UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation on February 12 , 201 4



### NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN

-- DOCKET DOT

- OST

- 2012

- 0136

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___ This serves as notice to the public of the action described below, taken by the Department official indicated (no additional

co nfirming order will be issued in this matter).

Joint Applicant s: TACA INTE R NATIONAL AIRLINES, S.A. (TACA), TRANS AMERICA N AIRLINES. S.A. D/B/A TACA PERU (TACA Peru), LINEAS AEREAS COSTARRICENSES S.A. (LACSA), and AVIATECA S.A. (Aviateca) (together the TAC A Group) and AEROVIAS DEL CONTINENTE AMERICANO S.A. (Avianca)

Date Filed: December 11 , 201 3

Relief requested: Renewal of e xemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 permitting the joint applicants to register under 14 CFR

Part 215 their collective use of the trade name "Avianca" an d use of the designator code "A V" for their services in foreign air transportation to and from the United States.

The TACA Group carriers also request renewal of their blanke t statements of authorization under 14 CFR Part 212 to

dis play the “AV” designator code on flights operated by the TACA Group in U.S. markets in which both the operator and Avianca hold current Department authority to conduct scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail, further to the propo sed common branding arrangement.

Applicant representative s : Richard D. Mathias, David M. Endersbee, and Jonathon F. Foglia, 202

- 298

- 8 6 60

DOT analyst: David R

. Christofano, 202

- 366

- 0584

Responsive pleadings: None.

DISPOSITION

Action: Approved

, subject to conditions (see below) Action date: February 12 , 201 4

Effective dates of authority granted: The exemption authority granted to the joint applicants is effective February 12

, 201 4 , through February 12 , 201 5

. The statements of authorization granted to the TACA Group carriers are effective February 12 , 201 4

, through February 12 , 201 5

, subject to conditions.

Basis for approval : Aviation agreements between the U.S. and the homelands of each of the joint a ppli cants. 1

Except to the extent exempted/waived, this authority is subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of our s tandard exemption conditions (attached as Appendix A )

, code

- share conditions (attached as Appendix B), and the consumer disclosure conditions set forth in Appendix C.

Special conditions/Remarks: In the implementation of the authority renewed here, as noted above and agreed to by the joint applicants, they must continue to comply with the consumer disclosure conditions previously imp osed on the common branding authority granted to the TACA Group carriers in Docket DOT

- OST

- 2004

- 17355 by Orders 2005

- 1

- 22,

2006

- 11

- 10, and subsequent renewals of that authority. We have attached those conditions as Appendix C.

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director

, Office of International Aviation

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __

1 The homelands of the joint applicants are as follows: TACA

– El Salvador; TACA Peru

– Peru; LACSA

- Costa Rica;

Aviateca

– Guatemala; and Avianca

– Colombia.Under authority assigned by the Department in its regulations, 14 CFR Part 3 85, we found that (1) our action was consistent with Department policy; (2) the joint applicant s were qualified to perform the proposed operations; (3) grant of the authority was consistent with the public interest; and (4) grant of the authority would not constitute a major regulatory action under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. To the extent not granted/deferred/dismissed, we denied all requests in the referenced Docket. We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted in this Notic e at any time without hearing at our discretion.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of the action set forth in this Notice under the Department’s regulati ons, 14 CFR §385.30, may file their petitions within seven (7) days after the date of issuance of this Notice. This action was effective when taken, and the filing of a petition for review will not alter such effectiveness.

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

### Appendix A

Foreign Carrier Exemption Conditions

In the conduct of the operations authorized, the foreign carrier applicant(s) shall:

(1) Not conduct any operations unless it holds a currently effective authorization from its homeland for such operations, and it has filed a copy of such authorization with the Department;

(2) Comply with all applicable requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security

Administrati on, and with all applicable U.S. Government requirements concerning security, including, but not limited to, 14 CFR Parts 129, 91, and 36 and 49 CFR Part 1546 or 1550, as applicable. To assure compliance with all applicable U.S. Government requirements co ncerning security, the holder shall, before commencing any new service (including charter flights) from a foreign airport that would be the holder’s last point of departure for the United States,

contact its International Industry Representative (IIR) (for merly referred to as International Principal Security Inspector) to advise the I IR of its plans and to find out whether the Transportation Security Administration has determined that security is adequate to allow such airport(s) to be served ;

(3) Comply with the requirements for minimum insurance coverage contained in 14 CFR Part 205, and, prior to the commencement of any operations under this authority, file evidence of such coverage, in the form of a completed OST Form 6411, with the Federal Aviation Ad ministration’s Program Management Branch (AFS

- 260), Flight Standards Service (any changes to, or termination of, insurance also shall be filed with that office);

(4) Not operate aircraft under this authority unless it complies with operational safety req uirements at least equivalent to Annex 6 of the Chicago Convention;

(5) Conform to the airworthiness and airman competency requirements of its Government for international air services;

(6) Except as specifically exempted or otherwise provided for in a Department Order, comply with the requirements of 14 CFR Part 203, concerning waiver of Warsaw Convention liability limits and defenses;

(7) Agree that operations under this authority constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity, for the purposes of 28 U.S.C. 1605(a), but only with respect to those actions or proceedings instituted against it in any court or other tribunal in the United States that are: (a) based on its operations in international air transportation that, according to the contract of

ca rriage, include a point in the United States as a point of origin, point of destination, or agreed stopping place, or for which the contract of carriage was purchased in the United States; or (b) based on a claim under any international

agreement or treat y cognizable in any court or other tribunal of the United States. In this condition, the term "international air transportation" means "international transportation" as defined by the Warsaw Convention, except that all States shall be considered to be Hig h Contracting Parties for the purpose of this definition;

(8) Except as specifically authorized by the Department, originate or terminate all flights to/from the United States in its homeland;

(9) Comply with the requirements of 14 CFR Part 217, concer ning the reporting of scheduled, nonscheduled, and charter data;

(10) If charter operations are authorized, except as otherwise provided in the applicable aviation agreement, comply with the Department's rules governing charters (including 14 CFR Parts 21 2 and 380); and

( 11) Comply with such other reasonable terms, conditions, and limitations required by the public interest as may be prescribed by the Department, with all applicable orders or regulations of other U.S. agencies and courts, and with all applicable laws of the United States.

This authority shall not be effective during any period when the holder is not in compliance with the conditions imposed above. Moreover, this authority cannot be sold or otherwise transferred without explicit Depart ment approval

under Title 49 of the U.S. Code.

1 2 /200 7Appendix B

The Statements of Authorization granted are subject to the following conditions:

(a) The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as the TACA Group and Avianca , as appropriate, continue to hold the underlying authority to operate the code

- share services at issue, and the code

- share agreement providing for the code

- share operations remains in effect.

(b) The TACA Group and Avianca , as appropriate, must promptly notify the Department if the code

- share agreement is no longer effective or if the carriers decide to cease operating all or a portion of the approved code

- share services. (Such notice should be filed in Docket OST

- 2012

- 0136 .)

(c) The TACA Group and Avianca, as appropriate must notify the Department no later than 30 days before they begin

any new code

- share service under the codeshare services authorized here. Such notice shall identify the market(s) to be served, which carrier will be operating the aircraft in the code

- share market added, and the date on which the service will begin. Such notices should be filed in Docket DOT

- OST

- 2012

- 0136

. 1

( d ) The code

- sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR §257 and with any amendment 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 computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the carrier selling s uch transportation (i.e., the carrier shown on the ticket) 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 c arrier be unaffected.

( e ) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither the TACA Group nor A vianca 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.

1 In its original appl ication filed on August 13, 2012

, in this docket, t he TACA Group provided notice of its intent to conduct open skies code

- share services in accordance with the Department's Notice "In the Matter of Blanket Notification of Code

- Share Service to Open

- Skies P artners and Points," dated February 9, 2009. In that application, the TACA Group also stated that it will provide at

least 30

- day ’ s notice before commencing new code

- share services to non

- open skies points.Appendix C

In the implementation of the authority granted here the joint applicants must:



### a) Identify their flights to and from the United States under the common “AV” designator code, and stop using other two

- letter designator codes. 1 

### In addition to the use of the “AV” code, each carrier must identify its U.S. flights by using dedicated flight numbers specifically assigned to eac h carrier;

b) Fully disclose their use of the common code. In this connection, advertisements must include notification to consumers that flights are operated by a TACA Group carrier and/or Avianca , and must identify each carrier’s full legal name as wel l as its common name in cases where the common name may not be apparent;

c) In holding out their flights in all editions of the Official Airline Guide , have those flights shown with

the “ AV ” designator code and a flight number from each carrier’s dedicate d series of flight numbers. Listed adjacent to the flight number must be an easily identifiable mark, such as an asterisk, diamond, arrow, or plus sign, notifying customers that they should consult the OAG further for identity of the operating carrier. D isclosure of the operating carrier’s identity must be made in the back of the OAG in

the section devoted to disclosure of code

- share services, and must be presented in a manner that is

consistent with code

- share disclosures;

d) Disclose the operating carr ier’s identity in global distribution system (GDS) displays. In addition to

u sing the “ AV ” designator code coupled with a flight number from the dedicated series, appearing in the “segment sell” display immediately beneath each flight must be a statement identifying the operating carrier and the marketing carrier;

e) Prominently disclose on each passenger’s itinerary the operating carrier’s identity, and the itinerary must show the flight’s origin and destination cities, the times of departure and arrival , and the flight number. Immediately under this information, the itinerary must clearly identify the operating and marketing carrier. In the case of multiple segments or roundtrip itineraries, the carriers must clearly disclose the operating and marketin g carrier for each flight segment;

f) Disclose the operating carrier on each passenger’s paper ticket, boarding pass, or online check

- in

document. Whichever of these sources the carriers choose to use for disclosure must also show each flight number from the dedicated flight

- number series with the “ AV ” code and must also clearly show the operating carrier’s identity;

g) Provide reservation and customer service offices with disclosure notices that must be read to customers before making reservations. This disclosure must notify each consumer of the identities of the operating and marketing carriers for the “ AV ” coded flight; and

h) Comply with the consumer

- disclosure provisions of the Department’s regulations under 14 CFR Part

257 ;

1 We will permit the joint applicants to tempora rily continue use of the TACA trade name and design ator code through March 31,

2014 , as they transition to phasing out the name and code from their U.S. operations. See Department action dated August 22, 2013, in this Docket.