U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation

DEPARTMENT ACTION ON APPLICATION IN DOCKET DOT

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- 27349 (Filed August 2 4 , 20 12 )

A pplic ation of US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) 1 for an amended s tatement of authorization to permit US Airways to display the “V S” designator code of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited (Virgin Atlantic) on flights operated by US Airways between the United States and the United Kingdom

. 2 US Airways requests that th e stat ement of authorization be granted for an indefinite period

. 3

* Approved under assigned authority (14 CFR §385.13).

Date of Action: August 29 , 20 12 4

This action is subject to the conditions attached. Persons entitled to petition the Departmen t for review of this action under the Department’s regulations, 14 CFR §385.30, should file their petitions within seven days of the date of this action. This action is effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review will not alter its effe ctiveness.

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.regulations.gov

1 US Airways states that it is also applying on behalf of its wholly owned carriers, Piedmont Airlines, Inc. (Piedmont) and PSA Airlines, Inc (PSA).
2 US Airways currently holds a statement of authorization pe rmitting it to display the “VS” code on flights operated by US Airways between any points within the United States in conjunction with services held out by Virgin Atlantic between the United Kingdom and the United States (either non

- stop or via third count ry intermediate points)

. See Approval dated February 26, 2009, in this Docket.
3 We note the applicant ’ s expressed intent to begin these code

- share services immediately following receipt of government approvals. W e therefore grant the applicant

, sua spont e, a waiver of the 45

- day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR 212.10(d)(2), as no party opposed the request.
4 We acted on the request of US Airways without awaiting the expiration of the answer period with the consent of all parties served.The code

- share operations authorized here are subject to the following conditions:

( a ) T he statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) US Airways and Virgin Atlantic continue to hold the necessary underlying authority to operate the code

- share services at issue, and (ii) the code

- share agreement providing for the cod e

- share operations remains in effect.

( b ) US Airways and /or Virgin Atlantic must notify the Department no later than 30 days before they begin any new code

- share service under the code

- share services authorized here. Such notice shall identify the market (s) to be served and the date on which the service will begin. Such notices should be filed in Docket DOT

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- 27349

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( c ) US Airways and /or Virgin Atlantic must promptly notify the Department if the code

- share agreement providing for the code

- shar e operations is no longer effective or if the carriers decide to cease operating all or a portion of the approved code

- share services. Such notices should be filed in Docket DOT

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- 27349

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(d ) The code

- sharing operations conducted under this author ity must comply with 14 CFR 257 and with any amendments to the Department’s regulations concerning code

- share arrangements that may be adopted. Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract between the carriers, our approval here is expressly conditioned upon the requirements that the subject foreign air transportation be sold in the name of the carrier holding out such service in the computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the carrier selling such transportation ( i.e., the carrier shown on the t icket) accept responsibility for the entirety of the code

- share journey for all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the passenger; and that the passenger liability of the operating carrier be unaffected.

( e ) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither US Airways nor Virgin Atlantic shall give any force or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are contrary to these conditions.

(f

) We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

5 US Ai rways provided notice of its intent to begin code

- share service between Philadelphia and London

- Heathrow. US Airways also requested a waiver of the 30

- day notice requirement as to these points. We grant the waiver.
6 The applicant requests that notice given by either Virgin Atlantic, US Airways, Piedmont, or PSA be deemed notice given for each of the carriers. We grant this request, subject to compliance by the filing carrier with the terms of this condition (b ).
7 We expect this notification to be rec eived within 10 days of such non

- effectiveness or of such decision.