- 1 -

Alexander Van der Bellen

Managing Director and

Associate General Counsel

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

1212 New York Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20005

202.842.4184

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

October 2, 2013

Todd Homan

Director, Office of Aviation Analysis

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20590

Re: National Airlines, DOT Docket OST-2012-0204

Delta respectfully submits this letter to bring to the Department’s attention supplemental 

authority which supports Delta’s objections to National Airlines’ (“National”) certificate 

application. As Delta detailed in its objections of September 5, 2013, National would use its 

scheduled international passenger certificate to create a subterfuge for Emirates, a foreign air 

carrier, to obtain GSA city-pair contracts that Emirates is prohibited from bidding on under the 

Fly America Act. National is doing little more than renting its U.S. carrier code to Emirates, 

which would operate all of the long haul service between the U.S. and Dubai. 

In closely analogous circumstances, the Department denied certificate authority to Trans 

International Express (TIE) which sought DOT economic authority for the purposes of entering 

into U.S. Postal Service contracts by placing its code on foreign air carriers. See Order 2000-9-

20 at 4-5. Like TIE, National does not have intercontinental range passenger aircraft capable of 

operating the 7,000 mile stage lengths between Dubai and the seven U.S. gateways proposed 

in its city-pair bid. The Department stated that “we do not find that it in the public interest to 

permit TIE to hold out service as a direct air carrier that it is not capable o providing in its own 

right. To offer such service could violate the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 41712, which prohibits 

unfair methods of competition and unfair and deceptive trade practices on the part of air carriers 

and foreign air carriers.” Id. 

The Department further expressed its concerns “about the public interest ramifications of 

carriers using our licensing process to compete in a potentially unfair manner for Postal Service 

subsidies. Thus, we are also sensitive to the arguments made by the objecting air carriers that 

TIE merely wants to ‘rent its code to foreign air carriers’ in order to give those foreign air carriers 

preferential treatment that is reserved for properly authorized U.S. air carriers.” Id. This is 

exactly what National is doing with Emirates. 

Accordingly, consistent with DOT precedent, Delta urges that National’s certificate application 

be denied.
October 2, 2013

Page 2

Sincerely,

Alexander Van der Bellen

Attachment 

cc:

MAtwood@cozen.com

EWadsworth@cozen.com

francis.heil@aa.com 

robert.wirick@aa.com

carlbnelson65@gmail.com

jrichardson@johnlrichardson.com 

russell.pommer@atlasair.com 

esauer@ssd.com 

sam.white@evergreenairlines.com 

kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com 

agoerlich@ggh-airlaw.com 

anita.mosner@hklaw.com 

jennifer.nowak@hklaw.com 

howard.kass@usairways.com 

benjamin.slocum@usairways.com 

mbenge@zsrlaw.com 

psanderlin@kalittaair.com 

john.allen@faa.gov

hershel.kamen@united.com 

dan.weiss@united.com 

steve.morrissey@united.com 

karine.faden@united.com 

thomas.bolling@united.com 

doug.kelley@united.com 

lhalloway@crowell.com 

gmurphy@crowell.com

Russell.Bailey@alpa.org

dberg@airlines.org

kglatz@airlines.org