\\DC - 042333/000001 - 5782360 v2

BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Application of

HARRIS AIRCRAFT SERVICES, INC.

For a certificate of public convenience and

necessity pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41102 to

engage in interstate scheduled air transportation

of persons, property, and mail

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Docket DOT-OST-2014-0145

OPPOSITION OF AIR EXCURSIONS LLC

TO MOTION OF HARRIS AIRCRAFT SERVICES, INC. FOR

RULE 12 CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT

Communications with respect to this document should be addressed to:

Kent Craford

AIR EXCURSIONS LLC

1873 Shell Simmons Dr.

Suite 110

Juneau, AK 99801

Robert E. Cohn

Patrick R. Rizzi

HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP

Columbia Square

555 Thirteenth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20004

+1 202 637 4999/5659

robert.cohn@hoganlovells.com

patrick.rizzi@hoganlovells.com

Counsel for Air Excursions LLC

September 5, 2014
\\DC - 042333/000001 - 5782360 v2

BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Application of

HARRIS AIRCRAFT SERVICES, INC.

For a certificate of public convenience and

necessity pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41102 to

engage in interstate scheduled air transportation

of persons, property, and mail

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Docket DOT-OST-2014-0145

September 5, 2014

OPPOSITION OF AIR EXCURSIONS LLC

TO MOTION OF HARRIS AIRCRAFT SERVICES, INC. FOR

RULE 12 CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT

Air Excursions LLC opposes the Motion of Harris Aircraft Services, Inc.

(“Harris Air”) for confidential treatment of a purported “Funds Available Letter”

(Exhibit HAS-16) in support of its above-captioned application for certificate

authority (“Rule 12 Motion”).

The Motion’s description of this exhibit is vague and unrevealing, but this

is the type of financial fitness documentation for which the Department does not

grant confidential treatment. As the Department has explained, “it is not the

Department’s policy to withhold from public disclosure third-party verification of

the total funds on deposit in an applicant’s name” and “[i]ndeed, it is the

Department’s practice to release the third-party verification of an applicant’s total

available funds, absent sensitive details such as account numbers.” Letter from

P. Thomas, DOT, to E. Zubel, Vision Air, dated January 7, 2003 (Docket DOTOST-1999-5949); see also DOT Order 1996-2-10, at 9 (“While the Department

routinely requires that an applicant for certificate authority provide information
Opposition of Air Excursions

Page 2

\\DC - 042333/000001 - 5782360 v2

supporting its funding plans, including lines-of-credit and verification of an

individual’s ability to supply the funds committed, we do not ordinarily release to

the public information detailing account numbers.” (emphasis added)).

The Exhibit for which Harris Air seeks confidential treatment is particularly

relevant for public disclosure in this case because it is the sole basis upon which

Harris Air claims to meet the Department’s financial fitness test for certificate

authority. See Application of Harris Air, at 10 (August 25, 2014) (Docket DOTOST-2014-0145). Yet, Harris Air wants this essential element to avoid public

scrutiny. This critical information should not be withheld from public disclosure

but rather placed in the public docket so that the interested public can evaluate

and comment on the funds availability and amount, any conditions or durational

limits attached thereto, and the bona fides of the bank, financial institution or

individual making the funds available, etc. In fact, in its last application for

authority (which was subsequently withdrawn and dismissed), Harris Air provided

verification of available bank funds in the public docket. See Docket DOT-OST2013-0089.

This is not a matter that should be hidden from interested parties behind a

curtain, and Harris Air has failed to demonstrate why it is entitled to confidentiality

under the Department’s established policy and precedent. Harris Air merely

intones the Department’s standard, but fails to explain why withholding the

document from public scrutiny meets the Department’s standard.
Opposition of Air Excursions

Page 3

\\DC - 042333/000001 - 5782360 v2

Accordingly, Air Excursions LLC respectfully urges the Department to

deny Harris Air’s blanket motion for confidential treatment of the entire “Funds

Available Letter” (Exhibit HAS-16) and require that the Exhibit be placed in the

public docket (with any legitimate redactions such as an account number, if any).

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________________

Robert E. Cohn

Patrick R. Rizzi

HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP

555 Thirteenth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20004

+1 202 637 4999/5659

Counsel for

Air Excursions LLC
\\DC - 042333/000001 - 5782360 v2

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing Opposition of Air Excursions has

been served this 5th day of September 2014, upon each of the following addressees:

pmurphy@lopmurphy.com

scott@harrisair.com

hank@MTCWorld.com

info@flypacificairways.com

Patrick Rizzi