aircraft using imported labor, because 

standard bilateral agreements contain “nationality clauses” requiring that carriers be owned 

and effectively controlled by their own nationals. There is no question that NAI is controlled 

by Norwegian interests. Because the EU is a collection of individual member states, and the 

U.S. is governed by a single set of federal aviation and labor standards, implementing the 

 1 If the application is not dismissed outright, the Joint Carriers agree with ALPA and A4A 

that many unanswered questions about the NAI scheme need to be addressed through the 

Joint Committee and on the public docket. 
Norwegian Joint Reply

Page 2

U.S.-EU agreement presented special challenges to prevent exactly this type of forum 

shopping and re-flagging by EU carriers. For this reason, the carefully negotiated Article 17 

bis of the U.S.-EU Agreement recognizes the importance of “high labor standards” and that 

“the opportunities created by the Agreement are not intended to undermine labor standards 

or the labor-related rights and principles contained in the Parties’ respective laws.” The NAI 

applications are contrary to these provisions and should be rejected because they are 

inconsistent with the U.S.-EU Agreement.

As detailed in ALPA’s Answer, although NAI does not yet have an Irish air carrier

certificate, it is being established in Ireland so that its affiliate, Norwegian Air Shuttle, (NAS) 

can avoid the social laws of Norway -- allowing NAI to provide lower wages and less 

desirable working conditions. NAI, in turn, will provide aircraft and flight crews for marketing 

and sale under the Norwegian brand that will be used in competition with U.S. carriers on 

routes from London to New York, Los Angeles, and Ft. Lauderdale, and from Scandinavia to 

various U.S. points. In an open letter, NAS this week confirmed that NAI is being 

established to take over operations from Norwegian Long Haul (NLH), a Norwegian 

company that currently provides lift to NAS using 787 aircraft: “The operations for NLH will 

end in Norway and we will establish Norwegian Air International Ltd. (NAI) in Ireland. With 

this, all business under NLH will be transferred to NAI.” (Attachment 1). 

At bottom, NAI and NAS seek to establish a new flag of convenience in Ireland to 

avoid Norway’s labor laws and lower labor costs in violation of the U.S.-EU multilateral 

agreement (using crews working under Singapore employment contracts), thus giving NAI 

and NAS a competitive advantage on transatlantic routes in direct competition with U.S. 

carriers. An important focus of the NAI operation appears to be point-to-point service

between the U.S. and London. The US-EU multilateral is a special agreement that allows 

this extraordinary privilege that would otherwise be prohibited 7th freedoms under any other 
Norwegian Joint Reply

Page 3

bilateral. But, in order to reach this extraordinary openness, Art. 17 bis was agreed to 

prevent exactly what NAI is trying to do.

 Even if NAI’s plans did not specifically violate the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement, 

the application should be dismissed because it fails to meet the Department’s public interest 

standard. Under the DOT’s public interest standard, a key objective is “strengthening the 

competitive position of [U.S.] air carriers to at least ensure equality with foreign air carriers.” 

49 U.S.C. §§ 40101(a)(15) and (e)(1). U.S. carriers’ competitive positions would be unfairly 

and unlawfully compromised by approval of the NAI scheme. 

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Alexander Van der Bellen

Managing Director, Regulatory and 

International Affairs

 & Associate General Counsel

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

/s/ Howard Kass

Vice President -- Regulatory Affairs

American Airlines Group Inc. 

/s/ Robert A. Wirick

Managing Director, Regulatory and International 

Affairs American Airlines Group, Inc.

/s/ Dan Weiss

Managing Director – International Affairs and 

Regulatory

United Airlines, Inc.
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

A copy of the foregoing Reply has been served this 20th day of December, 2013, upon 

the following persons via email:

romanow@pillsburylaw.com

peter.nelson@pillsburylaw.com

Russell.Bailey@alpa.org

steve.morrissey@united.com

dan.weiss@united.com

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

howard.kass@usairways.com

robert.wirick@aa.com

francis.heil@aa.com

rpommer@atlasair.com

mlbenge@zsrlaw.com

jesse.elliot@faa.gov

douglas.schwab@faa.gov

nicholas.tsokris@faa.gov

john.allen@faa.gov

anita.mosner@hklaw.com

jennifer.nowak@hklaw.com

nssparks@fedex.com

dberg@airlines.org

jcasey@airlines.org

paul.gretch@dot.gov

brian.hedberg@dot.gov

esta.rosenberg@dot.gov

brett.kruger@dot.gov

urskr@state.gov

CristinaSA@state.gov

eugene_alford@ita.doc.gov

info@airlineinfo.com
Dear Colleagues,

As 2013 draws to a close, we prepare to embark on a new year and a 

new chapter for Norwegian.

Just as in 2012, the year of 2013 presented us with many exciting 

challenges.

We have been the focus of a lot of media attention this year, both 

positive and negative. It can be challenging when the strategy of the 

company is debated in the media, and not everything is an accurate 

reflection of the situation. This can put the company in a bad light and 

create uncertainty about job security. 

Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS) has received a delivery of 14 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and 

launched new crew bases in Spain and in the UK.

Norwegian Long Haul (NLH) has received a delivery of 3 Boeing 787-8 and launched a 

new crew base in Thailand.

With these expansions, we have welcomed many new colleagues who will join us in 

developing our organisations in the future. I am happy for the way in which our new 

colleagues have been welcomed on board, both internally, and of course, by many of our 

satisfied customers. 

In autumn, it was announced that NAS would undergo an organisational restructure. In 

line with these changes, NAS will no longer operate as one company in the future, but 

instead, operations will be set up as new companies that will handle flight operations 

under individual AOCs. 

Norwegian Air Norway AS (NAN) has now been established and the company has been 

issued its own AOC. This organisation will handle a lot of NAS operations with the bases 

in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

NAS will continue to operate bases outside Scandinavia.

In June, NLH commenced operating with B787-8. Due to the initial issues experienced 

with the second aircraft that was delivered, we faced a number of challenges in the 

beginning. This caused a lot of inconvenience and difficulties for our passengers and our 

employees. After the upgrade completed by Boeing, we have since delivered good on 

time performance for these operations as well.

The operations for NLH will end in Norway and we will establish Norwegian Air 

International Ltd. (NAI) in Ireland. With this, all business under NLH will be transferred to 

NAI. This will mean that the work location for many of our employees will change. We 

understand that this is challenging for both those involved and their families. We have 

emphasised that this should be voluntary. Establishing NAI is necessary for us to get the 

traffic rights needed out of Europe, which we do not have with an AOC in Norway.

All of the changes that are now being implemented are to secure jobs and reduce the 

cost of operation, which in turn, will allow us to be more competitive in the future. 
Although we have faced a number of challenges during the last two months, on a whole, 

our punctuality this year has been very good, and we strive to ensure that these positive 

results will continue in the years ahead. Thank you to all of you who have contributed to 

these positive results - we recognise that this could not be achieved without a lot of hard 

work and close collaboration.

The changes that must now be made in Norwegian will also affect me and my family. 

When NAI is established in Ireland, I will also be moving to oversee the operations. This 

will mean that I will be resigning from my role as COO and Accountable Manager for NAS. 

I have had some fantastic years with NAS and I have been involved in many challenging 

times that have provided me with a lot of experience and knowledge, which will no doubt 

be beneficial for me in the future. 

Although I will no longer be responsible for NAS operations, I will still contribute to 

ensure that Norwegian as a group will continue to grow and thrive as a competitive air 

carrier in the future. 

I will no doubt be on board our flights and will be sure to visit the headquarters when I 

am here in Oslo.

A big thank you to everyone who has helped tackle the challenges of 2013.

An extra thank you to those of you who have to work during the Christmas and New Year 

period to help keep our operations running smoothly. 

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year together with your family and 

friends.