UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on April 19, 2011

 NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET DOT-OST-2010-0095 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

additional confirming order will be issued in this matter).

Joint Application of DELTA AIR LINES, INC. (Delta) and VRG LINHAS AEREAS S.A., d/b/a 

GOL (Gol), filed 5/14/2010 for: 1

XX Amendment of exemption for Delta under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to provide the following services:

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between a point or points in the 

United States, via intermediate points, and (a) any point or points in Brazil and (b) beyond Brazil to any 

point or points, pursuant to Delta’s code-share arrangement with Gol.

XX Amendment of statement of authorization for Gol under 14 CFR Part 212 to:

Display Delta’s “DL*” designator code in conjunction with foreign air transportation of persons, 

property, and mail on flights operated by Gol between Delta’s Brazil gateways and (a) any point or points 

in Brazil and (b) beyond Brazil to any point or points.2

Applicant reps: Alexander Van der Bellen (202) 842-4184 (Delta)

Charles F. Donley, II (202) 626-6840 (Gol)

DOT Analyst: Brett D. Kruger (202) 366-8025

D I S P O S I T I O N

XX Granted request of Delta for amended exemption authority (subject to conditions, see below)

XX Granted request of Gol for amended statement of authorization (subject to conditions, see below)

The above action granting amended exemption authority to Delta is effective when taken: April 19, 2011, 

through April 19, 2013. 

The above action granting an amended statement of authorization to Gol is effective: April 19, 2011, and will 

remain in effect indefinitely, subject to conditions. 

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director

 Office of International Aviation

 1 Delta’s current exemption, and Gol’s current Statement of Authorization, permit Gol to display Delta’s code in scheduled 

foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between the United States, via intermediate points, and (a) the 

Brazil points named in the U.S.-Brazil Air Transport Agreement for which Delta does not hold economic authority, (b) the 

additional points in Brazil selected by the United States for code-share only service, and (c) beyond Brazil to any point or 

points (see Notice of Action Taken dated May 10, 2010, in this Docket). The joint applicants state that they are requesting 

amended authority to take advantage of the liberalized route schedules in the U.S.-Brazil Memorandum of Consultations, 

signed March 19, 2011.

2 See Appendix C for a list of initial code-share routes.
XX The authority granted is consistent with the aviation relationship between the United States and 

Brazil.

Except to the extent exempted or waived, this authority is subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations 

indicated:

XX Delta’s certificates of public convenience and necessity

XX Standard U.S. carrier exemption conditions (attached as Appendix A)

XX _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Conditions for Statement of Authorization (attached as Appendix B) 

Remarks/Conditions: We note that Delta has conducted a safety audit of Gol under the Department’s CodeShare Safety Audit Program, and the FAA has advised us that it has reviewed the relevant audit report and found 

it to be acceptable. 

We acted on this application without awaiting expiration of the 15-day answer period with the consent of all 

parties served with the application.

On the basis of data officially noticeable under Rule 24(g) of the Department's regulations, we found Delta

qualified to provide the exemption services authorized. Under authority assigned by the Department in its 

regulations, 14 CFR Part 385, we found that (1) our action was consistent with Department policy; (2) grant of 

the authority was consistent with the public interest; and (3) 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, we denied 

all requests in the referenced Dockets. We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted in this Notice 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 regulations, 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:

www.regulations.gov
Appendix A

U.S. Carrier Exemption Conditions

In the conduct of the operations authorized, the U.S. carrier applicant(s) shall:

(1) Hold at all times effective operating authority from the government of each country served;

(2) Comply with applicable requirements concerning oversales contained in 14 CFR 250 (for 

scheduled operations, if authorized);

(3) Comply with the requirements for reporting data contained in 14 CFR 241;

(4) Comply with requirements for minimum insurance coverage, and for certifying that coverage to 

the Department, contained in 14 CFR 205;

(5) Except as specifically exempted or otherwise provided for in a Department Order, comply with the 

requirements of 14 CFR 203, concerning waiver of Warsaw Convention liability limits and defenses;

(6) Comply with all applicable requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration, the 

Transportation Security Administration, and with all applicable U.S. Government requirements 

concerning security, including, but not limited to, 49 CFR Part 1544. To assure compliance with all 

applicable U.S. Government requirements concerning security, the holder shall, before commencing 

any new service (including charter flights) to or from a foreign airport, contact its Principal Security 

Inspector (PSI) to advise the PSI 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;

(7) Comply with such other reasonable terms, conditions, and limitations required by the public 

interest as may be prescribed by the Department of Transportation, with all applicable orders and 

regulations of other U.S. agencies and courts, and with all applicable laws of the United States.

The authority granted shall be effective only during the period when the holder is in compliance with 

the conditions imposed above.

 

1/2008
Appendix B

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

(a) The statements of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) Delta and Gol continue to hold the 

necessary underlying authority to operate the code-share services at issue, and (ii) the code-share agreement providing 

for the code-share operations remains in effect.

(b) Delta and/or Gol, as appropriate, must notify the Department no later than 30 days before they begin any new codeshare service under the code-share 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 notice should be filed in Docket DOT-OST-2010-0095.

(c) Delta and/or Gol, as appropriate, must promptly notify the Department if the code-share agreement providing for 

the code-share operations 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 DOT-OST-2010-0095.

1

(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority 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 ticket) accept responsibility for the entirety of the code-share journey for all obligations established in its contract 

of carriage with the passenger; that the passenger liability of the operating carrier be unaffected; and that the operating 

carrier shall not permit the code of its U.S. code-sharing partner to be carried on any flight that enters, departs, or 

transits the airspace of any area for whose airspace the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight prohibition.

(e) The authority to operate to third countries is subject to the condition that any service provided under the statement 

of authorization shall be consistent with all applicable agreements between the United States and the foreign countries 

involved. Furthermore, (i) nothing in the award of this blanket statement of authorization should be construed as 

conferring upon Delta rights (including code-share, fifth freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets 

where U.S. carrier entry is limited unless Delta notifies the Department of their intent to serve such a market and 

unless and until the Department has completed any necessary carrier selection procedures to determine which carrier(s) 

should be authorized to exercise such rights; and (ii) should there be a request by any carrier to use the limited-entry 

route rights that are included in the authority of Delta by virtue of the blanket statement of authorization granted here, 

but that are not then being used by Delta, the holding of such authority will not be considered as providing any 

preference for Delta in a competitive carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be entitled to 

use the authority at issue.2

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither Delta nor Gol shall give any force or effect to 

any contractual provisions between themselves that are contrary to these conditions.

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

 1 We expect this notification to be received within ten (10) days after such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 2 The notice in paragraph (b) above can be used for this notification. 
Appendix C